Europe's New Champions
נ We are the Champions נ 
The Man of the Match
The Best team in Europe
The Man of the Match
The Best team in Europe
posted by Lucas @ 5:26 PM
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- Name: Lucas
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14 Comments:
Power cut here. But having read some websites, it's being said the refs, starting from the linesman wearing a barca shirt in pre-match were kind to one side and rude to the other. But playing with a men extra for the second time in the same tournament, and still labouring to a victory, Barca doesn't seem to have been in the best of form, still advantage man advantage, they pulled it off. Atleast we've a new winner rather than the old familiarities like Milan & Real Madrid.
I guess Henry's taunts at Barca and Hauge will not go down well with Laporta. He was partly true though. "I must learn to dive". Spaniards and South Americans are masters at that. Remember that Argentina training ground
video!;-)
Good in that way. He would probably stay. Such inspired performances will only strengthen Arsenal's credentials as consistent challengers in UCL rather than the flash-in-the-pan like Liverpool, who surrendered their title meekly without a fight. The fire to win would have just grown bigger.
Henry could have taken a look at Eboue to learn how to dive...the first Arsenal goal resulted from a freekick given after Eboue made a theatrical dive, which shd have resulted in a yellow card.
Henry was a diappointment to say the least, given the huge occasion, after missing some chances which he would have normally finished with aplomb. He could have taken note of Gerrard's inpiring performaces as captain in the big names (last CL final and this FA Cup final.)
Having said that, I have to agree that Henry might just stay at Arsenal, after seeing his team's progress in Europe.
Hats off to Barca.They played some super football.
A great performance from the gunners who battled and toiled away till the very end. That they lost by just 1 goal after being a man down for almost all the match is a testament to the fact that this side is capable of great things.
The ref was pathetic.The yellow card to Henry was unbelievable.And insiesta and VAn bommel kept making cynical challenegs on cesc,freddy amd co and they just got 1 yellow between them.Larson hade a huge impact on the match.
If Henry had put away 1 of those chances then things wud v been different...
And i am not at all surprised that Lucas doesnt talk abt the eto o offside or the all the fouls by Van Bommel and Marquez and Puyol or how the ref was a total mismatch.
Hw do u explain the booking that henry got?It was bad. Me and many gunners dont want to sound like sore losers but i think that the ref was nt neutral and UEFA shud make sure that such ppl are not in charge of such imp matches.
He blew the whistle everytime someone touched the end of the hair on Ronaldinho s hand.
@sriskandh
I was keeping my comments abt the game for another post...but since u ask, let me tell u...
the referee issue is blown up...ever since the red card, the sky sports commentators stood their stand that whatever the referee did, was against Arsenal. According to me, there were 2 glaring errors by the ref...one was Marquez's tackle from behind...that warranted a yellow card and Henry's yellow card was just an absolute disgrace, no doubt abt that.
Henry commented that he was kicked throughout the first half...tell me, apart from the marquez tackle, did u see any other real foul on him? Having watched Arsenal play against teams such as B'burn and Bolton, can u say he was kicked all over the park just like he gets in those games?
Did u really see the offside? i waited for the camera replays(side angle) but they were never shown...wonder if i missed it...i also wonder how Andy Gray could make that comment...well of course, for a man so unbiased as Andy, wat he says must surely be true. (towards the end, when the ref gave away a yellow card to Larsson for a foul on Almunia, Mr. Gray commented the ref did that just to slow the game and take away the adv of the attacking Arsenal)
Yeah...Puyol and Marquez made some rough tackles but how many warranted a yellow card? weren't they penalised for a foul at all for some of the tackles....u sound as though Barca gave away no fouls....in fact, they committed more fouls than Arsenal, according to the ref.
i understand the frustration of Henry are reflected on the gunner fans, but tdid the ref really wear a barca jersey...well he dint...although his performance wasnt exemplary, he did the best he could on such a big occasion.
If u had watched it on ESPN-STAR, i heard the panel there never faulted the referee that much...in fact, John Dykes mentioned the commentary was such to suit the British audience.
I read abt the match from various sites and then i watched it again this afternoon just to see if Henry's outburst against the ref was warranted...i am sad to say that it wasn't entirely....it's just his yellow card and the frustration of letting the trophy out of his team's grasp.
Having said that, Arsenal did play a good game with just 10 men...Henry was playing out of his skin to claim the coveted trophy but he failed to convert the chances that he usually doesn't miss in EPL. And the fact that Barcelona kept attacking and believed they would score, made the job of the gunners even more difficult.
Barca would have felt aggrieved after the disallowed goal and after rgoing down to campbell's headder...but they came back blazing after halftime.
No team can claim to be as deserving as Barca for the way they have played this season in the CL is amazing....having stormed past the group stages, scoring the most no. of goals, they showed great maturity to finish off the tough games against Chelsea, Benfica and Milan.
Ref seems to have accepted that in hindsight the decision to send Lehmann could have been avoided and he has admitted his inability to decide anything on the incident bcoz of his awkward positioning. He has mentioned he had to go with the linesman bcoz of this. No wonder, the man is not going to WC. Shud UEFA've fixed a ref of such poor credentials to officiate a final?
As a ref in the most important clash only next to WC and Euro final, it would have been better had he taken a few minutes to decide, even if the final verdict had been to give a red card. Players can be overrawed by emotions, but being a neutral arbitrator, refs cannot afford to be engulfed by the flow of events. They have to think with their brains rather than act by their instincts.
Even if Arsenal had conceded that goal on the rebound, they would have made a match of it. Barca's defence had not had much of a work to do when compared to Arsenal.
Eboue is a tyro when you consider majority of barca players(or shud i say spaniars in general). Larsson ,bcoz' of his scottish links was well behaved. Rest, no comments. I doubt if van Bommel can be fouled by someone like Henry who is 70% of the size of him?
I'm happy for Barcelona. They are popular winners. But the spanish teams can definitely cut down on the diving thing.
This dream team thing is also going overboard. Real Madrid didn't take long to fall from grace. Barcelona had some fraction of good fortune which had deserted them last year against Chelsea. It won't take long before the wheel comes full circle. Barcelona need to do a treble in the coming year to really stake their claim towards becoming the 'Dream Team'. After Del Bosque's Real Madrid, no other team to me have done enuf to come close to the dream team tag.
Only two teams have won in their first European final. Arsenal has to just keep hold of their current players and increase their squad size to compete on all fronts. Unlike Liverpool, who spent plenty last summer but still bowed out meekly out of Europe and finished only 3rd domestically, Arsenal is in the good company of teams like Barcelona, AC Milan who all lost their first finals and have been a picture of consistency domestically. Not losing Henry would help them start season in full throttle and really challenge Chelsea, before which some key additions like Rijkaard did 2 seasons ago to Barcelona are required.
Some interesting stuff from the UK press...
http://uk.sports.yahoo.com/fo/wtps/
@Lucas
Marquez put his foot right down on henry s ankle.That was a challenge from behind and hence a yellow.
Oleguer repeatedly fouled Freddy and the ref showed him 1 2 3 fingers before yellow carding him.It was as if he didnt want to book him but in the end just had to.
Look, i am not saying that the ref cost Arsenal the match.Bacra were "deserving" winners.ALl i am tying to say is that the ref wasnt upto the mark.
Abt us not seeing many tackles on Henry all i can say is that the French tv producers didnt show most of the replays. I believe Titi cos he is one of the few honest players around.
Coming to the game, i thought that after abt the 70th min, Wenger shud v brought on Senderos.Dunno what he was thinking..
And i have to agree that Andy Gray was very biased in his commentary.But them can u blame him really?
Looks like Henry is gonna stay at Arsenal. Probably, the loss made him change his mind?
Yes, Unfinished business. Can be closely compared to how Barca were baying for Chelsea after losing last year.
Inflate the squad. Just two or three impact signings would change the total outlook.
1)Reduce the workload on Henry.
A poacher who waits inside the box like RVN(that's a compliment) and who can score 10-15 goals per season.
2) Someone like Del Piero can be signed as a short term replacement for Bergkamp.
3)A bull in the midfield who can also play defender like Motta, Marquez,Edmilson,Essien.
4)An effective alternative for Lehmann, like Andreas Isaakson, Kameni, Yoaan Pele.
The team would be fine.
great news.Barca can keep dreaming nows
Now that Henry is out of reach, Barca can try to strengthen their defence which still looks a bit vulnerable to set plays....with an enviable fwd line, they dont need Henry but do need a replacement for Larsson who has been great for them the last 2 years.
Larsson's a great guy. We'll miss him in Spain.
I don't think, though, another striker to replace him is needed. Acquring a new goalkeeper might be good. Well, I don't mean to discriminate Valdes or something, but someone special is really needed to allow Barça to enjoy more success.
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