Champions League Final 2018: Real Madrid v Liverpool
Moderator: bbmods
Ajax 1-0 Tottenham, at Tottenham.
Ajax, Unshakable on Champions League Stage, Inches Closer to Final
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/spor ... eague.html
"But the shimmy encapsulated everything; the shimmy explained it all. How a team built with a fraction of the budget of a typical Champions League contender finds itself, after Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Spurs, 90 minutes from the final; how these players could eliminate Real Madrid and Juventus; why this squad has not just won all of its knockout games on the road, but so many hearts and minds along the way.
It came straight from the kickoff. The ball rolled back to de Jong. Scarcely can a 21-year-old have looked quite so at ease in such surroundings, such circumstances. De Ligt is the captain, and leader, of this Ajax team; Hakim Ziyech is its imagination. De Jong is its brain.
...
What has characterized Ajax this season, what carried Erik ten Hag’s team past Real Madrid in the round of 16 and Juventus in the quarterfinals, is fearlessness. Ajax has not been cowed by its opponents’ reputations. It has not been discouraged by a comparative dearth of experience. It has refused to succumb to conventional wisdom, that a team from a lesser league and paid lesser wages must automatically shrink into its shell to have any hope of surviving. It has trusted its instincts, imposed its own beliefs on the most illustrious opposition, and thrived."
Ajax, Unshakable on Champions League Stage, Inches Closer to Final
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/30/spor ... eague.html
"But the shimmy encapsulated everything; the shimmy explained it all. How a team built with a fraction of the budget of a typical Champions League contender finds itself, after Tuesday’s 1-0 victory over Spurs, 90 minutes from the final; how these players could eliminate Real Madrid and Juventus; why this squad has not just won all of its knockout games on the road, but so many hearts and minds along the way.
It came straight from the kickoff. The ball rolled back to de Jong. Scarcely can a 21-year-old have looked quite so at ease in such surroundings, such circumstances. De Ligt is the captain, and leader, of this Ajax team; Hakim Ziyech is its imagination. De Jong is its brain.
...
What has characterized Ajax this season, what carried Erik ten Hag’s team past Real Madrid in the round of 16 and Juventus in the quarterfinals, is fearlessness. Ajax has not been cowed by its opponents’ reputations. It has not been discouraged by a comparative dearth of experience. It has refused to succumb to conventional wisdom, that a team from a lesser league and paid lesser wages must automatically shrink into its shell to have any hope of surviving. It has trusted its instincts, imposed its own beliefs on the most illustrious opposition, and thrived."
Barcelona 3-0 Liverpool.
Messi 2.
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAjwRH9bd9o
FiveThirtyEight's title predictions:
Barcelona 64%
Ajax 24%
Tottenham 8%
Liverpool 4%
Messi 2.
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAjwRH9bd9o
FiveThirtyEight's title predictions:
Barcelona 64%
Ajax 24%
Tottenham 8%
Liverpool 4%
Liverpool 4-0 Barcelona
Origi 7', 79'; Wijnaldum 54', 56'
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbK7w9jJDbo
"It is the first time since 1986 - when Barcelona knocked out Gothenburg in the old European Cup - that a team have recovered a three-goal first-leg deficit to win a semi-final in this competition.
...
Liverpool sealed a famous victory 11 minutes from time when Alexander-Arnold feigned to leave a corner but instead took it quickly, finding Origi unmarked to sweep the ball home." (BBC)
Klopp: "Barcelona defend predictable things well. But you need to be unpredictable at moments. I saw the ball flying in the goal, I didn't see the corner. I didn't see who took the corner."
Alexander-Arnold: "It was just instinct. I saw the opportunity."
Origi 7', 79'; Wijnaldum 54', 56'
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbK7w9jJDbo
"It is the first time since 1986 - when Barcelona knocked out Gothenburg in the old European Cup - that a team have recovered a three-goal first-leg deficit to win a semi-final in this competition.
...
Liverpool sealed a famous victory 11 minutes from time when Alexander-Arnold feigned to leave a corner but instead took it quickly, finding Origi unmarked to sweep the ball home." (BBC)
Klopp: "Barcelona defend predictable things well. But you need to be unpredictable at moments. I saw the ball flying in the goal, I didn't see the corner. I didn't see who took the corner."
Alexander-Arnold: "It was just instinct. I saw the opportunity."
| 1902 | 1903 | 1910 | 1917 | 1919 | 1927 | 1928 | 1929 | 1930 | 1935 | 1936 | 1953 | 1958 | 1990 | 2010 | 2023 | Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
Moura 55', 59', 90+6'
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSSPyr6y8ZA
Louis van Gaal (former Ajax coach): "It was admirable that Spurs had the courage to never give up and try and do the business, but it was totally unnecessary of Ajax to let it all slip. This defeat was completely unnecessary. At half-time there was nothing wrong with a 2-0 lead. In the second half, Tottenham took more and more risk and more and more attackers entered the field. Ajax made the wrong choices in possession of the ball in that phase."
Lars Lagerback (Norway coach): "I'm driven crazy here, they [Ajax] went for another goal instead of holding on to the ball and pushing back the Tottenham team. At the same time, I can appreciate them, it's a good attitude, but if you know you only have a few minutes left ... it shows that they are not as experienced."
(Reuters)
The post was hit twice (once by each team), the crossbar once.
Moura 55', 59', 90+6'
Highlights: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSSPyr6y8ZA
Louis van Gaal (former Ajax coach): "It was admirable that Spurs had the courage to never give up and try and do the business, but it was totally unnecessary of Ajax to let it all slip. This defeat was completely unnecessary. At half-time there was nothing wrong with a 2-0 lead. In the second half, Tottenham took more and more risk and more and more attackers entered the field. Ajax made the wrong choices in possession of the ball in that phase."
Lars Lagerback (Norway coach): "I'm driven crazy here, they [Ajax] went for another goal instead of holding on to the ball and pushing back the Tottenham team. At the same time, I can appreciate them, it's a good attitude, but if you know you only have a few minutes left ... it shows that they are not as experienced."
(Reuters)
The post was hit twice (once by each team), the crossbar once.
"City is not the only team to dominate domestic competitions only to stumble repeatedly in European tournaments. Paris Saint-Germain has won seven of the last eight French titles and 15 domestic cups since 2012-13 but hasn’t gotten past the quarterfinals of an international competition in more than two decades.
Juventus has won eight Serie A titles and eight Italian cups in the last eight seasons, but it hasn’t won a European title this century. Bayern Munich, which Saturday captured its seventh straight Bundesliga title, has won just one Champions League title in that span."
(LA Times)
Juventus has won eight Serie A titles and eight Italian cups in the last eight seasons, but it hasn’t won a European title this century. Bayern Munich, which Saturday captured its seventh straight Bundesliga title, has won just one Champions League title in that span."
(LA Times)