their current midfield and forward line has to go down as one of the greatest of all time in club football, potential wise and the fact they are currently scoring for fun in spain and europe.

even bojan, their most successful underage footballer of all time (breaking most of messi's records) cant hold down a place on the team or even get on it at the moment. pick you best 11 from liverpool, man u, chelsea and arsenal and they still wouldnt beat barcas current team.

i fear for chelsea if barca come on form. they only raised the tempo against bayern for 45 minutes and took their foot of the gas for the next half and game.

viva fútbol club barcelona

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4124 - 14/04/2009 23:15:59    257230

Absolutely, if you are a fan of football then Barca are the team you want to see win the CL, they are awesome and a real joy to watch, and unusual for this day and age, remain true to their roots and their fans. Go barca go.

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 14/04/2009 23:25:44    257246

brendtheredhand
County: Tyrone
Posts: 274
Very good brendan if only you said that on a Gaa forum.

tomaoo7 (Dublin) - Posts: 5896 - 14/04/2009 23:32:55    257267

It was the first time that we met....oops we talkin soccer??

P.Joycestick (Galway) - Posts: 158 - 14/04/2009 23:35:32    257279

tomaoo7, for Barcelona read Tyrone;o)

brendtheredhand (Tyrone) - Posts: 10897 - 14/04/2009 23:36:24    257281

Compared to the English teams, they have a great defence as well, although much maligned by the UK/Irish media.

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 15/04/2009 00:52:25    257376

barca will be caught out at the back yet, if the good drogba turns up
barca are absolutely class going forward and iniesta and xavi make them tick.
im a man united fan but they wont win the CL as they dont seem to have the same hunger as last year.
they need to get rid of ronaldo and bring in ribery and a world class central midfielder like iniesta

its hard to know how the barca chelsea game will go, i think it all depends on the midfield battle.
if essien can keep xavi at bay, chelsea will go through

titus (Longford) - Posts: 390 - 15/04/2009 01:07:54    257385

Visca Barca!!!

wise_guy (Tyrone) - Posts: 1584 - 15/04/2009 10:05:12    257455

Barcelona will beat Chelsea and win the Champions league if they defend like they did against Utd last year in the semi final i know they lost over the two legs but they actually defended bery well agaisnt a United team who were playin out of their skin last seaon.Chelsea wont have enough of the ball to hurt Barcelona and i cant wait to see what Messi has up his sleeve for Chelsea.

UptheDeise (Waterford) - Posts: 225 - 15/04/2009 11:14:58    257513

Barcas defence is poor. Sure, a united reject starts for them. As a united fan, i wouldnt be one bit worried about their forward line, our defence would sort them buks out. But their midfield is quality, Iniesta and Xavi, possibly the best player in the world at the minute

Rf (Donegal) - Posts: 291 - 15/04/2009 13:12:56    257653

yes ok RF whatever you say. the only problem is you obviously havnt seen the catalans play all season. a man u full strenght back line could not cope with henry, eto'o, messi, bojan. no team in the world could. even and understrenght out of form barca last year should have hammered an on form man u. if bayern let in 4 goals in 45 minutes before barca took it easy how do you think united will hold them out for 90 at a high tempo.

and RF barca concentrate on attack. if i was a united fan i would be more worried about uniteds defence

xavi and inesta are not as creative as everyone says they are. they created nothing in the euros for long periods for spain and the manager was forced to put on fabregas in every match to turn it around. messi pulls all the strings for barca and when he's on form they all are on form and play well of him

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4124 - 15/04/2009 14:53:07    257788

goodbye chelsea

32_4_1 (Meath) - Posts: 4124 - 28/04/2009 16:07:24    270385

Barca have a much better defence than any of the other teams left. Can't imagine Liverpool scoring 4 past them, or Bolton 3.

So if they have any forwards at all, they should do well.

Of course I believe the competition to be advertising controlled and still suspect Chelsea may be the designated winners.

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 28/04/2009 17:15:02    270479

32_4_1 your talking trash again.

iniesta and xavi are the two most creative midfielders in the world. without those two, barca would be an average side.
if man united had these two and barca had carrick and fletcher, i wonder would messi, etoo or henry score as much.

iniesta scored one and set up three when barca played sevilla last wednesday night, class player

titus (Longford) - Posts: 390 - 28/04/2009 17:48:29    270528

I do not care who wins the CL as long as it is not Chelsea i hate them and their supporters

Redhot (Cork) - Posts: 739 - 28/04/2009 17:59:18    270540

Patrique, agree that the Barca defence isn't all that bad but I think Utd and Chelsea's are better. Barca concede more goals because their emphasis is very much on attack with their full backs getting forward at every opportunity which can leave them exposed at the back. Best team to watch though their attacking play is unbelievable. Love the conspiracy theory hope your right I stuck 50 quid on Chelsea in the CL when Hiddink took over - he's pretty good in these types of tournaments.

bluboy (Dublin) - Posts: 318 - 28/04/2009 18:40:10    270589

32_4_1, I can at least kinda see where you're coming from when you say Barcelona's attack would be too much for Man Utd if they met, as Barca are scoring for fun recently and Utd's defence has looked a bit shaky(thought it's still all speculation). But when you say Barca should have hammered Man Utd last year I know you're talking nonsense, can you clarify why you think this? They were two tight games last year, only separated by a sublime Scholes goal, so I really don't see where you're coming from. Do you actually have a clue about football or are you just an extreme ABU? From recent posts I'd say it's probably the latter.

mid-mon man (Monaghan) - Posts: 1680 - 28/04/2009 19:48:39    270633

Two close off side decisions against E'To, a clear penalty for Henry, no red card for Ballack, on such close decisions the designated team can triumph. And no Puyol or Marquez next week.

Did you see Pique? On that display he is the second best central mid-fielder United ever had, after Paul of course. Croos field, defence splitting 40 yards balls, what a gem. Who let him go?

patrique (Antrim) - Posts: 13709 - 28/04/2009 23:17:51    270800

i feel privelidged to have watched them live at parkhead! :D. even though we got beat 3-2 it was still a good night, seein what them boys could do.

glenn_abu (Down) - Posts: 515 - 29/04/2009 09:55:40    270930

patrique County: Antrim Posts: 3151 270800 Two close off side decisions against E'To, a clear penalty for Henry, no red card for Ballack, on such close decisions the designated team can triumph. And no Puyol or Marquez next week. Did you see Pique? On that display he is the second best central mid-fielder United ever had, after Paul of course. Croos field, defence splitting 40 yards balls, what a gem. Who let him go? Haha LOL!! Whats it like swimming with those egyptian fish Patrique????? Getting the excuses in very early! United let him go cos he simply was not good enough! Good for Barca, not good enough for United!! Typical comment from yourself anyway in pulling a dig at United out of nowhere. They never seem to be out of your thoughts Patrique? Do you not worry about coming across as bitter in every post you make on the non-GAA board? I wasn't a bit surprised to see that result last night. Every year we hear the same thing "Barcelona are the team to beat"" and every year they flatter to deceive. Don't get me wrong I'd love to see them do well and they can still get to the final its just I hate the attitude that they have some "divine right" to winning it cos they play nice football. THey have played in some of the dullest champions league games going and that cant be blamed on the opposition every time. They weren't the most sproting last night either and it was great to see toure get booked for waving the imaginary card at the ref. Plenty of diving from Alves and others too. Hopefully the return leg will be a goalfest and the best team wins.

Breffni40 (Cavan) - Posts: 12293 - 29/04/2009 10:14:30    270938