2013 UEFA Champions League

[M*A*S*H 4077]

I think a lot of it comes down to the question, are Bayern's players mentally ready to take the next step? They've had a lot of 2nd/3rd place finishes for Bayern and internationally. Can they get over that hump?

[Locke]

Bayern and Barca have been the world's two most dominant teams this season. That is going to be a couple of epic matches.

Unstoppable force vs Immovable object.

I really hope the Bayern players are up for it and somehow get over this Barca intimidation factor.

I also hope Messi is perfectly healthy. Win or lose, I dont want there to be any excuses.

[The Swedish Flame]

Originally Posted by M*A*S*H 4077

I think a lot of it comes down to the question, are Bayern's players mentally ready to take the next step? They've had a lot of 2nd/3rd place finishes for Bayern and internationally. Can they get over that hump?

Yeah, whenever I talk to Germans about the national team/Bayern they always bring that up. It's too bad though, because I've really enjoyed watching the German national side for some time now and find it quite entertaining. Wouldn't mind them winning something.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Originally Posted by Locke

Bayern and Barca have been the world's two most dominant teams this season. That is going to be a couple of epic matches.

Unstoppable force vs Immovable object.

I really hope the Bayern players are up for it and somehow get over this Barca intimidation factor.

I also hope Messi is perfectly healthy. Win or lose, I dont want there to be any excuses.

I want Bayern to win. I want them to get over the Spain/Barca/Big Game mental block they have in their head. And Messi absolutely needs to be in the Barcelona lineup so there are no excuses.

[sadora]

http://www.marca.com/en/

Here's a link to Marca, the Spanish sports news paper. Some interesting articles ahead of the Spanish/German match-ups. Messi and Modric both not cleared yet to play in their respective matches.

http://www.marca.com/2013/04/20/en/f...366476823.html

After the 1990 World Cup final, Gary Lineker famously said: "Football is a simple game; 22 men chase the ball for 90 minutes, and at the end the Germans win". Lineker's quote has been repeated time and time again, but it seems the sentence no longer has the same relevance.
A German club has not won a major competition since 2001, when Bayern Munich clinched the Champions League at the expense of Valencia and the Intercontinental Cup against Boca Juniors. The eleven-year period has been dominated by Spain, which has chalked up eleven trophies: 1 World Cup and 2 European Championships for the national side; 4 Champions League titles – 3 for Barcelona and 1 for Real Madrid; 2 UEFA Cups – both won by Sevilla; and 2 Europa Leagues for Atlético de Madrid.

I know I'll be the only one on CP hoping for an all Spanish final at the CL.

In all honesty though, I can't wait until both of these semi finals. As a fan of football I'm extremely psyched at these match-ups and whatever final comes as a result.

FORCA BARCAAAA!!!!!

[NBC]

I still haven't forgiven Bayern for last year's Champions League final.

[polak]

Lewandowski might be playing hurt for the Madrid game. I guess you don't sit the league leading scorer who has scored in 12 games in a row. Wonder if he will catch Gerd Muller's record of 16.

[M*A*S*H 4077]

I woke up this morning thinking it is match day but nope, that's tomorrow I can't wait. Cheering for the German sides, but want to see two exciting match ups

[d_phaneuf]

Bild reporting today that Bayern activated Goetze's release clause

[d_phaneuf]

http://www.bild.de/sport/fussball/bo...1116.bild.html

also says a contract is all ready agreed

[M*A*S*H 4077]

Wow!

As a Bayern fan I am absolutely stoked. On the other hand, I really enjoy watching Dortmund play and it would probably be better for German soccer for him not to go to Bayern. He's going to be the next face of German soccer, he's the heir to Schweinsteiger

[Locke]

Not a fan of this personally, consolidating too much talent onto one team is going to make the Bundesliga boring.

They dont want the rest of the league to become completely irrelevant like Spain.

[Lego Man]

Originally Posted by Locke

Not a fan of this personally, consolidating too much talent onto one team is going to make the Bundesliga boring.

They dont want the rest of the league to become completely irrelevant like Spain.

As a person who very recently started to follow football very closely, this was the exact reason I decided to follow the EPL primarily, and to finally settle on club. Maybe it doesn't have the absolute test teams in the world, but the weekly competition is way more interesting than Bundesliga or La Liga.

How does a league like Bundesliga work to stop this trend though?

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Lego Man

As a person who very recently started to follow football very closely, this was the exact reason I decided to follow the EPL primarily, and to finally settle on club. Maybe it doesn't have the absolute test teams in the world, but the weekly competition is way more interesting than Bundesliga or La Liga.

How does a league like Bundesliga work to stop this trend though?

I actually find the Bundesliga to be one of the more even and competitive leagues around, but its not really the league's place to do something about it I dont think. Other teams have to step up or you become a league like the EPL where the handful of teams with money dominate and the rest just fight to survive.

[devo22]

meh, that's just typical Bayern stuff. They dominate, then they struggle for a couple seasons and lose the title to somebody, they go on a spending spree and dominate again. It's a 5 year cycle, usually. It's more extreme this time though, getting in Guardiola and buying the best player of their biggest rival.

Hoeneß is such a huge hypocrite. Criticizes transfer fees in other leagues, then goes out and spends 40m on Javi Martinez. Talks about working with Dortmund and the league to avoid Spanish conditions, then goes out and buys their best player. Just a huge #######, really. I wonder how his tax evasion case will play out.

I'm seriously pissed about this.

[d_phaneuf]

I have said it a few times but I think this is fallout from Lewa all ready deciding to leave

Wouldn't shock me to see Reus and Gundogan both gone between now and after the world cup as well

And this is horrible for the Bundesliga, they had pretty clearly moved in to the 3rd slot behind England/Spain in teams or current talent, but I think Italy is in the midst of a renaissance of sorts and if the Bundesliga goes back to being Bayern + 19 it won't end well

only takes 3-4 years to lose that extra CL slot as well

[devo22]

brilliant timing too, as usual. I bet he signed the contract some time ago, but they make this public now to distract everyone from Hoeneß' tax evasion case. Smart.

God, I hate this club.

[SuperMatt18]

Hate these teams.

Good talent goes to rot on the bench of Madrid, Barca, Bayern, etc and the overall product of the game starts to decline.

Spain is already a two team league, Germany might become a one team league, Italian teams are poor and being forced to develop players again but that will take time. Really England is going to be the only domestic league that has a couple of teams that potentially could compete.

I was hoping Fifa Financial Fair Play would help but it is only going to make it worse because these are the only teams that can actually make any money.

[GirlySports]

French football is the most balanced. Lyon won 7 championships in a row but 4 different teams won before that and 4 different teams have won after that. PSG will be the 5th. Will PSG dominate over the next few years with their money? Maybe.

[devo22]

Dortmund have just confirmed the rumours, it's a done deal.

They also say that Bayern have never contacted them directly. Pure class.