Barca v Bayern

[Colburn_Claret]

Its hard to feel sad for a team that has spent 947million in the last 5 years. What a waste of money.
27 players bought, and 14 already shipped out again, yet the old guard are still there, and thats a problem.

I think it shows you need to get things right off the pitch, before you can begin to get them right on it. The bloke in charge of Barća has been a disaster, and I dont mean the manager.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

I wouldn't say Messi has been a disaster during his time in charge.

[JohnMac]

Messi only runs when he feels the need. I read recently he can make 5 yard just by standing still.

He certainly made lots of space last night standing around whilst Bayern were 40 yards away with the ball.

Another problem last night was playing short from the back but giving the ball away in their half time and time again.

They were ruthlessly exposed by the most current clinical side in Europe.

[tiger76]

This might be a blessing in disguise for Barca, because after that debacle there'll surely have to be major changes throughout the whole club.

The manager will be out the door and possibly Messi & Saurez too, they need to clear out the deadwood and start from scratch.

The culture of the club has to radically change before they'll be challenging for honours.

[Spijed]

Aside from Barcelona and Real Madrid do any other clubs look like they could challenge those two on a regular basis?

Bit like Celtic and Rangers.

Real Madrid look like they need rebuilding too, especially if they want to win the CL anytime soon.

[duncandisorderly]

Anytime soon like as recently as 2 seasons ago, their third consecutive European title?

[Colburn_Claret]

Anytime soon like as recently as 2 seasons ago, their third consecutive European title?

They didn't win, they bought.

If you read the money tree thread, RM are in debt by nearly a billion. They are propped up by the Government. If the population, which will be facing up to the same financial crisis as the rest of the world, decide they'd rather have the money spent on the country instead. Real Madrid could be in the mire.
I don't doubt that there is more than one Arab billionaire who would happily pay the debt to own RM, but it would no longer be run by an elected president, in fact it would be competing on the same field as many other clubs around Europe. It would be interesting to see how they land.

[bfcmik]

Anytime soon like as recently as 2 seasons ago, their third consecutive European title?

anytime soon = future. The sad thing for La Liga and Spain is that those two teams were the only real challengers to each other for the league title, and neither were anything like their former almost invincible selves even in La Liga

[tiger76]

Both Barca and Real have ageing squads, and they've both become over reliant on Messi or Ronaldo, and now Messi's not quite hitting the heights, and Ronaldo's left for Juve they both look pretty ordinary, sure they've dominated La Liga this season, but both look miles off the pace at CL level.

And more alarmingly both clubs have a poisonous atmosphere from the top to the bottom, and there appears to be lots of internal politics at play in both camps, neither is a happy ship right now.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

https://amp.theguardian.com/football/bl ... ssion=true

Interesting Guardian article.