65 responses so far ↓

• Nic // Apr 24, 2008 at 9:42

  For Man United’s view of the game read http://redrants.com/barcelona-0-0-manchester-united-much-better-than-last-season/
  If you post comments there please be respectful. Redrants is an excellent blog.

• Jay // Apr 24, 2008 at 9:48

  Hehe….waiting for your report Nic.

  Brilliant display really. We played a team of women. What was United here for? I seriously despise English football for all it’s worth as Man United put in a characteristic display in the art of negativity. A display that evokes Serie A-like passion. A display that would make a sadist proud. A display that will make Joga Bonito feel ashamed.

  Horrendous. They planned for a Cristiano Ronaldo counter-attack miracle, that’s all their attacking game was. I am frustrated at Barca’s failure to take advantage. But there was only one team wanting to play good football.

  Man United, you team of sissies, I salute you for turning up at least…..

• blaugranaboy // Apr 24, 2008 at 9:58

  that was a very interseting game. on the whole you have to be happy with the boys. they were focused, kept good possesion, and at times they made half chances. im glad marquez is out next week though, he is too reckless at the back. milito also needs to tone down his tackles, if the ref wasnt to lenient there could have been way more booking. yaya was just amazing. i was so proud to have him in the team. zambrotta also had his best game i can remember, he ran his heart out. xavi was controlled and good as always. just a shame we cant penetrate like we use to. if we had gotten 1-0 i would fancy our chances to progress quite highly. but, being one of those that 3 weeks back was terrified of this tie, im overall happy.

  on the other side im very disappointed in man united. i rate them, and i thought they rated themselves better than they showed. i knew they were going to pack the midfield and try to play defensive, but come on, this was ridiculous. i hope they have they paid for the damage they cuased to the pitch when they drove thier team bus on it and just parked it there. really! they looked rather pathetic. BUT, fergie is a clever old dog. his tactics are in theory spot on. he knows our defense has been frail all year and lately we are really really strugglign to score. so goign back home, if they bombard us, he reckons they can score and probably stop us from doing the same. we have to go to england and play like we are at home. grab as much ball as we can. all we need is a draw so im more optimistic then ever. and take some shots. i hope etoo gets his shooting boots on. henry, despite my loathing him, had the best shot of the night, and bojan for all his talent looked inexperienced.

  but like i said, overall, happy. now i just want to knock them out more than ever after that disgusting negative football

• Shahenshah // Apr 24, 2008 at 10:18

  Damn. That has been the story of barca’s season. Any game, any team, the same result. Dominate possession but cant convert that into goals.

  Both teams had the same amount of shots but barcelona raped the possession game. lmao they said what they were going to do and actually succeeded. First half all Barcelona, second half the same thing. Man united barely saw the ball.

  Rooney was invisible throughout the game. Tevez threatened a bit but he was silenced effectively.

  Cronaldo as expected was playing a very advanced role and saw a few more touches than Rooney and Tevez but he was denied many chances. Gotta give him credit though, he tripped defenders out a bit but he was held in check. He had a penalty but shanked it completely off mark. I guess he should have stopped right near the ball as usual to make sure where the ball is placed and then attempt his shot.

  Aight this is what I realized about the diving wuss. The kid’s got talent but at the same time he is a dumbass too. Why? Well he pretty much screwed himself over by expertly (heavy emphasis) claiming the pedestal of the worst diver on the planet. Intelligent defenders knowing full well of Cronaldo’s actions on the world stage, take full advantage of it as seen yesterday by Zambrotta giving Cronaldo a taste of the Italian defence, tripping him up and pushing him around like his little bitch. Cronaldo can fall to the ground all he wants, the ref still wont really care. Its like the boy who cried wolf. The ref will tell Cron to stop being a baby and get up even if he was actually fouled. Sorry Cron, you reap what you sow. Its sad yet quite hilarious. Very cunning of Zambrotta though.

  Wow, Messi totally humiliated the united defence. Sneaking between two defenders at one point. Evra realized he was really having a tough night when Messi deftly flicked the ball over him and escaped from him on quite a few occasions. Evra tried though. Messi’s touch was amazing and his dribbling was too good. Text book definition of close control. Wrecking havoc everywhere. I didnt understand why Rijkaard would take Messi out so early. I guess he is still not in match-fit form coming back from an injury.

  Deco had a tremendous game too. Him and Xavi had a major role in controlling Barca’s attack. After coming back from injury, he barley saw any action but Rijkaard decides to throw him at the start of the game. He decided to pick an out of form Deco for an on form Gudjohnsen. I realized Deco is portuguese and everyone can vouch for me when I say portuguese are quite amazing players. He had to be subbed out too because well come on give a guy some break, he just came back from injury too. I didnt even know he was alive.

  Iniesta barely saw the ball in the first half because he was on the left flank and the ball pretty much stayed on the right with Messi trying to create something. Second half he saw the ball more often and gave the united’s defence a handful. He pretty much spun Hargreaves around like a top

  Eto’o had chances but he passed it back too often. Should have taken a shot. Was quite involved in the attack and panna’d Ferdinand though.

  Zambrotta had the game of his life. Heavily involved in the attack circulating around the right flank and denied man united’s offence, especially cronaldo on many occasions. I guess he wanted to show AC Milan he is worth the money. Either that or he wanted Barca to realize he is just as good as Alves.

  Nic, I gotta say man, the camp nou crowd played a huge factor in the poession game. Cheering when Barca had the ball and urging them to attack and whistling and booing when Man united had posession. You could tell the united players were under heavy pressure and choked up on many occasions. Hopefully Barcelona can do the same with chants going the other way around.

  Not a bad game. Once again Man United failed to win in Camp Nou. Hell a team leading the premier league with supposedly the best player in the world were totally denied of the ball through the whole 90 minutes (even extra time. damn) by a spanish team third in La Liga, ten points behind leaders and going through a major crisis.

• The evil that men do // Apr 24, 2008 at 10:37

  “The best team in europe” I don’t know if I should laugh at that comment. You obviously are uninformed I could name 10+ sides on top of my head that would leave Manchester in the dirt.

  England is always hyping up their league/players so please don’t buy into that nonsense, Barca technically and player for player are superior.
  The problem is Barca are not clinical this season for all the beautiful football they play they need an end result.

  Barca did not let Manchester have even a touch of the ball but they got to finish that all it comes down too.
  I really believe they should play with Henry and Eto up front.

  Shaking my head at the people who were saying Manchester were favourites if anything Manchester played like Rangers did with long balls and sitting all the way back to defend.

  Could you imagine an all English final zzzzz I hope to god it does not happen.

• Varughese // Apr 24, 2008 at 10:50

  Our best player was Yaya toure. He won almost all the challenges. And one more thing I never knew Zambrotta has such ball controlling skills.

  Jay:
  Ferguson played safe. Actually its the media which made stories that manU is going to kill Barcelona at Camp Nou. Ferguson wanted a draw out of here and he got that.

  Our attack might have looked very blunt. That was because ManU took an approach similar to Greece in Euro championship. The box was too crowded. But at Old Trafford they will play there natural style- that will leave spaces for our players. Hope Toure and Zam continues their good form.

  One thing has been proven - Maybe our team is playing like shit, but the best in Europe fears us for the sheer quality in the side. Deco and Messi will have more match practice and fitness before the second leg, so it should be interesting.

• Barca Fan // Apr 24, 2008 at 11:28

  WTK ! :O … YOU give Bojan 6.5… Noo… 4.5 …

• John // Apr 24, 2008 at 11:50

  One thing to bear in mind…… Yeah we played well… There was discpline, effort teamwork….mmmm Why does it take a Champions League semi final for the team to play like this…. Maybe putting themselves in the shop wndow… Just a thought !!!

• BARCA 4 LYF // Apr 24, 2008 at 12:16

  What about the skill Messi did on Evra!!! Abidal was at his best stopping Rooney at all costs and Zamb never seen him play that good in a Blaugrana shirt!!! Messi was great but Yaya toure was amazing!!! Tevez couldn’t get past him neither did any other united playas!!!

• Hilal // Apr 24, 2008 at 12:16

  What a game!!! Finally I saw our team play the way they should for 90 mins. I know we didnt score, but i cannot complain one bit. We gave an astounding account of ourselves. We completely dominated the game from start to finish, they did not get a sniff of the ball. Ronaldo who? Rooney Who? They played like they feared us and it was quite surprising to be honest. I guess Ferguson is just too smart to fall into the trap that the British press set for him. They did the right thing at the end of the day, but still i would have liked to see them come at us a bit more! A lot of ppl are saying we were missing cutting edge, well im sorry but we are not a team of magicins, we are a team of football players. Man utd defended very well and they did not give us an inch of space, but next week will be different. We all saw how dangerous Messi was without any space, lets see what he can do when he has a bit more next week!

  Yaya is now officially my favourite player (after Messi). He is quite simply a monster in midfield. Every ball in the air, every pass, every tackle…..outstanding!! All that with quite a serious injury! Man of the match in my opinion without a doubt!!

  If we play like this again next week (and we can) then we will go through. I thought Frank did the right thing taking off Messi as we need to protect him. Henry should have come on earlier though and I think he deserves a start next week. Although i was not happy with Deco starting the game, he gave his all so i cannot fault him really. I still think it would have been smarter to start Guddy. Quite understandibly Deco was not as sharp as he could have been, his passes were a little off, but like i said he tried his best!

  Next week up front; Eto’o, Henry, Messi and we will go through. 2-2 draw

• Best Player // Apr 24, 2008 at 12:32

  Messi was the key player in the game. The game really changed when he was subbed off. Barca would have scored if he’d stayed on. But Riykaard made the right decision to be cautious with his leg. And you know something? If Messi could somehow stay healthy, he could challenge Ronaldo for The Best Player in the World.

• Jay // Apr 24, 2008 at 13:17

  Some websites are praising United’s defensive masterclass.

  It was good. But I’d rather say that it’s scientifically impossible to score a goal if ten men from the opposition are standing right in front of it….

  And at Old trafford, they will definitely leave spaces behind as they would have to attack.

• Hilal // Apr 24, 2008 at 13:26

  One thing though, and Nic mentioned it in his article; the fact that we can play like this is actually infuriating when you put it in the context of what we have achieved this season. There is no reason why we could not have played like this for most of the season and had we done so I have no doubt that we would be on for a treble winning season. The only thing our players need is motivation and lasts night game proved it. The game itself motivated them, but if we can get a manager who can motivate them to play like that every game then we will rocket back to the top!!

• Gobba // Apr 24, 2008 at 13:29

  Ferguson is clever old man. His tactic was to let us control the game totally. No fighting in the midfield. Not a normal game for MU. Their game on Old Trafford will be totally different. Our strength are short passes but the same weakness as before, goalscoring and breaking up with strong players. Easy day for Van der Saar. Once again I do not understand Rijkaard’s game plan. Henry should be on for more than 10 min ?? He is the one who could brake up their defence. Iniesta was out in his position. Should be where he plays his best football, in midfield. Deco lacked strength. But I agree that the fighting spirit was there. Yaya, Messi and Zambrotta had great game. Specially Yaya. We need to play differently on Old Trafford. Why not try Henry and Guddy upfront with Messi. Guddy has been striker 80% of his carrier. Barca bought him as a striker. When we lack sharpness in the front line I would try another strategy. Henry and Guddy both have good success story playing agains MU at Old Trafford.

• Andrew // Apr 24, 2008 at 14:20

  I agree that Zambrotta played an excellent game…he was just incredible all night I loved watching him. I was delighted at how well everybody performed and it’s a shame we couldn’t see that intensity more often this season. When I saw Deco was starting I was a little worried at first but he definitely came to play which was awesome.

  What annoyed me the most was watching Ronaldo raise his arms to the ref every time somebody touched him hoping to get something out of it. Grow up, man.

• Titi186 // Apr 24, 2008 at 15:07

  WHY has no one mentioned Eto’o yesterday?

  He missed THE glourious chance after some excellent play from Iniesta (what skill he has). Eto is in my opinion, the most all round complete striker on the planet, but yesterday Im sorry he had a chance and bottled it. It would have allowed Barca to take a 1-0 lead into the the second leg and therefore beat Man United on the counter at OT.

  The performance was immense in 2/3 of the feild with the defence making Man United’s attack seem like an average La Liga team.

  Deco was good, but not as good some of you are suggesting as his passing was decent but not like the crisp, carve-open-defence passes like he used to do although his long balls next week will be crucial for our quick counter-attacking game next week.

  Bojan should not have come on really. Im sorry he is too inexperienced for this type of game, Henry should have come on for Messi. I heard he came off because he felt a tweak in his muscle so they didnt want to take a chance. Iniesta was good as always and I think in a counter attacking game he, along with Deco and Toure will be great next week. Yaya? Magnificent as always. One of the best in my opinion.

  Cause for hope fellow Barca fans!! We might be able to do it and salvage the season. Anybody esle going to Old Trafford next week? I look forward to seeing you there and making history!!

• Winterhunt // Apr 24, 2008 at 15:08

  Wow, shocking on so many levels….. Yet at the same time kind of encapsulates our season…. Well, I never could have predicted yesterday, mixed feelings in that we completely dominated the team everyone (myself included) thought was the strongest in Europe, and was capable of tearing up our defense, and yet Man U came out and we had something like 75% of the possession, and they played like Rangers… They came promising to attack and then put Rooney & Tevez practically in defensive positions….. Ronaldo completely put off his game by puting the body on him (scared about the calls they’ll get in Old Trafford……), and they looked incapable of dealing with our skill…. Yet, once again, despite all the posssession, the beautiful football, we cannot close out teams…. It’s kind of crazy in that it seems that it doesn’t matter if it is a team fighting not to be relegated in La Liga or a European powerhouse, we can completely dominate, dictate the whole game, and yet cannot crack the code…… Messi proved to all the pundits that I heard on TV that he is more than equal to Ronaldo, kind of astonishing in way, he is just coming off of injury and Ronaldo is having this season that is considered revelatory, and to my eyes, Messi completely changes the whole game, and Ronaldo can be marked and kept in check (at least yesterday) if you play him physical…… Then Henry comes on (why Frank subbed out Messi, I don’t understand, it didn’t seem he was tired as he was shredding them, and obviously didn’t want to come out….never seen him so demonstrative….) and the man I have been killing for his form, unlocks them, creates space, and two of our best chances……. Every prediction I would have made would have been way off…. Ronaldo blows a penalty????? I mean dead balls along with his whole “Twinkle Toes Stepover Routine” are suppossed to be his big thing…… We get a clean sheet, and really never are seriously threatened(excepting Iniesta’s giveaway, a play also shockingly out of character for him) . Sammy off his game, and Titi, razor edged……. Wow….. Abidal, actually to me was bang on, Yaya as always dominated the midfield, Zambrotta played as he played for Italy….. And yet, for all our posession, and dominance, relative benign chances on their goal, no adjustments by Frank after seeing Fergie was just going to pack it in….. I still can’t really get my head around it…. I guess a good result, and I do think we can take this at Old Trafford though we wil be battling the refs as well, but still if we score (a big if though I’m sure man U will open up, and so we will both have chances) then the away goals obviously work in our favor…… I’d be a fool to even try and predict the outcome and surely embarass myself as I would have had I predicted this leg, as I thought of several logical scenarios by which it could play out and a nil-nil draw was not one of them…… It was kind of like watching the Espanyol game all over again……. I just don’t know…. I will say this, Messi & Henry must start…. it seems to me that they cannot deal with Leo at all, and Titi either knows how to play these guys from all his Arsenal clashes or is just super motivated, but to leave him out of that fixture I think would be a mistake…. Let him sit the bench this weekend and rest and get resentful, and angry, and complain and then turn him loose at Old Trafford, and let him work out his resentments……… So, I guess, a clinic in possession football, a demonstration that we can humble anyone on 3/4’s of the pitch, that we play to the level of our opponent and it doesn’t matter if they are mid table La Liga or so called giants of world football, that we can defend and play hard and focused when we are up for it but still have incredible troubles putting it in the net and closing the deal…… In some way I think should have won 3-0, and in some ways I think we are lucky Ronaldo blew his penalty, and I guess in most ways I think 0-0 with a massive possession edge to us and nothing to show for it but a quasi moral victory is sort of exactly right… Somehow, though it has stayed with with me hard as a huge “What could have been”….. Tuesday, I’ll watch and pray, and see…. I haven’t a clue what to expect……

• bob // Apr 24, 2008 at 15:10

  Hello, United fan coming in peace

  The way United played was totally different to anything that I’ve ever seen them do before…it was ridiculous, and quite embarrassing…I can assure you they are a great team to watch when they don’t insist on playing an ageing Scholes in a two man midfield, he just doesn’t move anymore

  Hopefully Anderson will be playing in a three man centre midfield setup on Tuesday, then we can have a proper game…may the best team win

• Shahenshah // Apr 24, 2008 at 15:31

  Anybody see Toure shield a united player for an air ball, calmly raising his leg and flicking it behind him for Rafa. I almost bust my head open. He didnt get many touches on the ball but when he did he showed class.

  I hope to see the amazing Cronaldo in the return leg. There was barely any of him in this game despite the fact he was given tons of space. Think about it. Cronaldo playing like the last man (very similar to inzaghi), with wingbacks going up front to attack, in camp nou which is a really wide field. There has to be tons of space.

  Messi, no space, no problem. Supposedly amazing defence, no problem. He will slice you up anyhow. I still remember how he had his back to evra, calmly controlling a ball in the air with one touch of the foot. It was like he was playing with a foam ball. Ridiculous.

  Barcelona is really close. Please win this game or tie it atleast. My brain will explode of happiness

• NateW // Apr 24, 2008 at 16:03

  Great game. We dominated.

  I think eto needs to release the shot sometimes instead of always trying to beat out everyone .. I mean i love how they walk the ball into the net .. but just a few more shots on target from the strikers would be good. The whole of Man utd was sitting back in front of goal .. it is always going to be harder to try to break that down..

  We need a designated free kick taker … we wasted so many good opportunities that ronnie used to capitalize on. (our corners are bad too) .. i never understood why they preferred xavi to henry when they were both on the field .. henry was arsenals free kick taker .. he took the free kick sol campbell scored on us in ‘06. And his free kick yesterday was the first on target for barcelona since december.

  Besides those two points .. i loved watching this team so motivated.

• Liam // Apr 24, 2008 at 16:12

  All ill say is ManU played like Levante did when they visited Camp Nou…. quite sad when we are talking about “the best team in europe”, a club that spent 50 million pounds this summer and the EPL (supposedly the best league in the world) leader.

• Winterhunt // Apr 24, 2008 at 16:22

  minor quibble but Nic, only 6.5 for Henry????? I know he has been a detriment most of the year, lazy, complaining etc, also didn’t have many minutes yesterday, so it’s hard to really give a complete grade, but still in his 15 or so minutes he created 2 of our best chances….. I’m not a big Titi defender, especially after his “I’ve never run so much/I hope I’m not ruined for Euro 08 for France by being played out of position” press circus, but still I must give it up for him, and I would have liked to have seen him & Leo on the pitch together….. I think (and I hate to say this as I love him….) that Sammy should have been subbed off @ around the 65th minute & Henry given a run with Messi just to see how that played out, then Bojan if you wanted fresh legs….. Hindsight is of course 20/20…. Still I think Henry was pretty impressive yesterday in his cameo, and I personally would start him at OT on tuesday, and if he isn’t running or effective then sub him out, but I do think he needs a proper run out, and I think in combo with Leo could cause them fits…… Just one guys opinion…….

• Mike M // Apr 24, 2008 at 16:27

  What a performance by Barca… especially Zambrotta, Toure and Messi

  Man Utd pinned all their hopes on CRonaldo scoring on the counter, which backfired and shows that Man Utd are a 1 man team this season. Rooney was lost in midfield.

• Speeka // Apr 24, 2008 at 16:58

  You can stream the match here if re watching 0-0 draws is your thing.

• Speeka // Apr 24, 2008 at 16:58

  http://www.justin.tv/psn_4/99358/BARCA_MAN_U_ida_by_gett

  sorry!

• Rivaldo // Apr 24, 2008 at 17:10

  Man U played very defensive but Im proud that we dominated the ball that long. That was a moral win for the club and i cant wait till the 2nd leg. Next week we got messi back at full strength and hopefully henry might relive some of his old glory days in england and we will prevail at “the theater of dreams”. By the way, no stadium in the world will EVER compare to the Nou Camp. Also i hope the boys took out ronaldo out on the town and they showed him the best bordellos so he will come to Barca and replace dinho eventually. Rem, dinho came to barca and not man u b/c of the citylife.

• Joe Henry // Apr 24, 2008 at 18:18

  All the camp,
  is a clam,
  we are the blue and red people,
  doesn’t matter where we come from,
  from the south, from the north,
  just like that, we all agree, we all agree,
  a flag makes us brothers (or sisters),
  Blue and Red in the wind,
  a Valiant cry!
  We have a name!
  The whole world knows!
  Barça!, Barça !, Baaaarça !!!!

  Players
  Sociopaths,
  All united we have POWER,
  There are lots of years full of sacrifice,
  There are lots of goals we were screaming about,
  and we have demonstrated, we have demonstrated,
  and No-one Never will ever silence us,
  Blue and Red in the wind,
  a Valiant cry!
  We have a name!
  The whole world knows!
  Barça!, Barça !, Baaaarça !!!!

  After a game we played last night I’m proud to cheer for Baaaarça !!! Great game. So it ended in a draw, this draw is different. If only plays in England from the begging. I know he will score. He will remember the days in Arsenal & it will be the begging of his rising once again.

• blaugranaboy // Apr 24, 2008 at 19:04

  people stop getting on frank for taking messi out. messi knew he was going to come off. he told them at half time he felt a pull. and he was getting tired. he wasnt upst at frank at all. he gave him a hug when he came off. better he is fresh on tue.

• Joe Henry // Apr 24, 2008 at 19:15

  To tell you the truth blaugranaboy. I expected it. You see Messi was the best on on the field. Frank didn’t like that at all. God forbid he might have scored a goal or something. Look some one told me that the Doc told him only 60 min. If that is true than Frank should be praised. He toke the risk and said ” I don’t care your well being is much more important” If that is true than Frank should be praised. If not then he is our Franky with the worst move ever.

• booby // Apr 24, 2008 at 19:18

  like always people always saying bad things about zambrotta rafa even puyol when he plays bad but when milito almost cost barca the the lost with the penalty no one says nothing …..bullshit…..

• Joe Henry // Apr 24, 2008 at 19:20

  If you ask me all of Barca played well.

• Hilal // Apr 24, 2008 at 19:25

  I do not think for a second that Frank took Messi off for tactical reasons. He might have made some mistakes in the game but i do not think that is one of them. We have to be very careful with Messi. He has a chronic muscle injury that needs time and patience to heal properly. The last time he was allowed to rush back we lost him for 6 weeks. He is young and eager and he wants to play every game and help his team and I love him for it, but he needs to be protected. He has many years ahead of him and we do not want to hamper him. Frank did the right thing, if Messi felt anything, anything at all in his leg then he should have been taken off. Just think of it this way, now he will be EVEN more eager for the next leg……if Man utd think they can give him any space and get away with it they are wrong. The only way they will stop him is by putting everybody behind the ball and even then he finds a way!! They cannot and will not do that at OT so lets hope Messi has the game of his life…….

• FCB // Apr 24, 2008 at 19:38

  hey, how do u guys know that messi felt he pulled something or that he had a muscle problem??

• Hilal // Apr 24, 2008 at 20:31

  Well in the game i was watching the commentator mentioned that he saw Messi signal to the bench that there was something wrong. Then when they tried to take him off he signaled that he was ok. My guess is that he felt something, got a little worried, realized it was nothing serious and then wanted to continue. Better safe than sorry though. He will be much for useful in the next leg anyways, when he will actually have some space. They could barely contain him with 10 men behind the ball, im hoping that he rips them apart with a little bit of room!

• Joe // Apr 24, 2008 at 20:38

  i was delighted to see Deco play the way he did, especially for being out for so long. i hope Henry is fit enough for the next match, because it seemed like he could have created more opportunities had he been in longer.

• layi // Apr 24, 2008 at 22:04

  good performance…

  i’m just sad that marquez will miss d next leg…he’s bn our best defender this season and i’m not too confident with puyol and milito

• Best Player // Apr 24, 2008 at 22:14

  Ferguson has many great qualities but is not a master tactician. I don’t think things went according to plan. Jay is correct. There will be acres of space at Old Trafford. Messi was awesome. And will be the big factor next week. Should be a cracker of a game.

• Speeka // Apr 24, 2008 at 22:57

  LoL @ the guy who raped the cant del barca.Sociopaths?

• blaugranafan // Apr 24, 2008 at 23:59

  Can anybody refer me to some online video highlights? The match coincides with work hours in the U.S., so I couldn’t watch it. All the videos I’ve found on YouTube have been removed b/c copyrights policies.

• Andrew // Apr 25, 2008 at 0:15

  blaugranafan check out espn360.com and see if your ISP provides the service. they have live games as well as an archived section so you can watch recent matches in their entirety. i live in the states and i was able to watch the game on replay when i got back. it’s free you just have to download something but the quality is really good

• layi // Apr 25, 2008 at 0:18

  wait a lil while

• blaugranafan // Apr 25, 2008 at 2:12

  Ya’ll might appreciate this video. Post-match interviews with commentators re: Leo and Cronaldo.

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u-GZBeryVeI

• amiaq_ferguson // Apr 25, 2008 at 2:20

  Barca is my fav compare to Real Madrid. But I’m a Man Utd fan though.

  Man Utd play defensive football when it comes to European away game tie. This is very true eventhough we have achieve much success (winning games) in this season European games. Most of the team play defensively in away game. Only Barca, Arsenal,Real Madrid(maybe?!?!) and few others play attacking game consistently.

  We defend very badly everytime Vidic is not around, or even when the center defense partnership change. and I dont blame SAF for playing so negatively, eventhough I do believe we can use different formation in midfield to counter this problem.

  The positive side (at least for us) is that Barca is not as effective as Ronnie’s time. Your attacking is not really impressive and we do have our chances as well. Looking back at this facts, I believe that we can win comfortably at OLD TRAFFORD when we decide to play some football. Hopefully Barca does not over confidence becos I dont want another Roma tragedy happen especially to one of my fav in La Liga.

• Tom F // Apr 25, 2008 at 3:16

  ~Manchester United Supporter~
  ”””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””””

  Firstly, I have to comment on the people who are quickly calling united a ‘bunch of girls’ or more simply ‘rubbish’ because we played the way we did against Barca.

  In the years since Sir Alex Ferguson first took United in to Europe he has become a very wise man. In any game played away from home in the Champions League, the home side is going to generally be the favourite.

  Manchester United have 3 massive games in 7 days and there was never the chance we were going to go gung-ho in to a game at the Camp Nou. Barcelona had the ball and I am certain the plan was to let them have it. We don’t mind if you keep possession in your own half or in and around the centre circle but despite a few pieces of magic your team very rarely threatened us. It was a very comfortable game, one which we never, ever looked like losing. I think the 0-0 score favours you over a score draw but for a team playing at home, not scoring was surely disappointing for your players.

  We didn’t want to run ourselves in to the ground trying to win balls in useless areas. We need to have maximum energy and maximum strength for a midday kick-off at Stamford Bridge, a game where we can win the League. Barca can rest as many players as they like over the weekend as they only have the Champions League to be worried about.

  I am not saying I think Barcelona don’t have quality, they have a quality side who have always been good. I don’t enjoy watching Wayne Rooney defending either, I prefer when our players are on the attack. I do, however, feel quite pleased with us not conceding a goal against a top quality side in a top quality stadium.

  I hate Chelsea and Liverpool even more so, having 3 English sides may not say much about which League has more quality but it certainly says the most about which League has the best Top 4. Had Arsenal not drawn a Premier League side in the quarter finals, there technically could have been 4 English sides in the Semi’s.

  I personally hope Barcelona win the Competition if Manchester United cannot continue their 11 sucessive win record in the Champions League.

  Last 11 Champions League games at Old Trafford:

  MUFC 1 - 0 AS ROMA
  MUFC 1 - 0 LYON
  MUFC 2 - 1 SPORTING
  MUFC 4- 0 DYNAMO
  MUFC 1 - 0 AS ROMA
  MUFC 3 - 2 AC MILAN
  MUFC 7 - 1 AS ROMA
  MUFC 1 - 0 LILLE
  MUFC 3 - 1 BENFICA
  MUFC 3 - 0 BENHAVN
  MUFC 3 - 2 CELTIC

  That’s our home record, a Champions League record. If Barcelona break it then they deserve to win the Champions league. It’ll take a performance better than Inter Milan 2002 (MUFC 4 - 3 Inter) and AC Milan last year (3-2 United.)

  Good luck… may the best team destroy Chelsea or Liverpool in the final.

• Varughese // Apr 25, 2008 at 5:01

  NateW:

  I do agree that we have to find a designated free kick taker. we cannot let that many chances go waste. Xavi and Deco needs to practice more.

  Tom F:
  I do agree that some people here might have called ManU’s players a bunch of girls - seeing the way they played. I thought ManU played sensibily, living to fight it on the home soil. Then you should understand that Barcelona fans were also really frustrated when the english commentators and fans did not give any respect to their team. If you go by English press and fans then actually Manchester United was playing against a bunch of craps and was expected to destroy them at Nou Camp. That frustration is being shown here.

• Liam // Apr 25, 2008 at 5:03

  Tom….. real greatness comes when u play a style no matter what, dont care who makes it through, it wont change the fact that ManU played like a minor side at Camp Nou, that Ferguson made Rooney play like a second fullback, nor that Tevez stepped more into his box than Barcas…

  U say we should understand why “Red Face” played that kind of game but…. wasnt Arsenal also racing for the league title ?? , think they faced the red devils just before playing the second leg of their CL draw vs scousers… yet, gunners played their style and always went for the win, so….. are u still sure that the match vs Chelski is a good excuse?

  Ive read some british papers…. most claim MU defense was great, truth is, all they did was placing 11 men on their side of the pitch and wait for Barca, any team can do that, look at cules last games at home and ull c theres nothing great about it, if reds didnt conceed a goal it wasnt cuz of their “amazing performance” “heroic defense” “superb tactics”…. it was cuz Barca has been struggling with scoring all this season, yes, they sure can pass the ball in the first 3/4 of the pitch, but when it comes to the last 1/4 they just dont know what to do.

  Finally, the only side that actually lost something at Camp Nou was United, they missed a penalty shot, they lost the “best team in the world” tag, the best player in the world was in Zambrottas pocket the whole match and you were humbled by the worst Barca in the past 5 years.

• Morzzan // Apr 25, 2008 at 5:47

  Madrid fan here!!
  Probably for the first time in my life, after this display, I will be cheering for Barca against the pansies from England! Hope they go through… our best wishes from everyone here at Madrid, the coach, the prez, the players, the fans of Madrid etc etc….
  Good Luck

• Joe Henry // Apr 25, 2008 at 6:37

  To Tom F.
  I can’t judge Man on just one match. Sir Alex could be defending the away game to win on home. All I can say about the game is that i like the my team’s performance ( Barca ).

• Shahenshah // Apr 25, 2008 at 7:23

  Thats nice. So it was just a training scrimmage for both sides? Man united basically wanted to see how exactly Barcelona attacks?

  Thats alright, I am pretty sure this time at Old Trafford, it will be the real deal and both sides will play attacking football. I thought having Rooney, Tevez and Cronaldo on the field at the same time after quite a few games, Ferguson was going for a heavily attacking team. Ferguson, what a sneaky bastard. Decided to play Barca the fool by letting them have the ball and completely learning their attack and approach towards the goal. Bravo on your part.

  I guess we are being too optimistic after watching this game. It was merely a scrimmage. An overly priced scrimmage. Usually it would just be teams wearing practice jerseys, with one team playing attack and the other playing defence the whole time. This game was basically the same except televised.

  I guess we were lucky Man United decided to let Barcelona have the ball and not try to attack at all. We didnt have Puyol. He is very crucial to Barca’s defence. Hell the defence is always in shambles without him. He was absent from that game because of all the card bullshit but thankfully he is back at Old Trafford for the second leg. This time Barcelona will have a stronger defence so they can be fully prepared for Man united’s full frontal attack. I guess Manchester united realized the same thing too and decided to take it easy on Marquez. Thats very nice of them.

  All things said, the second leg, as always, will be the most decisive game of the tie. This time both teams will play attacking football in search for a goal. Recent Barca form suggests they might not be very succesful against the premier league leaders but this is futbol. Anything is possible. Hell win or lose, atleast the team has the decency to attack so expect anything.

• Tom F // Apr 25, 2008 at 8:10

  Liam-I come in peace. I have not once said Manchester United are better than Barcelona or vice versa, in fact most of the press were saying Barca are the best team in the competition.

  But just quietly, if true greatness comes at playing like that, then surely you’d hope the home team, which has such quality should at least score more than a goal in there last 4 home games.

  You say Im using the excuse of the Chelsea game

  “wasnt Arsenal also racing for the league title ?? , think they faced the red devils just before playing the second leg of their CL draw vs scousers… yet, gunners played their style and always went for the win, so….. are u still sure that the match vs Chelski is a good excuse?”

  do you see as a result of playing the way they do (which I agree is beautiful football, like Barca’s) they are now going to end the season with absolutely nothing!

  As a Manchester United supporter for many years, I have seen Sir Alex go all out to attack in the Champions League. Yet we’ve always come up short on most occasions.

  I still think there’s nothing to choose between the 2 teams and whoever wins I want to lift the Cup.

  All smiles

• amiaq_ferguson // Apr 25, 2008 at 9:31

  what is important to us is your inability to score in your home soil with the support of 100k fans who keep on whistling for 90mins which is for me, very intimidating and no sportsmanship.

  how we play is purely tactical. that is the difference between team who won something and team who didnt win anything for two/three seasons in a roll (hmmm Arsenal and Barca perhaps!?!?!)

  we lead the attack at 1st, only the failure to execute the penalty had boosted the confidence in Barca.

• Jay // Apr 25, 2008 at 10:15

  To Tom

  No intentions. But the English press have been going gaga over United’s attacking potential and I think we saw what we saw. So, whenever there is such a show of ego from a team and then they put up a performance like that, I think it justifies the use of the term “women”.

• Nic // Apr 25, 2008 at 10:23

  If I can just butt in here. I find it extremely offensive that some people think that using ‘the term “women” ‘ is an insult. A great deal of my favourite people happen to be women, there are women who read this site. In my book, using “women” or “girls” as an insult is smallminded and offensive, and I don’t want to see it again.

• Tom F // Apr 25, 2008 at 11:08

  Good shout Nic!!!

• Tom F // Apr 25, 2008 at 11:16

  Jay.

  Can you please find me some quotes which show Manchester Unitedor their players are arrogant with ‘big ego’s’.

  The press in England hate Manchester United and I hate the English press.

  I think it’s fair to say that if a player is quoted saying he thinks his side can win, whether he is from Manchester United, Barcelona or any other team I wouldn’t say he has a big ego but I’d say he has belief in himself and his team mates. If a player cannot have that attitude then he shouldn’t play the game at all.

• Jay // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:01

  Tom,

  I read a lot of blogs, a lot of discussion forums, a lot of sports newspapers and have a lot of friends who are United fans. So when I make sense out of what all I read, I can only see the word “ego” as just about satisfactory to describe the attitudes.

  Players encouraging each other and the team was never my point. That is not ego, of course.

  All I’m saying is that there is too much hype about United’s attack and it showed at the Nou Camp. Let’s see what Old Trafford has to offer.

• Jay // Apr 25, 2008 at 12:05

  Basically, only football provokes my emotions.

  And when I see so much talk of Barça being torn to pieces at the Nou Camp and then nothing happening, then I’m left with two things :-
  1) Barça pride
  2) A natural impulse to rebuke the opposition and their bandwagon.

• Tom F // Apr 25, 2008 at 13:31

  I understand your point of view and even I expected more out of our attack. I wasn’t suprised by the professional manner in which we played away from home against one of the best attacking sides in the world either.

  There was also an equal amount of hype surrounding Barcelona’s attack, a team which has only scored 1 home goal in the last 4 games. It’s football, it happens like that.

  It is unfair for you to take anything away from the overall records set by Manchester United or the fact that we are a great attacking team. I’m not here to argue, just to make a clear point.

  Yes, we will see at Old Trafford.

• Liam // Apr 25, 2008 at 16:25

  Oh, never meant it to get personal, sorry about it, i know u never said MU were the best team ever, im talking in a general way.

  About getting silverware…. , I rather be loyal to my style than winning a cup, cuz im sure that it will be a matter of time that my team gets something in return for playing good (its funny how people associate playing bad with winning and playing good with falling short….. anyone who has played footie knows that it is easier to win when u play good).

  All this years United has been succesfull cuz it has played the same style, different players, true, but same idea. They are first in EPL cuz they have been playing awesome, they won the league last year cuz they were amazing aswell, so why changing it?

• layi // Apr 26, 2008 at 1:24

  liam, u got it on the spot in ur 1st reply to tom

  even levante can play 0-0 in nou camp this season…i howeva feel optimistic 4 d 2nd leg

• Tom F // Apr 26, 2008 at 6:11

  Yes you are right Liam.

  Manchester United have played the same all season, sometimes teams have bad days. Manchester United had a poor night in some terms but still came away with the result. Barcelona haven’t had a great season by their standards but had a fairly decent game against United the other night.

  I never write off teams and hav full respect for teams who play in a positive way. Over 2 legs, it is like 2 halves of a game and the reason United play in a negative way away from home in Europe is because Sir Alex Ferguson understands the threats. I as a supporter don’t mind the odd poor performance, or the odd penalty miss by Ronaldo. Over a whole year of football these are the things that separate the winners from the losers and the Champions and the “nearly made its”.

  I am strongly against those (not you) who try to put Manchester United in the same catagory as Chelsea, who week in, week out grind out results.

  No matter how you feel, as a supporter of football, Manchester United like Arsenal should never be labelled in the ‘negative’ catagory. I would never say that about Barcelona no matter how badly they have played this season. It is life but I’ll always admire them for what they believe in.

  I feel the frustration of a 0-0 draw at home is taking the “I HATE MUFC” to a new level. I feel a bit frustrated that United’s passing was awful on the night, but like I mentioned one night doesn’t make a great team poor or indeed a poor team great. The experience of all great teams will take them that extra step when everything else isn’t working.

  Once again. Good luck at Old Trafford. May the winner, lift the European Cup.

  

• Liam // Apr 26, 2008 at 17:22

  No way MU can be compared to the likes of Liverpool or Chelsea, those 2 game play is based or depends on the side they are facing.

  I will grant that they play good defensive football, but at the end of the day, playing good = defending and attacking, keeping positions, having the ball, etc, not only waiting for a mistake to counter.

  I dont hate the devils, i actually like them, same goes for gunners and any other team around the globe that tries playing football. What I cant understand is why they went all defensive vs Barca, yes it is a 180 mins match, but…. basically they dumped 90 mins hoping that in OT they run over Barca, what if they dont? In my mind its always better to go for the win, no matter what.

  Ur right about Barcelonas season but despite them having a terrible year u cant really say they havent tried getting a win in every game, they always dominate the ball possession, what they lack is goal, unlike 2-3 years ago when they scored almost every chance they had.

  Finally, yes, lest hope that MU or Barca win CL this year, I wouldnt like Chelsea nor Pool scum getting it (specially Liverfool, cant stand that club nor most of their fans).

• Jay // Apr 26, 2008 at 17:50

  Silverware shouldn’t be the decider when it comes to forming a football philosophy. It will eventually come. Or let’s say that luck plays a huge role in football.

• layi // Apr 26, 2008 at 23:27

  tom, think of it in this way,

  imagine barca should come to old trafford and defend with 11 men also and the game ends 0-0 then to penalties or even 0-1 to manu/barca (since 90 mins defendin is hard 4 barca), is it good for football…2 teams that are meant to show d beautiful side of football playin dour matches cos of desperatn 4 trophies….thats why i’m barca through n through….philosophy 1st….we neva sabotage

• Tom F // Apr 27, 2008 at 8:57

  You’ll never get my point.

  This whole season we’ve played to win. Our goal difference in the Premier League is (+53) compared to our closest rivals Chelsea (+37 ) and Arsenal (+37 ).

  The game against Barca was a good result for me as a Manchester United supporter because we didn’t play very well on the creative side and as a result our counter attacking was few and far between. It was not a pretty display by any means but neither before or after the game did Manchester United’s philosophy change.

  No matter who you are you’ll always have periods where you need to be cautious. If Barcelona did win on Penalties or even got a legitimate penalty and coverted it in injury time after defending with a team the whole game then fair play.

  In the Champions league this season both our teams have an exact record. and we’ve both scored 18 and both conceded 5.

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