[Archived] El Clasico

[beerwins]

Sack the special one !!

[Mr. E]

You know what the thing is, however? Every single one of Barca's goals tonight could have easily been ruled out as offside. Not correctly, but referees get these decisions wrong constantly. It is nothing short of a miracle that tonight there was no great frak ups.

[waynerovers]

what i'd give to see this barcelona team against arsenals invincibles, or even the current arsenal team, really hope they face each other in the knockouts

[Ozz]

Wayne-You'd probably have to give around £45 quid, if Arsenal were the home team.

[DE.]

Absolutely immense performance from Barca tonight. A joy to watch, they were simply majestic. At the end of the match 9/11 players were products of their youth system. You'll rarely see a better footballing performance than Barca put out tonight.... sublime.

[Commondore]

How's that José? No snide remark? No witty comeback?

[Hughesy]

what i'd give to see this barcelona team against arsenals invincibles, or even the current arsenal team, really hope they face each other in the knockouts

Im sorry but Arsenal dont come close to Barca...never have.

As for shows the premier league up?? Top of the league beating 2nd 5-0?? Come on, wheres the competition for Barca? There simply isnt any!

[Tom]

Never have? Their invincibles were pretty damn close, that team was awesome

[waynerovers]

yeah very close to call, barca's fluidity is a joy to watch but arsenal were just pure exciting and some of the goals that were scored by henry are as good as any we've seen from barca over the last few years

[speeeeeeedie]

I've said it for over a year now and this game just confirms it, the Premier League is now lightyears behind La Liga!

As it's been pointed out though the gulf between the top 2 and the rest is massive. It's a bit like Scotland in that only 2 teams have a chance of winning it at the start of the season. The Premier League is far more balanced in comparison; before this season we had the big 4, now it's looking like the big 6, with any one of those being beatable on any given day.

[sleepyjack]

Im sorry but Arsenal dont come close to Barca...never have.

In 2006 they were a foolish red card or about 15 minutes away; I'd call that pretty close.

[FourLaneBlue]

I'm a bit gutted want Real and Mourinho to knock Barca off their perch, realistically it will take at least 6 months before this becomes a Mourinho team.

In Star Wars terms...

Real equals The Evil Empire.

Barca equals The Force.

Simple as that.

Oh, and that was sorted out decades ago when they were the team of the Fascists. They have been getting a leg-up from the state ever since. Mourinho suits them down to the ground.

Forza Barça - the greatest club in the world bar none*. Owned by the fans, great stadium, great football.

* Well, second only to the mighty at least...and we are also, of course, owned by the fa...er, a chicken company. Ah well, almost the same...

[FourLaneBlue]

I've said it for over a year now and this game just confirms it, the Premier League is now lightyears behind La Liga!

You can say it all you like, but the truth is that the rest of La Liga are light years behind Real-Barcelona as well.

It is a two-team league in the same way that Scotland is. Both teams got 96 points or more last year. Sevilla got into the Champs League places despite being a colossal 33 points behind the big two.

They might be the top two teams, but the league isn't competitive in the same way it was a decade ago.

[neekoy]

Why?

Mourinho's teams are boring to watch. I hope Barca's style prevails in that battle. Barca winning La Liga and Arsenal (or even Spurs!) winning the PL would be a triumph for football imo.

Did you watch them V Ajax, they were outstanding and very entertaining. Mourinho may take a defenisve approach but his team always generally score a shedload of goals so I wouldn't say they are boring.

As far the PL v P Liga debate, apart from Real Madrid and Barca who are levels above their PL counterparts Almeria, Getafe, Hercules, Levante, Malaga, Racing and Sporting would stuggle IMO against their counterparts in the PL.

I do however think the P Liga is more entertaining, and the competition for European spots is always changing, something that until last year was never the case with the PL.

People talk about Scotland but the P Liga has had 4 different Champions since 1992 same as the PL they have 10 different 10 finish third and probably a heap more for fourth, fifth and sixth.

It is true competition when you see CL teams one year get relegated the next which often happens in P Liga.

[bob fleming]

I'd have liked to have seen a few more long throw ins and the Barca keeper launching it into the opposition box from the edge of his own half every now and again but other than that they played some pretty good stuff there Barca.

[Bobby G]

Glad that Ronaldo and his pouting lips are left in front of the world pondering how he dare compare himself to Messi.

[mckenny16]

In Star Wars terms...

Real equals The Evil Empire.

Barca equals The Force.

Simple as that.

Oh, and that was sorted out decades ago when they were the team of the Fascists. They have been getting a leg-up from the state ever since. Mourinho suits them down to the ground.

Forza Barça - the greatest club in the world bar none*. Owned by the fans, great stadium, great football.

* Well, second only to the mighty at least...and we are also, of course, owned by the fa...er, a chicken company. Ah well, almost the same...

Barca is the force?

Football is the force, Barca are those who use the force in the correct way: Jedis. At least get your analogy right!

[snatchymcsnatch]

An absolute joy to watch - that is how football should be played. Made me realise just how much we sometimes view the premier league through rose tinted spectacles, Barca are light years ahead of any prem team.

I think we are all lucky enough to be witnessing one of the greatest teams of all time, arguably the best.

[Majiball]

It's very fluid.

[LeChuck]

I've said it for over a year now and this game just confirms it, the Premier League is now lightyears behind La Liga!

Not sure that's fair tbh.

Obviously the top two are miles ahead of anything we have over here. But then again, they're so much better than the rest of La Liga that competition is dead, look at the points gap already.

At least we've got a really open league this year, I'd argue we have more strength in depth than La Liga.

[jim mk2]

Would Barcelona or allowed or be able to play like that every week in the Premier League ? I doubt it . All national leagues are different and the PL is unique for its sheer physicality, pace and effort over 90 minutes. Playing against the likes of Rovers, Stoke and Wolves on a cold winter's day would come as a shock to fancy dan footballers from Spain. Sublime skills are not enough to win our championship, and long may that continue.

[Gav]

I only managed to catch the last 15 minutes of the game, and that was more entertainment that I’ve had at Ewood in the past 2yrs. The passing and movement was a joy to behold, no long balls all on the floor to feet with a bunch of attack minded players.

It’s a little unfair to compare that game to whats on offer at Ewood, but if we adopted just a little of that footballing philosophy I’d be more than happy.

[K-Hod]

And how would Barcelona be playing with next to nothing spent on their squad over the past 4 seasons ?

For your next daft comment ........

8 of their starting XI came through their youth system........

Granted they spent big on Villa and Mascherano, not so much Adriano (midfielder)

Xavi, Iniesta, Pique (granted they re-bought him), Puyol, Messi, Pedro, Busquets, Valdes all cost £0

[jim mk2]

Xavi, Iniesta, Pique (granted they re-bought him), Puyol, Messi, Pedro, Busquets, Valdes all cost £0

Youth systems with worldwide scouting networks of the quality of Barcelona's cost millions to finance, money that our club does not have.

Doesn't matter whether you develop your own players ot buy them - and running youth systems is often more expensive than buying cheap players from abroad - holding up Barcelona as a shining example of how football should be played and then comparing them with Rovers and the meagre resources at our disposal, is a nonsense.

[67splitscreen]

And we think the TV money in the Premier league is skewed.

"Only Real Madrid and Barcelona stand to gain from this," he said. "The two giants have earned €1,500 million more than the next club in the last ten years, and with this agreement in place four clubs – Real Madrid, Barcelona, Atlético Madrid and Valencia – will all earn more in the next six years than a team that finishes third in the league."

Not happy bunnies

As Jim says above they must spend serious amounts in other areas (same outcome) especially as the figures quoted for the debt recently highlighted.