Big games bring incredible pressure, and we've seen a lot of players in the past being wasteful in big games. The fact that Madrid took their chances and had a goal keeper who was able to keep his cool makes them worthy champions.
The Athletic: Only in an alternate reality should Real Madrid be Champions League winners
- Thread starter IrishRedDevil
- Start date
We won the xg trophy!
Nope, doesn't do it.
Nope, doesn't do it.
"What did he say?"
"Something about a job"
You have decided to go the completely opposite direction for some reason. They weren’t very poor ffs.
At least this means they're not taking it well 
Let them moan about this shit, means they're still rattled.
Let them moan about this shit, means they're still rattled.Great. They should publish more of those articles. Then we will have even more reasons to laugh. No amount of articles or tweets is going to change the fact that RM won the CL 2022 
Call me old fashioned but every victory should be memorable and devastating for the losers
I thought goals win games not a popularity contest
Please do explain how they were not poor, Real Madrid scored two good goals, one was incorrectly taken away, and Liverpool didn't score even the once, and never looked likely to do so.
So, I fail to see where the positives are for Liverpool from a purely playing perspective.
They did naff all.
If that’s your assessment after watching the game then there is no point discussing it with you as your tinted glasses are fecking welded on.
It’s even more devastating when you lose a game you should have won easily.
I did wonder, but I think it's just coincidence.
Nope, no tinted glasses, no tint at all.
Just plain old commonsense.
Liverpool didn't do anything out of the norm, anything to extend Real Madrid in terms of creating chances that you would feel that a striker should be scoring.
The chances were ones that you would be disappointed in a top goalkeeper not saving.
Real on the other hand, did create multiple chances, and scored two very good goals.
So the evidence shows that it was Real Madrid that played well, controlled the game, and were the better side on the night.
I guess curtois' performance was only 'not disappointing' based on this.
I caught that bit about the parade on SSN - they were saying the exact same thing. How can you not laugh? I had trouble breathing after that one!
He did enough so that Ancelotti didn't have to raise his eyebrow.
He made one wonder save against Salah. Otherwise it would still be 2-1. But keep telling yourselves it was just a freak keeper performance that kept you from greatness.
Even that was a "good" save arguably, it wasn't a freak of a save. If it goes in you're saying he could do better.
Yet the journalists in the British media will continue to gaslight everyone by insisting that there's no bias towards Liverpool, generally speaking, in the press. Some of it you can even understand. Like using the title challenge this season, for example. City are obviously not well-liked, Liverpool are seen as the "underdogs" and the "proper" club with a rich history that stirs up more emotion. It's obvious that a lot of the journalists working today would prefer Liverpool to win it, yet they get so indignant and defensive when people call them out on it. You're not fooling anyone.
One podcast I was listening to (before the title was decided) the host was waxing lyrical about the emotion that surrounds Liverpool and how it's destiny that Liverpool finds themselves in this position and how it stirs up the emotion in him. Then goes on to say it's absurd that people think journalists and others in the media favour Liverpool!
They've always been the media darlings ahead of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and City.
One podcast I was listening to (before the title was decided) the host was waxing lyrical about the emotion that surrounds Liverpool and how it's destiny that Liverpool finds themselves in this position and how it stirs up the emotion in him. Then goes on to say it's absurd that people think journalists and others in the media favour Liverpool!
They've always been the media darlings ahead of United, Chelsea, Arsenal and City.
They've invented alternative reality
The whole narrative of Liverpool utterly dominating the game hinges entirely on the fact that people just focus mindlessly on xG and other blind stats like that.
If a player has a free run at the keeper but doesn't manage to get a shot off in the end because the ball is just exactly nicked from him in the last nanosecond, it doesn't count as a "chance" in the statistics. It doesn't register in the xG figure. Meanwhile, a toothless shot from 50 yards out that would never go in will count as a chance in the eyes of xG. Which one was actually the bigger threat? Just because Real Madrid don't mindlessly hoof the ball goalwards every time they have the opportunity doesn't mean they aren't creating chances. Meanwhile, that's what Liverpool do, and that means the stats make it seem as though they dominate games much more than they really do.
Possession was exactly 50/50. Liverpool were only actually close to scoring a couple of times, but they kept taking wild, aimless shots at goal. Any team can do that. It's not a sign of being the better team; if anything, it can mean the opposite: they were unable to create proper chances so they just hoofed the ball in the direction of the goal anytime they could, hoping for the best. Meanwhile, Real Madrid had a number of highly threatening runs on goal that simply didn't happen to end with shots because they were intercepted at the last moment. If you let stats dictate your interpretation of a match, instead of whatever actually happens on the pitch, I guess I can see why you would think Liverpool were toying with Real Madrid.
Watching the game, at no point did I feel like Madrid were hanging on for dear life. They were just absorbing the pressure and playing on the counter while they focused on overcoming Liverpool's bullheaded, inhaler-fuelled aggression. It was more reminiscent of Mike Tyson's iconic swaying from side to side while his opponent flails wildly at him, missing. At the end of the day, Madrid scored two goals, one of which was ruled out on a silly technicality. Liverpool didn't score at all, and it's not as if Courtois had to make a dozen world-class saves. It's hardly the first time Madrid have a lower xG than their opponent but win by being more clinical. They've been doing that throughout the entire tournament. It's literally their style of play.
If a player has a free run at the keeper but doesn't manage to get a shot off in the end because the ball is just exactly nicked from him in the last nanosecond, it doesn't count as a "chance" in the statistics. It doesn't register in the xG figure. Meanwhile, a toothless shot from 50 yards out that would never go in will count as a chance in the eyes of xG. Which one was actually the bigger threat? Just because Real Madrid don't mindlessly hoof the ball goalwards every time they have the opportunity doesn't mean they aren't creating chances. Meanwhile, that's what Liverpool do, and that means the stats make it seem as though they dominate games much more than they really do.
Possession was exactly 50/50. Liverpool were only actually close to scoring a couple of times, but they kept taking wild, aimless shots at goal. Any team can do that. It's not a sign of being the better team; if anything, it can mean the opposite: they were unable to create proper chances so they just hoofed the ball in the direction of the goal anytime they could, hoping for the best. Meanwhile, Real Madrid had a number of highly threatening runs on goal that simply didn't happen to end with shots because they were intercepted at the last moment. If you let stats dictate your interpretation of a match, instead of whatever actually happens on the pitch, I guess I can see why you would think Liverpool were toying with Real Madrid.
Watching the game, at no point did I feel like Madrid were hanging on for dear life. They were just absorbing the pressure and playing on the counter while they focused on overcoming Liverpool's bullheaded, inhaler-fuelled aggression. It was more reminiscent of Mike Tyson's iconic swaying from side to side while his opponent flails wildly at him, missing. At the end of the day, Madrid scored two goals, one of which was ruled out on a silly technicality. Liverpool didn't score at all, and it's not as if Courtois had to make a dozen world-class saves. It's hardly the first time Madrid have a lower xG than their opponent but win by being more clinical. They've been doing that throughout the entire tournament. It's literally their style of play.
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I'd expect to see that article as a post in the RAWK meltdown thread.
Okay. I’m sorry but the bias against a Liverpool is far too strong for me. Madrid did far better at converting their chances and deserved it but to say Liverpool were very poor and controlled the game is guff.The one on Mané was better. Those 2 were both very good/great saves, but there was nothing unreal about his performance - it was a great one, worthy of the occasion, and that a keeper of his caliber is able to pull off on a relatively regular basis. No doubt he'll become this mythical Lev Yashin like figure in scouseland though, as it fits their narrative, but whatever.
Multiverse of madness
Yeah good luck with this poster, it's like talking to a brick wall.
I think the best bit is the insinuation that Madrid are some plucky upstart who should have just been grateful to have the opportunity to play the mighty Liverpool.What a shit article
The Athletic is very good actually. That article is a shower of shit though.
What the actual feck. I was pretty sure that the tweet & the thread were overreacting but they even underplayed the ridiculousness of that article (even if it's kinda framed as a "joke").
The weird thing is that Real wasn't even that bad — in all of their previous fixtures they were extremely lucky to get through (although when you defy the logic consistently maybe there's something wrong with that logic?) but the final was a pretty normal win by a more defensive & composed side that got their chances on the counter.
The weird thing is that Real wasn't even that bad — in all of their previous fixtures they were extremely lucky to get through (although when you defy the logic consistently maybe there's something wrong with that logic?) but the final was a pretty normal win by a more defensive & composed side that got their chances on the counter.
Absolutely. European royalty versus....Real Madrid
They do have the biggest amount of worthy articles out of any English sporting media that I know of. But they do post some horrendous stuff from time to time and this is arguably the worst of it all.
I've read through around 200 comments under that article and statistically I should've seen at least one positive one... I didn't
His save on Mane's early shot was the best in the match. He needed every bit of that arm span and 6'5 height. Shorter keeper does not get a finger to it. It was on the Kahn/Schmeichel level of saves.
What an odious little cretin this is.
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City, PSG and Chelsea fans keep talking about Madrid's luck.
Well here is what Seedorf said about Madrid after the CL semifinal second leg:
"Real Madrid's mentality isn't something created in a year or two, or even ten. It's about coming to a club where you know you're a part of something much greater than yourself."
City, PSG & Chelsea fans need to ask themselves - why do players join us?
Well here is what Seedorf said about Madrid after the CL semifinal second leg:
"Real Madrid's mentality isn't something created in a year or two, or even ten. It's about coming to a club where you know you're a part of something much greater than yourself."
City, PSG & Chelsea fans need to ask themselves - why do players join us?
What is it?
Don’t forget moral victory’s also, they’re the most important
As much as we all love to laugh at the Madrid circus, when they keep getting lucky, year after year, its probably something more than luck. A bit like we always got lucky under SAF. The biggest clubs instill a belief in the players that means unexpected things can happen.