UEFA Champions League 08/09

[Matt]

yeah, I don't get how anyone can say away goals are confusing. If after 2 legs the scores are tied, see who scored the most goals away from home. It's also good in that it means we have less games going to penalties.

Edited May 8, 2009 by Footjob Fever

[EddieG]

Making penalties o so more special.

Also, what exactly was the "foul language" used by Drogba?

[therockbox]

Shouted "It's a disgrace... a fucking disgrace!" right into the camera, live on Sky. They then replayed it a bit later and forgot to blank 'fucking' out.

[stokeriño]

It's a fucking BEEP!

[The Quasi Juice]

Yes and then they say "oh I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen, we apologise of the language". Why? It's not their fault now is it? Could they have known Drogba was going to swear at the camera? Hell no. So it always irritates me when they suddenly turn politically correct while Drogba going insane equals ratings and they know it.

[Matt]

They have to apologise though, Drogba's not going to go on and do it is he? And it was their fault when they replayed it and put the bleep in at the wrong time.

[IAceI]

Not to mention there was probably countless kids up watching it seeing a giant black man swearing to them basically. Can never be a good sight

I still love when Chris Rock swore at Live Earth and Jonathan Ross laughed while trying to apologise, then next time we saw him he'd clearly been told "Apologise and do it fucking properly." And he came on all serious looking to apologise again. Fantastic.

[Hobo]

Shouted "It's a disgrace... a fucking disgrace!" right into the camera, live on Sky. They then replayed it a bit later and forgot to blank 'fucking' out.

Not just on Sky. I'm going to assume it was the standard feed they use for the Champs Lge. Same feed was used by RTE and I don't remember anyone on RTE apologizing either.

[Turbo Yannis]

Aren't they a bit mental on RTE though? I remember reading something on FFT a few years back...

[therockbox]

Shouted "It's a disgrace... a fucking disgrace!" right into the camera, live on Sky. They then replayed it a bit later and forgot to blank 'fucking' out.

Not just on Sky. I'm going to assume it was the standard feed they use for the Champs Lge. Same feed was used by RTE and I don't remember anyone on RTE apologizing either.

Sky actually replayed it during the post-match analysis though, and they put the volume down after Drogba had said 'fucking' so only disgrace was cut. By the sound of it everyone in the studio shat themselves.

[Turbo Yannis]

In all fairness, Drogba was spot on though

[therockbox]

Roy

Meanwhile, Fulham manager Roy Hodgson has hit out at TV pundit Jamie Redknapp's criticism of the choice of Tom Henning Ovrebo as referee for the Stamford Bridge clash.

Redknapp questioned the decision to allow the Norwegian, who combines officiating with his work as a psychologist, to oversee such a high-profile match.

Barcelona scored in injury time to earn an aggregate victory, but controversy surrounded the performance of Ovrebo who turned down four Chelsea penalty appeals during the match.

But Hodgson said: "Do you want to go down the Redknapp route - only England, Italy and Spain count?"

"There's 60 countries in Europe. Do we say to the other 57: 'Sorry pal, you're not Premier League'."

Hodgson, who managed Viking FK in Norway in 2004-5, added: "Norway is good enough. The average crowd in Norway is 15,000 and that's in a country of 4m. We can only average 25,000 in a country of 60m people.

"What are we going to do in future? Are we going to make certain because the Premier League has Sky Sports behind them and loads and loads of money if you are not in England then forget all about it?

"Are we going to say 'You're from Spain, you might be just about okay but the rest of you, Switzerland, France, Poland, Russia, Austria, Ukraine, Slovenia, Serbia, you don't count?' It's nonsense."

[Adam]

Fair play on Roy, he's a terrific manager who talks a lot of sense. It was stupid to criticise the choice of referee for his nationality or experience, his furst UEFA officiated match was in 1999, is that not long enough?

[Hobo]

We're talking about something Jamie Redknapp said, he was a great player but he's a bit of a dumbass pundit who constantly wears crotch hugging pants.

[therockbox]

Iniesta is out of the final, torn a thigh muscle.

Abidal, Alves, Marquez, Milito, Henry and now Iniesta out. Ouch.

[Matt]

Fuck's sake, Man Utd vs. Barca Reserves. I heard Toure's out too, not sure if that's true or not.

[Adam]

I hope he's not out, but it doesn't look good. This report is a little bit encouraging.

Barcelona Hero Iniesta In Danger Of Missing Champions League Final

‘San Andres’ could be forced to sit out the showpiece event in Rome after sustaining an injury in Sunday’s game against Villarreal.

Barcelona midfielder, Andres Iniesta will miss Wednesday’s Copa del Rey final with Atheltic Bilbao after pulling up with an injury late in the game during the 3-3 draw with Villarreal Sunday evening.

The club’s medical staff have confirmed that the 24-year-old suffered a muscle tear in his right leg and he is now at risk of also missing the Blaugrana’s Champions League final with Manchester United on May 27.

Further tests will be carried on Monday evening to determine the extent of the injury and ascertain his recovery time.

Pep Guardiola defiantly told reporters after the match, “The injury is the bad news of the day. We will have another 11 players ready, but if they suffer a setback too, we will throw in our back-up.”

In addition, Barca will also be without the services of left-back Eric Abidal in the Copa final after he picked up a red card against the Yellow Submarines. He will also be banned for the Champions League final against the Red Devils.

KS Leong, Goal.com

My confidence doesn't grow for Barca in this final with all the players missing, plus they failed to get into the penalty box against Chelsea and I'm wondering if they'll suffer the same problem in Rome.

[Hobo]

Aren't they a bit mental on RTE though? I remember reading something on FFT a few years back...

A bit. It's mostly Dunphy clucking on about how everyone is shit except Manchester United, sometimes we get lucky and he's drunk off his face. John Giles discussing or disagreeing with him while Bill O'Herlihy goes "alright then" and "okie-doe". With token other guy, either Souness, Houghton, Trevor Stevens or whoever else they get to add to the atmosphere.

For example:

[Pesci]

Was just looking at teletext and apparently Chelsea fans are eager to get their own back on Ovrebo.

How, you ask? By making sure Norway don't win Eurovision.

[stokeriño]

It's Eurovision. The voting's already as farcical as it's going to get.