<< Champions League Final 2018 >> Real Madrid v Liverpool

[SALTIRE]

Oh fuck, the nerves are building, and its only Tuesday! Just hope we do ourselves justice. Play at our best and see what happens. If not, then it will be a long night.

 

[G-Dragon]

Just praying none of our players get injured!

 

[SALTIRE]

Watching previous victories to gee myself up here; saw 1984's win last night (I barely remember seeing it myself as a kid); but Liverpool were some team in that final, Souness was class, Grobelaar would be raved about more than Ederson on his distribution today, and Lawrenson - yes Lawrenson - was a beast!

They played similarly to us today though with the speed and pass and move, and if it was good enough for them to win a European Cup Final, it may just about be good enough for us!

 

[G-Dragon]

6 Flights from Liverpool to Kiev cancelled. UEFA is a disgrace.

 

[Dirk]

Watching previous victories to gee myself up here; saw 1984's win last night (I barely remember seeing it myself as a kid);

(*in b4 johnny) ....because you were a ManU fanboy then

but Liverpool were some team in that final, Souness was class, Grobelaar would be raved about more than Ederson on his distribution today, and Lawrenson - yes Lawrenson - was a beast!

1984...the year after HSV won the Cup (ah, those memories...was in the army at that time and couldn't see it...fuck Bundeswehr ) ....and the year before Heysel

 

[Pagnell]

It really is up in the air this one. Start well and play at our best and we have a chance, even against this bunch of diving, referee hassling (very good) cnuts. Start badly and concede within the first 10-15 minutes and it could be a disaster.

We absolutely need Salah, Mane and Firmino at their best, and the other end to have a blinder. We need at least 3 goals to win in my opinion because no way in hell are they scoring less than 2.

I'm not going to pretend otherwise, I don't believe we will win this and I'd be lying if I said otherwise. But I hope to the fucking nth degree that I'm wrong. They have so much experience of this and how to make things work to their advantage. A combination of their quality and gradually grinding the officials down will pay off I suspect.

No matter what happens we deserved to make the final and have shown progression.

 

[SALTIRE]

No matter what happens we deserved to make the final and have shown progression.

Yep agree with that, and if we lose this, although it will obviously hurt, I don't think it'll be like in 13/14 (08/09 I personally never count as I never thought we'd win the league that year), or the Europa Final the other year when you wondered what would happen to the side after that.

This one seems to be in good nick, so that if we do lose this, but add some more depth, we'll be ready to go again and challenge hopefully on all fronts; and it won't feel like the end of the world as it did on those other occasions.

We have to remember that most of us before the season started would've been happy just to get out the group stages, so to go all the way to the final, playing the best football in the competition, has been amazing. Really hoping we can finish it off on Saturday, though I just have a feeling it won't happen since we seem to be cursed in finals this last decade.

 

[G.B]

Stop being soft you two. 5-4 THRILLAH imvho and that. Mane hattrick, a Firmino golazo and Milner to win it from the spot after a Salah dive from Vasquez breathing near him. Ramos double, Ronaldo and a Lovren own goal.

Lump on.

 

[Benji]

I want a good, clean contest and no funny business. Let's make it a fair game, tell our mums we love them, and may the best team win.

 

[SALTIRE]

I want a good, clean contest and no funny business. Let's make it a fair game, tell our mums we love them, and may the best team win.

Unfortunately with Ramos and Marcelo on the pitch, that won't happen.

 

[liu]

Unfortunately with Ramos and Marcelo on the pitch, that won't happen.

Won't happen anyway with or without those two. It's in Real's DNA.

 

[Dirk]

Stop being soft you two. 5-4 THRILLAH imvho and that. Mane hattrick, a Firmino golazo and Milner to win it from the spot after a Salah dive from Vasquez breathing near him. Ramos double, Ronaldo and a Lovren own goal.

Lump on.

concerning Ronaldo: He couldn't get a goal in both matches against Bayern. First time this CL season....his balls must be bursting... so expect a 94th minute offside goal from him (recognized by everyone but the referee )

My wish: The end of the "evil empire".
My fear: Another title

 

[G-Dragon]

Best banner I have seen so far...

 

[mistermagic]

Nowt better to do on a Saturday evening so will give it a watch.

I really, really hope Liverpool beat Real Madrid. Salah vs Marcelo is a mouth-watering thang, so is the whole contest really. Karius ain't world class but then again neither is Navas. Midfield will be an interesting battle. Henderson will have to be careful not to get eaten alive by Kroos in the second half (he's usually better in a period when the opposition's midfield is starting to be out of breath) while Benzema needs to be seriously watched. He makes most of CR7's goals so arguably their most dangerous player.

Yes, this should be ok entertainment I'd say.

 

[Bartonyellow]

Too close to call this. On their day Liverpool are unstoppable against anyone - but they have a ricket in them.
I reckon the bin dippers will win 2-1

 

[SALTIRE]

Carra swapping the fancy Sky studio and all its gizmo's for a subbuteo table on Redmen for analysis of the game and an insight into his Final experiences.

 

[Stevencc]

I took a quick, yet official, survey at work yesterday regarding this final. I asked three people - a QPR fan, a Chelsea fan and myself (a neutral), who they'd prefer to win the trophy. The Chelsea fan went for Liverpool whereas the QPR fan and myself went for Real.

There you have it, the UK is behind Real Madrid, vamos!

 

[SALTIRE]

I took a quick, yet official, survey at work yesterday regarding this final. I asked three people - a QPR fan, a Chelsea fan and myself (a neutral), who they'd prefer to win the trophy. The Chelsea fan went for Liverpool whereas the QPR fan and myself went for Real.

There you have it, the UK is behind Real Madrid, vamos!

Tut tut tut, your flip-flopping more and more old chum. You wanted us to win not a few days back.

 

[Dirk]

- a QPR fan, a Chelsea fan and myself (a neutral), who they'd prefer to win the trophy. The Chelsea fan went for Liverpool whereas the QPR fan and myself went for Real.

There you have it, the UK is behind Real Madrid, vamos!

Shouldn't a "neutral" be....well...neutral? (but on the other hand I've read the term "complete neutral" from johnny too in another forum regarding this final. So maybe it has "another meaning"

 

[Stevencc]

Tut tut tut, your flip-flopping more and more old chum. You wanted us to win not a few days back.

You must be confusing me with someone else, mate.

It's been Real all the way for me since the final two teams were decided.

5-4 with a Ronaldo penalty to win it or something would do just fine.

 

[Bilo]

I feel fairly confident, I'm not shitting bricks like I thought I would. Real Madrid are individually stronger than us but they haven't outperformed us this season and they're a much better match for us than we are for them.

If it's a draw after 90 minutes we'll probably lose, but I think we stand a very good chance of going both one and two goals up. If we do, I think we'll be ok. Whoever scores first wins.

 

[Pagnell]

I feel fairly confident, I'm not shitting bricks like I thought I would. Real Madrid are individually stronger than us but they haven't outperformed us this season and they're a much better match for us than we are for them.

If it's a draw after 90 minutes we'll probably lose, but I think we stand a very good chance of going both one and two goals up. If we do, I think we'll be ok. Whoever scores first wins.

I genuinely believe if it was purely about the football we would stand a great chance against them. But it won't be. Real Madrid simply won't allow that to be the case. They will do everything in their power to bring other factors into the equation, primarily applying pressure on the officials at every given opportunity to give decisions their way and in this, there is no team better in the world bar perhaps Barcelona. Will the referee be strong enough to resist this and see it for what it is? If he is then it helps us massively. If not we've pretty much lost already because, despite us being no angels in this respect, we're rank amateurs comparatively.

I also don't believe whoever scores first wins short of that goal being after the 85th minute. Both teams easily have 2-3 goals in them and I expect 3-4 to be scored in normal time.

 

[Bilo]

I genuinely believe if it was purely about the football we would stand a great chance against them. But it won't be. Real Madrid simply won't allow that to be the case. They will do everything in their power to bring other factors into the equation, primarily applying pressure on the officials at every given opportunity to give decisions their way and in this, there is no team better in the world bar perhaps Barcelona. Will the referee be strong enough to resist this and see it for what it is? If he is then it helps us massively. If not we've pretty much lost already because, despite us being no angels in this respect, we're rank amateurs comparatively.

I also don't believe whoever scores first wins short of that goal being after the 85th minute. Both teams easily have 2-3 goals in them and I expect 3-4 to be scored in normal time.

There is an argument that English teams never win in Europe because they insist on playing how football is played in Britain, which is less cynical in every sense of the word. But I think this matters much more if Real go 1-0 up, and significantly less if we score first. That is one of the reasons I think the first goal is the winner (which is not the same as predicting a 1-0).

 

[SALTIRE]

Read yesterday that since 1962 only once have both teams scored in the final (I think we can guess which final that was! ). Mental stat tbh, but one I think will be made redundant tonight.

What will be will be, its been an astonishing run to get here. Lets hope the players give it their all, and maybe get a bit of luck at key points.

Good luck to us all!

 

[JJ1532]

Read yesterday that since 1962 only once have both teams scored in the final (I think we can guess which final that was! ). Mental stat tbh, but one I think will be made redundant tonight.

What will be will be, its been an astonishing run to get here. Lets hope the players give it their all, and maybe get a bit of luck at key points.

Good luck to us all!

Eh? Am I missing something? Both teams scored in the final? That's happened a bucket load.

Or did you mean both teams scored more than once? As in, the game finished 2-2 or higher?

 

[Bilo]

I’m struggling to think of the last time it didn’t happen so I think he means the opposite.

 

[SALTIRE]

Eh? Am I missing something? Both teams scored in the final? That's happened a bucket load.

Or did you mean both teams scored more than once? As in, the game finished 2-2 or higher?

Excuse me mate, yep, I rush too much when I type!

Here's the scores :

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_European_Cup_and_UEFA_Champions_League_finals

 

[JJ1532]

Yeah, I had a look at that myself to see what you probably meant. It is pretty crazy given how much quality is on show in each final. Reckon that could well get broken today, both teams are excellent in attack but slightly dodgy in defence.

 

[SALTIRE]

Shitting bricks here now! Don't remember being this nervous for previous finals.

 

[Pagnell]

Haven't sat down for about 45 minutes. Can't remember being this nervous, even in 05 and 07.