Real Madrid - The European Cup final

[magicrat]

We need to score 3 goals.

 

I would settle for one more than Madrid

[rubble-rouser]

My manager just got a ticket for the final through our company.  His last game?  The Seville final. 

 

Cunt. If he has an ounce of dignity he should fuck it off.

 

I just don't get the  mentality. My ticket gets used by various lads throughout the season when I can't go to home games (most weeks) - all on the understanding that I can go when I like and use the ticket for anything they have qualified it for through going to aways etc.

 

I just can't bring myself to even think about one of the lads whose been all over Europe this season missing out because I choose to be a big match blert. 

 

I just don't know what mindset you'd have going to a game like that if you're not arsed enough to go the rest of the time.  

[rubble-rouser]

I would settle for one more than Madrid

 

Shit. we need 6 then. 

[magicrat]

Shit. we need 6 then. 

 

Maybe

 

You never know sometimes.  Both teams will be wary of each others fire-power and it could actually be quite a cagey nervous affair, 

[Tony Moanero]

Cunt. If he has an ounce of dignity he should fuck it off.

 

I just don't get the mentality. My ticket gets used by various lads throughout the season when I can't go to home games (most weeks) - all on the understanding that I can go when I like and use the ticket for anything they have qualified it for through going to aways etc.

 

I just can't bring myself to even think about one of the lads whose been all over Europe this season missing out because I choose to be a big match blert.

 

I just don't know what mindset you'd have going to a game like that if you're not arsed enough to go the rest of the time.

To be fair, mate, we don’t know anything about the lad in question. He may previously have been a regular match goer. Who knows? I qualified for a ticket in 2005 and went. I didn’t qualify for one in 2007, as I had stopped going regularly. I still went to Athens, just had a week there as my annual holiday. I watched the game in some fan zone/park, but would have bought a ticket had the opportunity arisen and I’d been able to afford one.

[Anubis]

Hate seeing stuff like this given what complete non-entities in the game earn now.

 

 

Just days before Liverpool face Real Madrid in another European Cup Final, one of the heroes of the Reds’ first final victory over Real Madrid is putting his three winners’ medals up for auction.

 

ECHO Head of Sport David Prentice writes that Terry McDermott’s winner’s medals from 1977, 1978 and 1981 - when Real Madrid were beaten at the Parc des Princes - will be auctioned at Sotheby’s today.

 

McDermott said:

 

“It’s to look after my kids, help them get on the property ladder. I’m doing it for them. It’s nice to have the medals but they’re at risk of theft or you keep them in a vault. What’s the point of that?”

 

 

[Section_31]

I think we'll either batter them or get battered, there'll be no half measures.

[Nelly-Szoboszlai]

There's our team talk, right there. Arrogant twats...

 

 

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2777094

 

Why Everyone in Madrid Is so Confident Real Will Beat 'Mentally Weak' LiverpoolRICHARD FITZPATRICKMAY 21, 2018

 

Alberto Saiz/Associated Press

 

On Saturday, Real Madrid will play Liverpool in the UEFA Champions League final in Kiev, Ukraine. In Madrid, they couldn't be more composed at the thought of it. There is a sense of stillness in the air. You could almost reach out and touch it. There's little to trouble the mind about the prospect of facing Jurgen Klopp's freewheeling Liverpool side.

 

"There isn't any sensation of fear in Madrid about Liverpool—among the directors, among the players," says Diego Torres, a journalist with El Pais. "They're relaxed in Real Madrid before this final. They've never been so calm and confident in the club before a final than now. This final is the easiest final they have in front of them, all of them—[club president] Florentino Perez, the captains. Everyone."

 

Real Madrid have history on their side. It's a theme that the press in the city is playing up. "Liverpool will be crushed by Real Madrid's legend," Julian Ruiz wrote in El Mundo once the final pairings were decided. Real Madrid have been here before. They know how to win. They have played in 15 European Cup finals. They have won 12 of them.

 

"People say history and statistics don't necessarily play a part, but it does," says Phil Kitromilides, presenter on The Spanish Football Podcast. "Maybe not for the opponents—maybe they can block it out; maybe they can't—but for Real Madrid, it certainly plays a part in their self-belief, in believing their own hype. They believe they are the kings of Europe—the fans sing, 'We are the kings of Europe.' They believe they are the strongest team in this competition. And history shows they are."

 

"Real Madrid are favourites because of the weight of history and because of the experience the players have in these finals," added Tomas Roncero, a journalist with Diario AS. "The other day they did a study and the Real Madrid squad has 46 Champions League-winning medals; Liverpool don't have a player who has won the Champions League."

 

VI-Images/Getty Images

 

Roncero points towards the doggedness that dragged Real Madrid through previous finals against Atletico Madrid in 2014 and 2016, for instance, in which they were under the cosh but pulled through.

 

"They learned how to suffer and to win," he says. "Liverpool may have the dream and the hunger, but Madrid have the experience—they know how to deal with the pressure of a match like this.

 

"Real Madrid have been created to play finals. Sometimes they might play poorly in second legs en route to the final—in the second leg this season against Juventus, for example, and also in the second leg against Bayern Munich, but it's very hard to see them playing so badly in a final. Real Madrid in finals are very secure, very competitive. The whole team are convinced they are going to win. They never play with a fear of losing. In a final, that makes their rival shrink."

 

When assessing Liverpool's mindset, critics in Madrid see a team with a soft underbelly, says the English broadcaster Kitromilides: "Liverpool are viewed as being a bit fragile mentally. If they were a boxer, they might have a glass chin. They can be got at. If it gets tough, they don't necessarily find a way to grind out results and hold on, like Real Madrid do.

 

"Even in the semi-final tie against AS Roma, in the first leg, once those two second-half goals went in, there was a sense of, 'Uh-oh, Liverpool could throw something away here when they'd played so well.' It's the two sides of Liverpool, which people are aware of here—that this is an incredibly exciting, attacking side but one prone to big, defensive lapses and one that is weak mentally. Even if Liverpool take the lead, Real Madrid won't be too terrified because of their strength mentally and Liverpool's perceived weaknesses."

 

Real Madrid also have a full deck to play with. There are no injury concerns. Their manager, Zinedine Zidane, has the pleasant problem of choosing between Isco, Karim Benzema and a resurgent Gareth Bale—who has scored four goals in his last three games—for the final two pieces of his attacking jigsaw alongside perennial Ballon d'Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo.

 

When pundits in Madrid consider the squad at Jurgen Klopp's disposal, however, they see it is riddled with flaws. Apart from the vaunted attacking front three—Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane—it smells of mediocrity. It's a team made up of more artisans than artists.

 

"Liverpool probably is not even among the top 10 teams in Europe," says Torres, "because it doesn't have a good goalkeeper. It doesn't have a good defence. It only has one international-class defender—Virgil van Dijk. Its full-backs are very limited. Maybe they're strong, fast; they're able to do OK in the English Premier League, but none of them signed for Chelsea or Manchester City or Manchester United because they don't have the level to play for those teams. The full-backs for Tottenham Hotspur are much better than Liverpool's. 

 

"Liverpool's midfield has players who are also forceful, disciplined, self-sacrificing. They know their profession. They are tradesmen. Footballers like Jordan Henderson and James Milner are footballers that lack creativity. There are other British teams with better midfielders. Liverpool doesn't have a player like [Paul] Pogba, nor [ilkay] Gundogan, nor [Kevin] De Bruyne nor [David] Silva, nor Dele Alli in the centre of their midfield. Liverpool is missing footballers in this part of the pitch with ingenuity." 

 

FILIPPO MONTEFORTE/Getty Images

 

Torres admires the pragmatic mind of Klopp. He is a coach whom Roncero believes will be first in line to replace Zidane when the Frenchman leaves Real Madrid. There is nothing wantonly cavalier about Klopp's philosophy of football, argued Torres. The gung-ho brand of football Liverpool play springs from necessity; Klopp makes do with the resources at his disposal. He is compelled to make his team adventurous.

 

"Klopp couldn't come from any other place in the world than Germany," says Torres. "He's from a very defined school. He places a lot of emphasis on physicality. He's modern. He understands contemporary football very well. He's not crazy. The other way around—if he were crazy, he wouldn't have been able to get a team with a lot of deficiencies to the final of the Champions League. He's a very rational coach even if he seems very boisterous and sentimental.

 

"Klopp has no other option than to be reckless—reckless in the sense of being very attacking. It's a calculation. If his team doesn't attack like crazy, they're lost. They're dead because they don't have players who can defend a lead. They don't have a competent defence. They don't have a midfield that can dictate the rhythm of a game. This is the reason they attack like crazy."

 

In Salah, Liverpool has a player who has wreaked havoc on defences in England and around Europe this season in an unexpected, thrilling manner. A defining performance in the final at Kiev could put him in the shop window as a future Real Madrid player, reckons Roncero, although both Roncero and Torres say Neymar Jr. is the Real Madrid president's prime target in this summer's transfer market.

 

"I don't think Mo Salah will be a Galactico in the future," says the well-informed Torres. "Florentino wants to buy other footballers. Florentino wants to buy Neymar. He doesn't have the money to buy Mo Salah. If he can't buy Neymar, he intends to buy Harry Kane or Eden Hazard. Real Madrid have never been interested in buying Mo Salah from what I know."

 

All eyes will be on Salah to see if he can be decisive in Saturday's final (7:45 p.m. BST, 2:45 p.m. ET). He's part of an irrepressible attacking trident that threatens to derail Real Madrid's ambition to win a fourth UEFA Champions League crown in five seasons. It would be an achievement Real Madrid captain Sergio Ramos stated would cement their place in the history books as the defining team of an era, per Marca. It all hinges on which Liverpool turns up.

 

"Real Madrid have respect for Liverpool because they are a team, who, if they are inspired, they can make your evening bitter," says Roncero. "Man City saw that at Anfield in the quarter-final. Some people here have that match in their mind as an example of what Liverpool are capable of or the 60 minutes they played against Roma at Anfield. Liverpool have a lot of football, and for that reason, Madrid have respect, but not fear."

 

        

 

All quotes and information obtained firsthand unless otherwise indicated.

 

Follow Richard on Twitter: @Richard_Fitz

[Elite]

Hope we smash these arrogant twats.

[Herp McDerp]

 

TL;DR = We're shit on a stick

[an tha]

That is exactly why we need to finally win something to change that perception we can't get the job done, we are likely to throw leads away no matter how big etc.

 

Sadly teams/pundits, even us as fans think we are always vulnerable.....that 5-2 v Roma was a perfect example - many people thought it was still not job done...until we show we are winners and show we can see things through the perception will remain.

[setreal]

we

[ZonkoVille77]

we

Absolutely.

[sir roger]

I’m just glad Mo isn’t on their radar , the rest seemed like froth although some points were unfortunately valid.

[Jairzinho]

We're going to humiliate them.

[Special K]

I hate that arrogant attitude Madrid and Barcelona have. "It's our right, we belong here, you don't"

 

We'll smash it back down their throats on Saturday

[Jairzinho]

James Milner will have read that and then poured himself a glass of dandelion and burdock squash and afforded himself a wry smile.

[SasaS]

I honestly hope they really see us as that article suggests.

[Billy Big Twat]

We are going to fucking murder these. Honestly reckon this is going to be one of the most memorable nights in European Cup history. Liverpool 4-0 up in the first twenty minutes, Madrid players looking around shell shocked, 3/4 of the stadium bounding with scarfs swirling around their heads and billions of people around the world looking at their teles going 'fucking WOW'.

 

Then we'll cling on for pens and get beat.

[easytoslip]

Cunt. If he has an ounce of dignity he should fuck it off.

 

I just don't get the mentality. My ticket gets used by various lads throughout the season when I can't go to home games (most weeks) - all on the understanding that I can go when I like and use the ticket for anything they have qualified it for through going to aways etc.

 

I just can't bring myself to even think about one of the lads whose been all over Europe this season missing out because I choose to be a big match blert.

 

I just don't know what mindset you'd have going to a game like that if you're not arsed enough to go the rest of the time.

Down here the bus company my brother in law ( Evertonian ) used to drive for would often get tickets for the game , but in 86 the cup final this twat from Swindon and supporter got hold of one and wouldn't give it to me or brother in law because of the occasion he said, the fuckin' cunt, I still seethe about that even now and I'd probably punch him on the nose, remember that you twat.

[Section_31]

Everyone who coos over Spanish football is complicit in this kind of arrogance by propagating the media myth that it exists on some kind of higher astral plain, it's Scottish football on steds beloved of people who think football is all purely about having expensive fancy dans who hammer clubs with inferior resources six nil, week in and week out. Fuck that you 90s cunt.

 

Madrid are cunts, we built our legacy with working class graft and sweat, a club of outsiders, and they built theirs with royal bailouts and fascist jackboots, they're the antithesis of everything we stand for, bunch or tedious, pretentious Pan's Labyrinth cunts.

[Paulie Dangerously]

We are going to fucking murder these. Honestly reckon this is going to be one of the most memorable nights in European Cup history. Liverpool 4-0 up in the first twenty minutes, Madrid players looking around shell shocked, 3/4 of the stadium bounding with scarfs swirling around their heads and billions of people around the world looking at their teles going 'fucking WOW'.

 

Then we'll cling on for pens and get beat.

 

 

reckon this is the most likely result 

[Greycellgreen]

Hope we have one of those spells where completely blitz sides, go three up and then spend the rest of the match laughing at Ronaldo crying for every decision.

 

We have our problems, but the last thing a side should do is underestimate us because when we’re on it we can fuck up any side on the planet.

[Jairzinho]

Everyone who coos over Spanish football is complicit in this kind of arrogance by propagating the media myth that it exists on some kind of higher astral plain, it's Scottish football on steds beloved of people who think football is all purely about having expensive fancy dans who hammer clubs with inferior resources six nil, week in and week out. Fuck that you 90s cunt.

 

Madrid are cunts, we built our legacy with working class graft and sweat, a club of outsiders, and they built theirs with royal bailouts and fascist jackboots, they're the antithesis of everything we stand for, bunch or tedious, pretentious Pan's Labyrinth cunts.

 

Madrid being utter, utter cunts, doesn't stop this stuff being completely untrue, Sec.

 

Our title winners got 106 goals and 100 points.

 

The balance of the two leagues this season is incredibly similar. One team that pissed the league, the next three teams within six points of each other. Our eighth placed team got 49 points, theirs 55, our 14th 41 points, theirs 47. La Liga has actually shown considerably more depth than our league. One of their teams is in the European Cup final, another won the Europa League, another knocked out Manchester United, none of which have actually won the league.

 

Fair enough, if you don't like the style of football. Fair enough, if you don't like the fact they take the soft cunt behaviour even further than in our league. 

 

But the Scotland on steds stuff is just bollocks. And as for expensive fancy dans? The top two squads in our league cost over a billion quid.

 

 

You watched any La Liga this year?

 

Betis finished 6th. Their squad cost about 50p, lots of players from the academy. A great hard working team, playing in front of great fans, cheap tickets, etc, etc.

 

Real Madrid don't represent Spanish football in the same way City don't represent English football.

[Aventus]

 

 

They know how to win. They have played in 15 European Cup finals. They have won 12 of them.

 

"People say history and statistics don't necessarily play a part, but it does," says Phil Kitromilides, presenter on The Spanish Football Podcast. "Maybe not for the opponents—maybe they can block it out; maybe they can't—but for Real Madrid, it certainly plays a part in their self-belief, in believing their own hype.

The last team to beat Real Madrid in a European Cup Final was Liverpool, that's a statistic for you ya fucking prick.