Champions League 2019-20: The Final Countdown

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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Barca needs to burn it to the ground, including selling Messi if PSG or City are willing to give them 150m+ or whatever ludicrous amount he would still fetch. They are miles off Bayern and I don't see them winning La Liga again any time soon if they keep trotting out this cast of characters. Real is way way ahead of them in rebuilding at this point.
 
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Kliq

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What a ass kicking. First time a team has ever scored 8 goals in the knockout stage and it was done to Barcelona.
 

Clears Cleaver

Lil' Bill
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Barcelona stinks. Bayern is amazing, but that was an embarrassing effort. Passive and weak.

Bayern v City...first one to 5 wins?
 

teddykgb

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Setien was probably getting fired anyway but surely this is the nail in the coffin. Have to think this may even impact Barca’s ever present elections. The kind of defeat that will change the fortunes of multiple teams I would think
 

Zososoxfan

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I was arguing with my Barca buddy before, but yeah, if this doesn't convince the socis to dissolve the Board, I'd have to really rethink my allegiance to the club.

All credit to Bayern--they're a goddamned force to be reckoned with and they took out years of frustration in those 90 minutes. I will gather my thoughts more later, but I'd caution anyone who's ready to grant them the title right now.

Barca are an abject mess and it was laid bare. Bayern was shaky for a 10-15 minute stretch in the first half, but once they gained confidence in their high line, it was Brazil vs. Germany Vol. II time. Barca only succeeded in the first 25 minutes because Semedo and Alba pushed in behind the high defensive line. Once Barca stopped feeding it, there was no other plan. Barca have the quality to beat very good teams, but not Europe's best 5-10 clubs anymore. I say that because you have to include sides like RBL and Atalanta, who I honestly think beat Barca at least 50% of the time. Not to mention that Barca drew against Sevilla and Atelti after the restart--this is where the club is at the moment. In other words, aside from Lyon, I think all the other QF clubs would also push Barca at a minimum (Atalanta, PSG, RBL, Atleti, PSG), if not embarrass them to some extent (MANC). Not to mention other strong clubs that didn't make it like LIVERPOOL, Man U, Chelsea, Spurs, Juve, Inter. Arsenal even in their current form can still suck it (more seriously, I put Barca slightly ahead of Arsenal still).

Everyone other than Messi (who should be given the choice to stay or not because he's transcendent and should be given the opportunity to play at the club as long as he wants), FDJ, and MATS can go. I'd keep Ansu and Puig too. But the first step in even trying to fix this is firing the full Board out of a cannon. Step 2 is hiring a bona fide manager and Technical/Sporting Director and let them manage the football side of things like pros. My kingdom for Poch or Nagelsmann.
 
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SocrManiac

Tommy Seebach’s mustache
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Apr 15, 2006
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It’s incredible to me that two of the most incredible players in history played for two of the worst coaching hires imaginable in the same year.
 

coremiller

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It’s incredible to me that two of the most incredible players in history played for two of the worst coaching hires imaginable in the same year.
Setien has not done a good job but Barca's problems run way deeper than him.
 

teddykgb

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I have a lot more sympathy for Setien than for Sarri. There are only so many mid season replacements and it didn’t seem like anyone was willing to jump at that job. The roster at Barca has been decimated by Griezmann and Dembele not working out as well as De Jong not taking his play to a higher level. Those were the players who were supposed to propel Barca forward to not be so dependent on Messi and it just hasn’t panned out. While I’m not saying Setien is blameless I’m not sure who would have achieved much different with the talent available
 

Section30

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Bayern is running as smooth as a V12 Duesenberg.

I honestly thought part way through the first half that Barca was playing a man down and I just missed the red card.
 

Kliq

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What was up with the Spanish dude the CBS post game show brought in crying about how financially Spanish clubs can’t compete with teams in other countries? Perhaps that is true on a macro level when it comes to La Liga as a whole, but Barca and Real have spent basically the same amount of money on incoming players over the past three seasons as Man U and City combined. That’s a load of shit.

Carragher made a great point saying that when you are someone’s Messi’s age, you don’t want to see players your age around you, you want younger players that can help you. Barca spent big on Griezmann, Dembele and Coutinho and two of them are on the bench and the other one was on the other team.
 

InstaFace

The Ultimate One
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The MLS system produced a youth player who could star at Bayern and rip apart Barcelona and the guy is fucking Canadian! Ugh!
And, worst of all, he's a LEFT BACK, our white whale.

It's just karma for us taking Sydney Leroux, and then dumping her on the highway like a used fast-food container.
 

67YAZ

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Someone is going to run for club president on the promise of binging back Pep. I guess the question is, is there any possible offer that could actually do that?
 

teddykgb

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Have to think that’s impossible. The next season starts so soon I’m not even sure Barca could hold elections before it starts. Either way, I think Pep probably holds Ferran Soriano and Txixi Begiristan in too high regard to leave them behind for a restart at Barca. And I can’t see Barca poaching the entirety of Citys leadership especially when Soriano framed of building the Barca football group but only got to actually do it at City.

It’s strange but at this point Pep has managed away from Barca longer than he managed there. I think he will likely move on very soon but probably for a new challenge
 

OilCanMDS

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I don't know if I've ever seen a coach as incompetent and uninterested in understanding why he's terrible as Setien. Barca apparently grabbed him from a farm after a mediocre coaching career because they had no idea what to do after succumbing to pressure to fire Valverde. Setien has never once provided evidence that he has any understanding of the club he's coaching or the club he is facing. Today's Bayern match is just the culmination of a club spending enough time under a coach asleep at the wheel and a competent team identifying the disaster they are facing.

It almost feels unfair to be mad at Setien because the man is so fucking stupid that he continued to run a 4-4-2 with Vidal and Roberto on the wings as the team was down 4-1, and looked legitimately perplexed as Bayern scored their 4th goal as Barcelona again failed to move the ball from their defense to the forwards because de Jong was essentially the only competent midfielder on the field. The man truly had no idea what is happening on his own team or what the other team is trying to do, and it feels like he was put in place to sabotage the team for a bigger rebuild. I hope I never have to see his stupid fucking confused face on the sidelines as the midfield gets overrun or we struggle to score goals because he's decided to play the worst possible iteration of our midfield or forwards while telling the press that he can't make changes until the 90th minute because the clearly useful players are "too disruptive" or "don't fit in with his scheme."
 

teddykgb

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Imo that would be a very high risk move for Pochettino. Maybe he is good enough to unlock all that talent but it’s very clearly a miserable job which won’t be made easier by an aging core and a bunch of pieces which don’t seem to fit. If he unlocks it then he’d receive accolades but that job seems like it’s destined to chew you up and spit you out right now
 

67YAZ

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LOL just saw that Barca have to pay Liverpool €5m if Coutinho is in the UCL winning squad.
 

Morgan's Magic Snowplow

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I don't like Pep's team selection here at all. A Rodri, Gundogan, Fernandinho midfield with KDB on the wing? This feels a lot like the first leg of the Spurs tie last year when he went ultraconservative. I don't know why he always feels the need to tinker in the CL knockouts and won't just play the team and tactics that have gotten him there.
 

67YAZ

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I don't like Pep's team selection here at all. A Rodri, Gundogan, Fernandinho midfield with KDB on the wing? This feels a lot like the first leg of the Spurs tie last year when he went ultraconservative. I don't know why he always feels the need to tinker in the CL knockouts and won't just play the team and tactics that have gotten him there.
Pep can’t hell himself sometimes, but I see the logic here. The 3 MFs will create a ton of traffic in the middle of the pitch, bottling up the numbers advantage Lyon try to create with their 3-5-2. And with Sterling & KDB out wide, they’re daring the Lyon wingbacks to get forward to offer a way around the central congestion. I mean, it looks great on the whiteboard.
 

teddykgb

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Pep can’t hell himself sometimes, but I see the logic here. The 3 MFs will create a ton of traffic in the middle of the pitch, bottling up the numbers advantage Lyon try to create with their 3-5-2. And with Sterling & KDB out wide, they’re daring the Lyon wingbacks to get forward to offer a way around the central congestion. I mean, it looks great on the whiteboard.
if he wanted to play this formation then I don’t understand why Walker isn’t at CB with Cancelo on his natural right and Mendy on left. And either way you need Foden in midfield to move the deep block of Lyon, Gundogan + Rodri has been a problem all season
 

Zososoxfan

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Pep can’t hell himself sometimes, but I see the logic here. The 3 MFs will create a ton of traffic in the middle of the pitch, bottling up the numbers advantage Lyon try to create with their 3-5-2. And with Sterling & KDB out wide, they’re daring the Lyon wingbacks to get forward to offer a way around the central congestion. I mean, it looks great on the whiteboard.
But does it look as good as Mahrez down the wing and KDB in a free role in the middle. Or @teddykgb 's setup.

Also, ho lee fuk
 

teddykgb

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He can’t undo the damage of the original lineup. He probably needs 3 attacking subs to bring a threat against what will now be a very deep block.

edit: Incomplete thought... he needs multiple attacking subs but also needs to deal with Fernandinho turning into a corpse on a yellow and Gundogan and Rodri not able to supply enough attacking threat. The change probably needs to be an immediate double change of Foden or Bernardo for Fernandinho and Mahrez or Bernardo for Gundogan andit should have been made already
 
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teddykgb

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It’s hard to explain how furious I was:am with that lineup. City had an unfathomable 9 losses in the league this season and started with Rodri and Gundogan in 6 of them. Pep is the best manager who will ever manage my team but he has an absolute blind spot there and it is killing the team
 

Section30

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I haven't seen that wall setup by Lyon before. Is the man behind the wall doing a hurdler stretch to stop balls going under the wall?