Champions League Thread

[lanky316]

Wait...what? He goes for a challenge that smacked of attempted decapitation, and gets a ONE game ban? Let me draw your mind back a couple of years. Last day of the Premiership season, Charlton host Fulham. Dean Kiely comes out to catch a high ball, Louis Saha stands in the box. Kiely jumps, catches it, and lands beside Saha.

Saha goes down like he's been shot. Referee waltzes over and sends Kiely off. Straight red, therefore it's an instant three-game ban.

I'm not seeing the logic here.

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[lazy_arse]

Never mind Van Persie, that was nearly Van Dam.

It was a poor challenge, but there wasn't any intent in it. But I suppose the referee's should remain consistent. I feel it was similar to Mido against Chelsea, no intent, but just wreckless. So if Mido gets the full ban then so should Van Persie. By reducing it they are simply undermining the referee, which is in contrast to what they wanted at the start of the season with them saying that referee's decisions should be respected and less of this ref intimidating.

[Guest Pirate Chasin' Booty]

What Persie got is about right, cant see it hurting Arsenal too much either.

Patrick Vieira has urged Wayne Rooney not to cool his fiery temper, despite the Manchester United player's sending off against Villarreal.

Rooney was dismissed during Wednesday's UEFA Champions League tie in Spain after sarcastically applauding Kim Milton Nielsen's decision to book him for a foul.

Though it was only Rooney's second red card of his career, the teenage forward has previously been involved in several heated altercations with opposition players.

But Juventus midfielder Vieira believes Rooney's tempestuous character is a key facet behind him becoming England's best young player of his generation.

Vieira does not feel it is necessary for the United ace to change dramatically and expects Rooney will eventually learn to control the wilder side of his nature.

"I think the potential and talent is there," Vieira told Sky Sports News. "There's no doubt about it, he's a fantastic player.

"He is a terrific player who has just started and everybody looks after him but, after all, you need that temperament and anger as it's part of his game.

"I hope he's not going to change it. That's how he is and, if he is who he is right now, it's because he's a strong player.

"He just needs to learn a little bit about it but I'm not worried about it. He will sort himself out."

Former Arsenal captain Vieira was also sent off on Wednesday as Juventus earned a 2-1 victory at Club Brugge, with the Frenchman unhappy with his dismissal.

He added: "It was really harsh and difficult to accept.

"After all it is the decision of the referee and I have to accept it but what is important is to win and take three points."

Vieira's ex-Arsenal team-mate Robin van Persie was another player to see red on Wednesday after a high challenge on FC Thun defender Alen Orman.

Van Persie has endured a troubled past couple of months but Vieira has backed the Dutch international to come good for The Gunners.

"The potential, of course, is there for Robin," continued Vieira. "He has a fantastic left foot and is a terrific player.

"He will need to play a little bit more to get confidence. It's all about confidence with him at the moment. The more he gets on the pitch, the more confidence he will have."

Thought this could go here too as it's based around the CL. I think Patrick is dead on right too, Rooney SHOULDN'T start even attempting to go soft. While he maybe needs to cool down a touch at times, it's his temper that sometimes shows exactly how much passion he has for football and how much he wants to win. While he shouldn't be going too crazy I think he doesn't need to really calm anything down.

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[Guest sahyder2k5]

So it's back today, here are my awful predictions

Ajax 1-0 Arsenal

Barcelona 1-0 Udinese

Bayern Munich 2-0 Club Brugge

FC Thun 0-1 Sparta Prague

Juventus 2-0 Rapid Vienna

Lille 0-2 Villarreal

Man Utd 1-0 Benfica

Panathinaikos 0-2 Werder Bremen

Anderlecht 1-1 Real Betis

Porto 2-0 Artmedia Bratislava

Fenerbahce 1-2 PSV

Inter Milan 2-1 Rangers

Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea

Real Madrid 2-1 Olympiakos

Rosenborg 0-3 Lyon

Schalke 04 0-2 Milan

[Turbo Yannis]

Ajax 0-0 Arsenal

Barcelona 2-1 Udinese

Bayern Munich 2-0 Club Brugge

FC Thun 0-2 Sparta Prague

Juventus 1-0 Rapid Vienna

Lille 0-1 Villarreal

Man Utd 1-0 Benfica

Panathinaikos 0-2 Werder Bremen

Anderlecht -1 Real Betis

Porto 1-1 Artmedia Bratislava

Fenerbahce 0-2 PSV

Inter Milan 2-0 Rangers

Liverpool 0-5 Chelsea >_>

Real Madrid 2-0 Olympiakos

Rosenborg 0-2 Lyon

Schalke 04 1-3 Milan

[Different Cloud]

Ajax 1-2 Arsenal

Barcelona 2-0 Udinese

Bayern Munich 2-0 Club Brugge

FC Thun 1-0 Sparta Prague

Juventus 3-0 Rapid Vienna

Lille 0-2 Villarreal

Man Utd 2-0 Benfica

Panathinaikos 1-1 Werder Bremen

Anderlecht 0-1 Real Betis

Porto 3-0 Artmedia Bratislava

Fenerbahce 0-2 PSV

Inter Milan 0-1 Rangers

Liverpool 0-2 Chelsea

Real Madrid 3-0 Olympiakos

Rosenborg 0-2 Lyon

Schalke 04 1-3 Milan

Edited September 27, 2005 by Thomas Buffel

[Guest muddatrucker]

I struggle to see where any goals from Arsenal will be coming from tonite, lets hope Reyes has brought his shooting boots.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

I struggle to see where any goals from Arsenal will be coming from tonite, lets hope Reyes has brought his shooting boots.

[therockbox]

I struggle to see where any goals from Arsenal will be coming from tonite, lets hope Reyes has brought his shooting boots.

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Pretty good night again tonight.

We played pretty damn good, but Zlatan was pure shocking for the first 80 minutes. Possibly the worst game I've ever seen him play. Outside of him, everyone else played well. Then Mutu came on, and good god did he prove a lot. I've got no clue why we were considering to off load this guy already, because he pretty much helped us to this victory. 1-0 up until 80 odd minutes, then Mutu got his nice goal and from there we just marched to victory. I think the Mutu goal just killed Rapid and made them close off, leading to finally Zlatan scoring a lovely goal. Overall, without Vieira we were pretty damn good. I'd like to see Del/Mutu get a chance against Bayern. Oh and OH MY GOD...Abiatti actually had a good match

Barca destroyed Udinese, which was a bit surprising. Udinese have been poor over the last few weeks, but I never expected it to be 4-1. I'll be watching highlights of the rest of the games later on ITV, sounds like a good night

[Turbo Yannis]

Just saw Kolo Toure and Charisteas' collision. Fucking ouch.

Edited September 27, 2005 by Turbonegro

[Different Cloud]

Reminded me of Dado Prso's against Porto.

Not really any major shocks tonight.

[The Kraig]

Great games tonight from a Rangers point of view.

Inter vs Rangers, Arsenal vs Chelsea, Porto (who Rangers beat) vs Artmedia Bratislava (who beat Celtic).

I expect Inter, Chelsea, Real, Porto, Milan, PSV, Anderlecht and Lyon to win tonight.

But I hope Rangers can do SOMETHING thing season.

This empty stadium is fucking weird. Why not just fill it with Rangers fans? That'd be AWESOME~!

Edited September 28, 2005 by The Kraig

[Darloboy]

I predict a 1-0 win for Chelsea, simply because Liverpool haven't looked particularly threatening in front of goal this season so far. They've done well in Europe by changing their style a bit but this will be just like a Premiership game so they'll have to think of something different.

And I also predict a 2-1 win for Rangers.

[The Kraig]

Technically, Inter scored. But it was offside.

My brain is creating crowd sounds because I'm watching this. It's weird. I think I might need to go find some big seashells and put them on my ears. Or cups, or something.

AND FUCK, Lovenkrands just missed an empty goal. And again, it looks fucking weird without a crowd. I just can't help saying it, it's fucking. weird.

Hey, Raul actually scored for Real. Wow.

And it's 1-1 between Schalke and Milan. I have no idea how that happened.

Edited September 28, 2005 by The Kraig

[The Kraig]

Oh my diving shit. Waterreus came out, made the save on the ball and then tripped the Inter guy in the same motion accidentally. And it's a penalty.

AND INTER FUCKING MISSED.

I have a really good feeling tonight is going to kick ass.

Shit, double-posted. And what the cunt is Ricksen doing. He just passed it back to the halfway line when he had loads of space and there were about 5-6 guys in the box, or making a run of some sort. Which Inter then pounced on and just missed with a counter attack. Idiot.

This has been a pretty physical game, from both teams. I like it.

Edited September 28, 2005 by The Kraig

[ADG]

Kraigy said he was lonely so here I am. Rangers are looking good but I expect to see Adriano sometime in this second half if Inter don't score soon.

Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit. Inter on the counter and well away by Rangers.

Phew.

1-0 to Inter. Deflected free kick. It was coming but still a shame to see it. Now we need to push up more and try to find a bit of luck up the other end.

[TMM]

Just saw Kolo Toure and Charisteas' collision. Fucking ouch.

There's that, and you can't forget that hilarious decision from the referee to BOOK Toure for it!

The game was really good I thought. There were spells where Ajax were better than us, but for the majority of the game we were so much better. Not to many scoring chances, but we were the better team. Also, was happy to see the Ajax 'keeper only get a yellow card for the penalty. Blatant penalty, but wasn't send-offable. Ha, I made a new word...

[Different Cloud]

1-0 Inter, shitty deflected Goal

[Asuka's Gonna Kill You]

Liverpool/Chelsea was good. Maybe it was just me, but the referee was pretty Liverpool biased at times. Not majorly, but he really did have one or two poor decisions, like that Wright-Phillips tackle which was fine, yet he gives a yellow card :ohwell:

Personally I dunno if Liverpool will be too happy. I mean at home, I thought they could have sneaked the win, and it's going to be a bitch going to Chelsea and winning, because they're so going to be hyped up for that one. It'll be a damn good game that's for sure. Drogba had an awful game I though, should start Crespo next time.