Will Chelsea prevail without John Terry, Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meirelles?
Will Bayern Munich benefit from the blind luck of home field advantage?
by Randinho| 91 Comments
This post is in: Sports
Will Chelsea prevail without John Terry, Ramires, Branislav Ivanovic and Raul Meirelles?
Will Bayern Munich benefit from the blind luck of home field advantage?
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Raven
OK, so last week was the biggest game in the history of the universe so where does this one stack up?
TimE
I’m praying that Chelski lose just so that Spurs aren’t punished for ‘only’ finishing in 4th place. But I’m a Liverpool fan, so maybe I’m just bitter.
TimE
I’m praying that Chelski lose just so that Spurs aren’t punished for ‘only’ finishing in 4th place. But I’m a Liverpool fan, so maybe I’m just bitter.
urizon
Chelsea want this more. And Luiz and Cahill, assuming both are fully fit, will do the job well. Bertrand getting the start at left midfield is a surprise, though. As such, we might see Torres on the left side in the second half, and could also see Essien inserted into the back line if Luiz or Cahill go down. Going to be a doozy.
TimE
I’m praying that Chelski lose just so that Spurs aren’t punished for ‘only’ finishing in 4th place. But I’m a Liverpool fan, so maybe I’m just bitter.
urizon
Chelsea want this more. And Luiz and Cahill, assuming both are fully fit, will do the job well. Bertrand getting the start at left midfield is a surprise, though. As such, we might see Torres on the left side in the second half, and could also see Essien inserted into the back line if Luiz or Cahill go down. Going to be a doozy.
Thor Heyerdahl
My bitter FC Kaiserslautern fan outweighs my bitter Spurs fan…so – go Chelski!
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Raven:
It’s like a #3 seed versus a #5 seed in the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup finals after a not-so-great overall season for the league(s).
urizon
Chelsea want this more. And Luiz and Cahill, assuming both are fully fit, will do the job well. Bertrand getting the start at left midfield is a surprise, though. As such, we might see Torres on the left side in the second half, and could also see Essien inserted into the back line if Luiz or Cahill go down. Going to be a doozy.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Raven:
It’s like a #3 seed versus a #5 seed in the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup finals after a not-so-great overall season for the league(s).
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Raven:
It’s like a #3 seed versus a #5 seed in the NBA Finals or the Stanley Cup finals after a not-so-great overall season for the league(s).
TimE
Ah, my first experience with a triple post for no reason. I feel like I belong now.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
The intertubes done blowed out!
robertdsc-PowerBook
One of my friends is a big Chelsea guy, so I’m rooting with him for them.
If Torres scores the game winner, many lulz will be had.
Randinho
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): It’s so weird. I just stepped in the door back home in the US 45 minutes ago and the open thread post that I had scheduled missed the schedule.
@Thor Heyerdahl: My anti John Terry side outweighs my bitter FC Kaiserslautern fan side ( I used to be able to see the Betzenberg stadium from my bedroom window) and my anti Ashley Cole side outweighs the fact that I’m a Gooner.
Mark S.
I hate Chelsea (well, mostly just their billionaire douchebag owner) so:
Go Bayern!
Raven
Wow, just wow!
Mark S.
Huh, all this time I didn’t know Bayern just means Bavaria in German. So they’re kind of like the Houston Texans.
Raven
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): So maybe the Thunder against the Sixers?
Randinho
Does anyone else think that Champions League Theme is sheer wretched excess?
Mark S.
Whew, for a minute there I was getting no reception on my TV.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Raven:
Yeah, sounds about right.
Raven
The home field is because the site was determined before the, what, tournament?
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@robertdsc-PowerBook:
I live my life by this one simple rule, called ABC: Anyone But Chelsea!
(Well, I’d root for them in a death match against Real Madrid, and, maybe, A.C. Milan, but that’s it).
@Randinho:
Yes. It’s horrible.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Raven:
Yep.
Bill Murray
I took a tour of the Allianz last summer and it is very cool. As for the game, can they both lose? I guess I would prefer Bayern winning, as Dortmund pounded them last week and I really like Dortmund’s team. Shame Kagawa seems to be leaving
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Congrats to those bubble-blowing Hammers: West Ham promoted from purgatory to Prem.
Bill Murray
@Raven: the 2013 final was awarded to Wembley in June 2011
Bill Murray
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): they were mostly outplayed by Blackpool, though
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Bill Murray:
SCOREBOARD!
Alison
Sometimes I prefer big games like this, where I don’t really give a shit who wins, because it takes all the stress out of it :P Although…as an EPL-watching non-Chelsea-fan, I guess I’d prefer to see Bayern win…as odd as it feels to lean even the slightest bit towards a German side.
Also too, Bastian Schweinsteiger is the Germaniest German name evar.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Alison:
I’ll stick with Lothar Matthäus.
Randinho
@Alison: Franz Beckenbauer fits the bill nicely as well.
Alison
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): @Randinho: Those are both gut, as well. I think I like mine for the “w sounding like a v” element :)
Jamey
@urizon: Please don’t ever use that cliche, that one team “wants it more.” At least not in the championship game of top-tier professional sport. I think that both teams want it a lot–and that God really doesn’t care which side wins.
Thank you.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Ooooooooo….
Tractarian
OK, Fox just switched commentators for no reason, right? Or am I going crazy?
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Tractarian:
They were having some glitches, and we ended up with the UK announcers.
And now we’re back to the American booth.
Randinho
Look how deep Chelsea’s midfield and back line is playing. Not likely to start a counterattack with that.
Alison
@Tractarian: Yeah, WTF was that shit. The commentator thing didn’t bug me so much as the disappearance of the clock. YOU CAN’T WATCH FOOTIE WITHOUT A CLOCK, DAMN IT.
Hopefully it stays fixed now
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Randinho:
They’re parking the bus. It looks as if they’d be happy to go to PKs knotted at 0-0.
Tractarian
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): Hm. I thought Tyler and Neville were the UK commentators too.
It’s kinda sad how Fox (and all the other US networks) have given up on American soccer play-by-play and color commentators. I guess the truly sad part is that none of the American commentators were any good. So I suppose I can’t complain.
Randinho
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): A team from England hoping to hold out for a win on penalties? They must be more desperate than I thought .
CW in LA
F this Euroball nonsense: Galaxy vs. goats USA this evening. Will this season merely be a massive disappointment for our Galaxy, or the most abject humiliation in the history of the universe? The answer begins this evening!
Raven
OK, this is boring, off to the Clippers.
JCJ
@Alison:
Really? I kind of think Mario Gomez is more Germanier.
Actually I think Karl-Heinz Rummenigge or Franz Beckenbauer rank up there among the Germaniest, but that just shows my age (I saw Beckenbauer play for HSV when I went to school in Hamburg oh so many years ago.)
Yutsano
I’m free! Heading back to the ranch with my mom and aunt. Will most likely pass out most of the trip.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Tractarian:
If it was the Sky Sports (and I think it was Sky, rather than ITV) audio feed, Jeff Sterling and Ben Shephard are the lead team. And I think it was probably Sky because Tyler does games for them, too.
Mark S.
How on earth did Chelsea beat Barcelona?
JCJ
I just scared my daughter when I welled “ah FUCK!!!!!!!” when Gomez kicked that thing way over the bar. Damn.
Alison
@CW in LA: If LA doesn’t win tonight, I will be…let down. To put it mildly. Quite mildly.
Alison
@JCJ: Haha, careful…might end up like this: http://jezebel.com/5911337/father-accidentally-teaches-his-daughter-how-to-be-a-foul+mouthed-sports-fan
I admit to finding cursing babies kind of adorable.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Randinho:
Hey, ya plays with what ya gots. Chelski ain’t what I’d call strong in the back this year anyway, and ya take Terry out…It’d be 2-0 right now if the midfield was playing higher.
Okay, time to make a chocolate malt run.
pete
Half-time … Bayern should have put this to bed by now, which probably means Chelski eke out a 1-0 … should be gripping
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Following up, I think Chelski will be happy to keep playing defensively, waiting for Bayern Munich to push up, giving Chelski a shot with long passes down-field to Drogba.
Mark S.
GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAL
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
MUUUUUUUUUUUUULLERRRRR!
JCJ
WOW!!!!!!!!!!!
Alison
About fucking time!
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Well, I think Chelski will start playing a higher line now, Randinho.
JCJ
I hope Chelsea doesn’t pull this out of their asses like Man U did against Bayern in the final a few years ago.
Randinho
What made that goal was his hitting the ball to the ground.
Mark S.
DROOOOOOOOOOOOOGBA
Randinho
Puta que pariu!
JCJ
Damn.
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
That Van Buyten is one big Dutchman- this coming from someone who’s lived his entire life surrounded by- HOLY SHIT! NO!- big Dutchmen.
Alison
Oh holy shit.
piratedan
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again): they’ve all been kept in a secure area for training for the olympic volleyball and basketball teams
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@piratedan:
I wish. They run free here in West Michigan.
SRW1
@Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again):
Belgian!
Mark S.
Robben, you suck!
JCJ
Damn
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@SRW1:
Flemish- ethnically Dutch.
That said, I have no problems with the Dutch who stayed in Europe. Hell, I wish they were the ones who came over here. We got the hardcore Calvinists.
Alison
Hahaha, Drogba owes Cech a drink or a meal or a limb or something. Crazy
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Jebus…
Bill Murray
Neuer going third — wow
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
THE POST?
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
Un.Fucking.Believable.
JCJ
Now I’m depressed
Raven
Got better.
Alison
Wow, that was crazy. And as I just tweeted, I am not even kidding when I say I hope his teammates keep an eye on Schweinsteiger. I mean…I don’t want to be overdramatic but I can’t imagine his mindset right now. :/
piratedan
congrats to Chelsea are in order methinks…..did they win it or did Bayern lose it, who knows. Plenty of drama and an exciting match overall.
robertdsc-PowerBook
Yeah!
Ronnie Pudding
Remember Sammy Kuffour?
Anyway, Schweinsteiger was the guy who couldn’t even watch Robben’s penalty during the match.
burnspbesq
Dear Spurs Fans,
Enjoy your Thursday nights next year.
/s/ The Gooners
Jamey
Drogba takes care of business–in regulation and on PK.
At home. Terry and The Pirates watching from the bench. FCBM lays eine Ei.
Commence the “EPL is teh best!!1” rants.
pseudonymous in nc
Urgh. I’ve hated Chelsea for over twenty years — and am neither a Gooner nor a Spurs fan — and this was painful.
Also, inbred chinless aristocratic Tory chancellor George Osborne was up in the royal box celebrating with Abramovich. Which sums up 2011/12 in English football.
handsmile
Scheisse!!
Watched the match with a beer garden full of sodden and crestfallen Germans on NYC’s Lower East Side.
It’s hard to be gracious upon Chelski’s victory, given my loathing for Roman Abramovich. Nevertheless, there is a certain pleasure that several world-class players, close to retirement, like Peter Cech, Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard(?), will have a Champions League winners’ medal for his trophy cabinet.
I thought the match bore a striking (perhaps not the most apt word) similarity to the Barcelona-Chelsea semifinal: the more dominant, creative squad squandered numerous chances. The Blues’ defense was stout and disciplined overall, but Bayern like Barcelona did not take advantage of opportunities created through patient build-up in the final third. While I too have an abiding dislike for Ashley Cole, he was massive today.
As for Bayern: Mario Gomez once again flailed in a big match; Ribery’s injury late in the second half was a cruel and perhaps decisive blow; Phillip Lahm was magnificent as usual, and Anatoliy Tymoschuk stepped in/up admirably.
Bastien Schweinsteiger’s inconsolable demeanor at match end expressed the feelings of Tottenham fans world-wide.
While not too emotionally invested in this match, whatever aches is soothed by the wonderful thought that the Euro 2012 tournament kicks off in 20 days!
AlexD
@TimE: You’re fucked my friend. God is a Gooner.
Turgid Jacobian
How can “Franz Beckenbauer” be the Germaniest name ever when “Franz” means “from France?”
Temporarily Max McGee (soon enough to be Andy K again)
@Turgid Jacobian:
(since the snark isn’t obvious)
And France is named for the Germanic tribe which gave the land it’s initial national identity: The Franks.
@burnspbesq:
Typical Gooner. Enjoy your beautiful, Wenger-led football- you’ll have to make do w/out any silverware for a long time.