# Barcelona v Real Madrid



## Sunny (29 Nov 2010)

Anyone watching this? One of the best team performances I have seen in a long long time. Salivating at some of the football by Barcelona. Really is a beautiful game when played like this.


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## notagardener (30 Nov 2010)

Can't say I've ever experienced 'Salviating' before  but it's definately the best team performance I can remember for a long, long time. Especially when you consider the opposition, their recent form and 'The Special One' - an absolute joy to watch


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## burger1979 (30 Nov 2010)

Football played in its purest form by Barca. Tearing holes through a team which should have played better and should have been more organised in defence, surprising that they opened up with ease considering the ethos of their manager to play as a unit. 
I have never seen the Dutch play total football in the 70's but i have no doubt this is what it was like........a dream to watch masters of their craft go about the business like last night.


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## zztop (30 Nov 2010)

Murinho
1 team playing at its very best
1 team playing at its very worst
Sorry Jose but that a load of twaddle.


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## Sunny (30 Nov 2010)

Their passing was unreal. And so was their work off the ball. And the truely amazing thing was that they were doing it when the score was 0-0 so it wasn't just a case of turning on the style when it was 3 or 4 nil. Really should be a video sent to every schoolboy football club.


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## Ceist Beag (30 Nov 2010)

Thought the same Sunny, this was pure class from Barca, from the first to last minute. A joy to watch.


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## Markjbloggs (30 Nov 2010)

Rubbish - if Norman Hunter, Dave McKay, Billy Bremner, Ron "Chopper" Harris or any real footballers had been on the pitch, it would have been a different story.  And yes, the pitch was too green - bring back mud and puddles, I say.

Dirk von Nistrolbot

Chairman
Campaign for Real Football.


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## Deiseblue (30 Nov 2010)

A joy to watch,probably the best team since the AC Milan side of Gullit , Van Basten & Rijkaard and certainly more attack minded than AC.

Everybody comfortable on the ball & aware of where team mates are & an absolute refusal to hoof the ball.


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## villa 1 (30 Nov 2010)

So much better than the Glorious Sky Engish premiership, Andy Greye nad Martin Tiler!!


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## markowitzman (12 Dec 2010)

Liverpool in their prime would overpower them in midfield.
Souness would kick them a mile high and their defence would not be able for Rush and Dalglish.
Oh sorry, forgot to mention we are talking different sport now.
Soccer now is a non contact sport.
Then played by men who gave their all for the shirt....now overpaid pre-madonnas more interested in their hairstyle than the club.
I really feel sorry for Messi.
Pity he was not around in the days of real soccer.
Please don't tell me Real Madrid are anything other than Bon Jovi with a football!!!


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## MrMan (12 Dec 2010)

markowitzman said:


> Liverpool in their prime would overpower them in midfield.
> Souness would kick them a mile high and their defence would not be able for Rush and Dalglish.
> Oh sorry, forgot to mention we are talking different sport now.
> Soccer now is a non contact sport.
> ...



You think Messi would have prefered to play when it was perfectly acceptable to kick lumps out of him to the extent that it would be unlikely that he could wow us continually with his skills. 
'Real men' should be able to hone their own skills to better equip themselves to deal with talent like Messi rather than do what any donkey can do and just kick them.


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## markowitzman (12 Dec 2010)

Pele, Maradonna, Best all flourished in these times.
My point is simply this, real men did hone their talents to deal with such talent. The strong tackle is a skill also which is now sadly no longer seen as even if legally carried out it is reoutinely followed by a dive etc etc....
Soccer is now a pantomine and cheater's paradise.
My point is Messi would be fit to lace the boots of maradonna etc but that the game now is such a joke that he would have been better off playing at a time when soccer was not the joke it is now.
Isn't it funny how we laud a great tackle in rugby whereas in soccer a strong tackle is a bad word.


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## Sunny (12 Dec 2010)

markowitzman said:


> Pele, Maradonna, Best all flourished in these times.
> My point is simply this, real men did hone their talents to deal with such talent. The strong tackle is a skill also which is now sadly no longer seen as even if legally carried out it is reoutinely followed by a dive etc etc....
> Soccer is now a pantomine and cheater's paradise.
> My point is Messi would be fit to lace the boots of maradonna etc but that the game now is such a joke that he would have been better off playing at a time when soccer was not the joke it is now.
> Isn't it funny how we laud a great tackle in rugby whereas in soccer a strong tackle is a bad word.



That's rubbish. Everyone appreciates a hard tackle. Thankfully we dont appreciate people going over the ball or jumping in with studs from behind. I appreciate a hard tackle in rugby but I dont appreciate spear tackles, shoulder charges or high tackles. Comparing players across generations is pointless. All I know is that the ability to pass the ball that Barcelona showed that night would have impressed in any era and plenty of ex players have said so.


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## markowitzman (12 Dec 2010)

Hope you are old enough to remember Liverpool or Leeds in their prime....
Liverpool were the greatest at holding the ball on a consistent nature of any team.
Have you seen the rerun of world cup finals eg argentina 78?
A totally different game than now.
I hold my contention that football is now a cheaters and divers paradise.
In the past if there was diving and cheating there was a unwritten law that you could expect a kick....
as Giles once said ....if someone kicked me I would just take his number and get him in the second half....

Now handbags at five paces means yellow and red cards...total baloney and the divers and cheaters know that if they get their marker booked they are on the pigs back.
The beautiful game is gone, gone gone....
REPLACED BY CHEATER'S PARADISE.
Dont often agree with Dunphy but he is right.


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## Deiseblue (13 Dec 2010)

I remember Leeds in their pomp when with players like Giles and Bremner they had the ability to pass and play other teams out of the game but consistently chose not to by approaching games as an overtly physical confrontation and to be honest some of the tackles perpetrated by that team bordered on assault.
I certainly appreciate good tackles but those made by such as Dave Mackay who was scrupulously fair impressed me more than those made by bullies such as Chopper Harris or Norman Hunter or indeed Souness in more recent times , another player who regularly went over the ball-personally I'm glad to see that kind of tackle has mostly disappeared from the game.
I too am heartily sick of divers and cheaters but I still think they are the exception rather than the rule but I think that I'd accept that in preference to dangerous career threatening "tackles "


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## MrMan (14 Dec 2010)

markowitzman said:


> Pele, Maradonna, Best all flourished in these times.
> My point is simply this, real men did hone their talents to deal with such talent. The strong tackle is a skill also which is now sadly no longer seen as even if legally carried out it is reoutinely followed by a dive etc etc....
> Soccer is now a pantomine and cheater's paradise.
> My point is Messi would be fit to lace the boots of maradonna etc but that the game now is such a joke that he would have been better off playing at a time when soccer was not the joke it is now.
> Isn't it funny how we laud a great tackle in rugby whereas in soccer a strong tackle is a bad word.



Imagine what they could have done if they didn't have to run a gauntlet of bad tackles, how many stars never surfaced because they were cut down by 'real men'.
Tackling is most certainly a skill, 'Souness kicking them a mile high' is not. Players in sport generally do cheat, if diving is cheating, so too is pulling someones shirt or flooring someone who is through on goal so therefore Souness, Harris et al were cheaters in a different cheaters paradise because they got away with it.
Messi would have been better off playing when the first tactic would have been to put him literally out of the game? i don'r think so, do you not think that he is great to watch as it is?


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## MrMan (14 Dec 2010)

markowitzman said:


> I hold my contention that football is now a cheaters and divers paradise.
> In the past if there was diving and cheating there was a unwritten law that you could expect a kick....
> as Giles once said ....if someone kicked me I would just take his number and get him in the second half....
> 
> ...



I would hope to think that Giles thinking matured to ' to best hurt your opponent score a goal against them'
Ans as for Dunphy, in fairness to you he doesn't usually even agree with himself.


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## markowitzman (14 Dec 2010)

Messi is the best player I have seen since Maradonna.
My point is that I would have liked to have seen Messi gracing soccer when physical contact was still allowed.
Then he could be compared with the other greats.
It is just me but I would prefer the tough tackler than the diver etc....
Ronaldo
Drogba
Nani
etc etc...SPARE ME PLEASE! 

Souness
Robson
Bremner
Giles
Butcher
Mc Grath
etc etc.....Much missed.....tough operators who knew how to take care of themselves but at least had the honesty to give and take and had the bravery to play close to the edge for the betterment of their team.

I certainly would have the latter group in my team....


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## Deiseblue (15 Dec 2010)

Bravery is not a word I equate with Souness , vicous might be a better description .
I remember him breaking Siggi Jonnson's leg in a game against Iceland when the latter had the temerity to nutmeg him and then there was his sending off in his debut for Rangers for one of the worst tackles I ever saw.

Butcher indeed was brave but unfortunately was a limited hoofer.

Robson , Giles & Bremner were excellent players who would have graced any era and probably would have flourished more now as they could concentrate on playing rather than getting their retaliation in first.

I don't think Paul McGrath had a vicous bone in his body and because of that he was a joy to watch , I would put him up there with Bobby Moore & Beckenbauer who preferred to play rather than hack.


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## MrMan (15 Dec 2010)

markowitzman said:


> Messi is the best player I have seen since Maradonna.
> My point is that I would have liked to have seen Messi gracing soccer when physical contact was still allowed.
> Then he could be compared with the other greats.
> It is just me but I would prefer the tough tackler than the diver etc....
> ...



You're doing some great footballers a disservice by remembering them as tough operators rather than exceptional players.
Cast your mind back to the World Cup and how Holland bored their way to the final and displayed some 'real men' tactics culminating in de Jong introducing karate to football, but ultimately a free flowing team that used skill rather than brawn to most peoples satisfaction. Would you have prefered to see the dutch tactics prosper?


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## Lex Foutish (21 Dec 2010)

I grew up in the era of Norman Hunter, Chopper Harris, etc. I even remember Dermot Keeley playing for Rovers in The Lodge! 

One of the greatest brutes on a pitch, in my opinion, was Kenny Burns. I went looking for a clip on Youtube and, amazingly, I found it. Take a look at this. Not even a yellow card!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q2NhFoXT9s8


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