Does There Have To Be A Winner? - Real Madrid v Liverpool, CL Final

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

I couldn't remotely take that game seriously after Salah went off. It was just a farce from that point on. I was also unimpressed at the lack of retribution from the liverpool players in the second half. All they got for their forebearance was a goalkeeper with a brain injury.

[EIM]

We should take down the statue of big Abe Lincoln that he gave the people of Manchester as a thank you for their support during the civil war and replace it with one of Sergio Ramos. Put an inflatable of him on the town hall like they did with Father Christmas. Stick a ten story likeness of him in Piccadilly Gardens so we can give thanks daily.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

It would certainly fit in with the cult of moronic stupidity sweeping the city.

[EIM]

You've lost all the joy from your heart.

[N est à?]

Playing these daft fucking champions league games just before the world cup and injuring the best fucking players. Fuming.

[Patrick Thistle]

Just for the record I didn't use the word fluke

[Patrick Thistle]

Maybe I should take it all back. If you didn't have a reason not to watch the world cup this summer, the absence of Gareth Bale should make your mind up.

Hobbes doesn't like him, so he must be awesome.

I heard a rumour that the man bun is to hide a bald spot. No Wayne Rooney plugs for him.

[Lang Spoon]

I can almost smell him joining Liverpool and being a shite Planet Ay the Apes Roddy McDowell looking cunt. Or joining Man Utd and being Rameses Colossus. Either way, It Is Written.

[Lang Spoon]

He should go to Qatar, and then I can hate him rationally.

[Jon]

Well, that went better than I had expected. Bale's goal was magnificent but I still prefer Zidane's volley.

[Satchmo Distel]

Bale to PSG, I would think. Stupid enough to meet his wage demands.

[andrew7610]

I heard a rumour that the man bun is to hide a bald spot. No Wayne Rooney plugs for him.

It's more than a spot, I'd say...

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

I couldn't remotely take that game seriously after Salah went off. It was just a farce from that point on. I was also unimpressed at the lack of retribution from the liverpool players in the second half. All they got for their forebearance was a goalkeeper with a brain injury.

Still think that was a 50-50 tbh. Ramos is holding Salah's arm, but Salah's also holding onto Ramos and when they take a tumble, Salah gets the worst of it.

If an English player had done that it would be barely remarked on.

[Lang Spoon]

Ooft. That’s fairly bald. The Man Bun must be the new elaborate combover.

[Jobi1]

I feel terrible for Karius now but at the time of the first mistake it was the first time in ages I felt anger watching a football match. It’s a nonsense mistake to make.

Technique wise, he was dreadful for Bale’s wonder goal. He may not have saved it regardless but he is at the apex of a bounce when contact is made by Bale meaning he has to wait to land before springing towards the ball. His footwork has to be better. He and his coaches will have spent countless hours on drills for just that.

I have some sympathy for the last one. I’m normal circumstances he punches. Here, with a few minutes left he wants to catch and somehow redeem himself with a wonder killer ball upfield to create an opportunity. He is concentrating on what he is going to do with the ball before he has it.

Looking at the replay it seems to me it was the opposite of that – he was going to punch but then fatally changed his mind at the last second and tried to catch instead. Either way, the concentration went at the vital moment.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

Still think that was a 50-50 tbh. Ramos is holding Salah's arm, but Salah's also holding onto Ramos and when they take a tumble, Salah gets the worst of it.

If an English player had done that it would be barely remarked on.

if that's an accident, then Ramos shouldn't be allowed on the pitch. He is a menace to himself and others. Ramos held salah's arm across him, and then threw himself down on top of it. And then ran up the other end and elbowed the keeper in the head. We've seen enough from him over the last decade to know that Ramos is a toxic mixture of entitlement and stupidity. I didn't want Liverpool to win, but to lose because Sergio Ramos knows that he's not going to be punished for taking out liverpool's best player, and trying to do the same to the goalkeeper. It no longer remains a competition to decide who is the 'best' team in europe, but simply points out how heavily the cards are stacked in SR4's favour.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

As for Bale's first goal, it's definitely a fluke in any meaningful sense of the world, in that it's an incredibly low probability shot, that came off at exactly the right moment. it's also an incredible moment of skill in that even pulling off an attempt at goal in that situation is one step short of magic. That's what makes it such a great goal.

I also don't get why people don't like Bale. I got a really pissed off after his tackle on John O'Shea in the game against Ireland, but aside from that two second period in his career, he's never come across as anything other than a decent and pleasant guy, and a fine footballer.

[Vicarious Thrillseeker]

Ooft. That’s fairly bald. The Man Bun must be the new elaborate combover.

Gareth is the Ralph Coates de nos jours.

[The Awesome Berbaslug!!!]

This is not an accident.

[Ek weet nie]

Especially when you unnaturally roll after grabbing the arm. I can’t imagine any ref would be sure enough to give the red card though. Even with VAR.

[Bizarre Löw Triangle]

This is not an accident.

Before they fall, Salah's holding on just as much. There's a lot of intent you can infer from slow motion which isn't there.

[Janik]

This is not an accident.

No, it's not an accident, it's a pull and a foul. But a foul deliberately intended to injure an opponent? Nah. If that is what Ramos was doing, it would be a really inefficient way to try it. 99/100 times or even more than that the other player walks away from that unscathed. Salah just landed really awkwardly on a not especially heavy fall.
It's sad for Salah, Liverpool and Egypt, but the only reason why anyone is thinking this wasn't just bad luck is Ramos' history. We've got a 2+2=5 situation where Liverpool's best player gets hurt after a tangle with Madrid's most Machiavellian one, therefore it must be a deliberate attempt to cause the outcome.

[Duncan Gardner]

Watched it with Jon and another Madrid fan en la bodega Decima Esclusa, El Cerrito Alegre. The local Scousers took it well

[Janik]

As for Bale's first goal, it's definitely a fluke in any meaningful sense of the world, in that it's an incredibly low probability shot, that came off at exactly the right moment. it's also an incredible moment of skill in that even pulling off an attempt at goal in that situation is one step short of magic. That's what makes it such a great goal.

All of this. It's a great goal and incredible skill that was also a highly speculative attempt.

[ad hoc]

Definitely see Ramos holding on to Salah's arm after they'd gone down and deliberately roll on it. Now it could be an accident but Ramos has a long long history of this kind of shit. I'm not prepared to give him the benefit of the doubt