soccer

Real Madrid and Dortmund go through in Champions League

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Nani's straight red was one of the worst calls I have ever seen. An ass from Turkey ruined one of the best match-ups of the year.

José Mourinho post-match: "The best team lost. We didn't play well. We didn't deserve to win."

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I said they would go out to the first good team they played. Its simple, Real Madrid won because they have better players than United in every single position. Not to mention they sold their best player to them, but Ozil and Benzema are players United clearly wanted and needed but were nowhere near getting.

This years big boys in the Champions League are Dortmund and Bayern. I wonder if Kagawa can still convince himself this was a step up.

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With Arsenal almost sure to go out, that means no English team in the last eight. For all the money thrown around by Man U, City and Chelsea, English teams are pretty mediocre compared with Europe's best at the moment.

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I would request people to watch the match before commenting on it. United and SAF had a game-plan which involved the star striker, the main man, No.10 Wayne Rooney being benched. And it was working perfectly until Nani got sent-off. The ref made a call which left almost everyone flabbergasted. Mourinho himself said in his post-match interview that the best team lost the match and that Real would not have won 11 v 11 the way the game was going. I understand people are jealous and hateful of United, but at the very least please watch the match first! The only thing I ask of you.

In this big a match, if the entire talking point is one decision by the ref, then that itself suggests that the match was pretty even, or United edging it as they had gotten a goal, before the ref's incomprehensible intervention. Then comments that say that Madrid is "simply the better team" and La Liga is "simply the better league" reek of ignorance. It could very well have been that United might have won over Madrid and Barca defeated by Milan, and that would have left no Spanish teams in the CL. But does that say anything about the quality of La Liga? No, because they have great players and teams and it's not debated. I'm not here to debate which league is better or worse as each has it's merits. I simply follow the Prem because it is exciting to me. Wish some people would just stop being bitter.

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@Full My comment was simply a statement of fact. Chelsea are out, Man City are out, Man Utd are out and Arsenal, barring a serious upset, will be out. You are dealing in the world of ifs and buts. We can go back to the first leg and go on for hours about missed chances etc... 'Stop being bitter'? Read your mail, then read mine. I don't think the bitterness is mine here. I did watch the game, by the way. I thought the red card was one of those that could have gone either way, but players know they are taking a risk by going in that high, particularly in European games. Roy Keane thought it was a red, pointing out the tackle was high and that Nani is a player who himself goes down very easily trying to get his opponents sent off. Nani isn't the only one. Ashley Young, Bale and Suarez are all as bad. My point remains. No bitterness here.

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@FullM3taL

Then comments that say that Madrid is "simply the better team" and La Liga is "simply the better league" reek of ignorance.

Nobody said anything about La Liga being the better league here, you seem to have made that up.

I said Madrid have better players. I think that's hard to dispute. United sold their best player of the last 20 years to them in his prime. Who would seriously take Carrick over Ozil, or a 39 year-old Giggs over Modric or Di Maria... the list goes on.

I don't hate United, I find it disturbing what has happened to them. They should have been buying the likes of Ozil and Modric, maybe even tempted Ronaldo to stay with mega money, but the revenue they generate is going elsewhere. City and Chelsea have better squads than United but a combination of their mismanagement and Ferguson's genius has so far kept them on top domestically.

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Its dangerous play, otherwise you'd have players going round doing this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TbvgbLnJoPM then saying hey, I was watching the ball!

Last year Chelsea went down to 10 men away to Barca and saw it through - that's the kind of performance needed to become European Champions. United were 1-0 up at home with a much easier task, they should have been able to see it out.

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@dave. Better players do not necessarily equal a better team. United were the (marginally) better team on both the legs. I saw how everyone said they expected United to be slaughtered by Real over two legs, particularly the first one at Bernabeu. And it didn't happen. United played as a team and did a magnificent job. As I earlier said, Rooney was put on the bench for the team-plan, and what other team puts one of their best (and star) players on the bench for the biggest match of European football? Man for man, I would say even City have slightly better players, but does that make them a better team?

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@dave. Just to clarify things, I see the point you're making, but I disagree. Real have better players in terms of skill, but on the two nights they failed to be the better team for large parts. And I disagree on the red card as well. Of all the pundits/players/ex-refs, only Roy Keane is the one who said it was a correct decision. Everyone else (including Dixon, Southgate, Hamman, KPB, Kompany, etc.) thought it was a totally wrong decision. It would be one thing if it was a 50-50 decision and I argued he should not have been sent off just to keep the game in balance. But it's a completely different thing when the ref gives a red where a yellow would have more than sufficed.

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The ref, Cüneyt Çakır, follows only one non-Turkish football team on his Twitter account. Yup, you guessed it. Real Madrid. Oh and Ronaldo as well. But I'm sure it's just a coincidence...

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cracphat

It wasn't a tackle. He was trapping a pass. Yellow card at best.

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VERY enjoyable, particulary knowing any aka akuman fans will have been so perplexed, so distraught so NEARLY with so many on the line saves, parries and IT'S IN! LOL. Brilliant. Theatre of Laughs made my day. There was a REAL test. Norwich? So yesterday.

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Bitterness, envy, and obstinacy. The hallmarks of a MAN UTD hater.

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