Has there ever been a CL semi-final as devoid of quality as that?

Bojan11

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Both semi finals were entertaining and fun. The quality of defending was poor. But that’s across Europe though because of the lack of world class defenders.
 

Pexbo

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Roma, shit. Liverpool, shit. Ref, dog shit.
 

Cheesy

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The 03-04 field was fairly weak, relatively speaking, albeit it did have Mourinho's Porto who were obviously incredibly efficient. Arsenal played Villarreal in 05-06, a season where they barely scraped past Spurs into a CL spot.

Defending there was very poor but was an immensely entertaining game of football with plenty of attacking talent.
 

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This was far worse. There shouldn't be 13 goals across two legs in the semi-final of a European 'elite' competition.
Why not? Far more exciting than a tentative 0-0 draw.
 

adexkola

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This was far worse. There shouldn't be 13 goals across two legs in the semi-final of a European 'elite' competition.
Why not? Shows that attacking quality at display.

2004 between Porto and Deportivo wasn't quality. Regardless of the low scoring rate. Or 2005 between Chelsea and Liverpool. That was a turd.
 

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We both asked the same question :lol:
I'd understand that POV if there weren't any good attacking players on show and the game was genuinely one where teams scored solely due to defensive mistakes, but Liverpool have one of the best attackers in the world at the moment, with another couple of major talents, while Dzeko is more than capable for Roma.
 

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I'm not talking about exciting, I'm talking about quality.

Some 0-0's can be just as entertaining as what we saw tonight.
Some can. Most aren't.

Plenty of good attacking on display from both sides over the two legs, in spite of the shite defending.
 

esmufc07

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I'd understand that POV if there weren't any good attacking players on show and the game was genuinely one where teams scored solely due to defensive mistakes, but Liverpool have one of the best attackers in the world at the moment, with another couple of major talents, while Dzeko is more than capable for Roma.
How many of the 13 goals scored were down to quality attacking play, and how many were down to atrocious defending?
 

Treble

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I'm not talking about exciting, I'm talking about quality.

Some 0-0's can be just as entertaining as what we saw tonight.
Clutching at straws there. Take off your red tinted glasses. The quality in attack was pretty good.
 

adexkola

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How many of the 13 goals scored were down to quality attacking play, and how many were down to atrocious defending?
I'd say very few were conceded due to atrocious defending. Good defense can be trumped by greater offense, doesn't invalidate what the defense has done.

We can walk through goal by goal to check.
 

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How many of the 13 goals scored were down to quality attacking play, and how many were down to atrocious defending?
I'd need to go back and watch them all to reach a judgment on that. A few of Liverpool's goals in the first leg was fairly impressive though. Either way - again, plenty of impressive quality attacking on show. Germany spanked Brazil 7-1 a few years back - and irrespective of how shite Brazil were on such a big occasion Germany were still superb.
 

esmufc07

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I'd say very few were conceded due to atrocious defending. Good defense can be trumped by greater offense, doesn't invalidate what the defense has done.

We can walk through goal by goal to check.
Salah's first goal in the first leg was outstanding. Roma's 3rd tonight was a nice finish. I struggle to think of any others that weren't down to bad defending.
 

Pagh Wraith

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The knockout stages surely missed Atletico. How they were eliminated from their group I still don't know. The lack of defensive quality is painful to watch.
 

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As Rio was saying last night the art of defending has been put on the back burner. 0-0 away from home used to be a great result. Not anymore. We found that out ourselves. Losing the home leg is not as disastrous as it once was. The game has changed. It rewards those who play on the front foot, create chances, force mistakes from the other defence. It's very entertaining for the fans and neutrals and this CL has been one of the most open I can ever remember. The big boys have all regressed (Real, Barca etc) We really missed an opportunity this year to make an impact but next season we need to improve on last 16 for sure.
 

FootballHQ

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2010.

Bayern were fairly quality that year though - only stopped by a superb Mourinho Inter Milan side in the final.
I rememeber Lyon playing Bordeaux playing at some stage in that, think it might've been the quarters. They were a very weak semi finalist though, they had much better sides around 2005-07 that didn't get as far in the competition.
 

redIndianDevil

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Both semi finals were entertaining and fun. The quality of defending was poor. But that’s across Europe though because of the lack of world class defenders.
I don't think it's due to lack of world class defenders, teams in the continent try to play a passing game with a high line of defence and with refereeing even more stricter, defenders don't stand a chance.
 

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I rememeber Lyon playing Bordeaux playing at some stage in that, think it might've been the quarters. They were a very weak semi finalist though, they had much better sides around 2005-07 that didn't get as far in the competition.
Yeah that was always the ironic part of them getting to the semis in 2010 - they'd had plenty of top quality sides in the mid-2000s who never got that far, but then managed to get so deep with such an average side.
 

adexkola

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2010.

Bayern were fairly quality that year though - only stopped by a superb Mourinho Inter Milan side in the final.
Not from what I remember. Lucky to get through the QFs (Rooney's injury fecked us). Plus Lyon. That was an average Bayern side fresh off of Klinsmann and managed by Van Gaal.
 

redIndianDevil

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As Rio was saying last night the art of defending has been put on the back burner. 0-0 away from home used to be a great result. Not anymore. We found that out ourselves. Losing the home leg is not as disastrous as it once was. The game has changed. It rewards those who play on the front foot, create chances, force mistakes from the other defence. It's very entertaining for the fans and neutrals and this CL has been one of the most open I can ever remember. The big boys have all regressed (Real, Barca etc) We really missed an opportunity this year to make an impact but next season we need to improve on last 16 for sure.
Too true. I don't think it's limited to football either, in almost all sports attack seems to be the best form of defence.
 

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Not from what I remember. Lucky to get through the QFs (Rooney's injury fecked us). Plus Lyon. That was an average Bayern side fresh off of Klinsmann and managed by Van Gaal.
They weren't as good as what was to come but still had plenty of quality in their side and won the Bundesliga double. Even if they were lucky to get past us, we were still a fairly strong side back then...not as good as 06-09 but strong enough to reach the latter stages of the competition.
 

van der star

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Would you rather watch a technical masterclass of a tie that ends with a couple goals scored, or would you rather watch a goal fest like the one we've just witnessed? I know which one I prefer, as a neutral football fan.
 

juggernaut1986

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2010.

Bayern were fairly quality that year though - only stopped by a superb Mourinho Inter Milan side in the final.
Bayern were average that year. They were very lucky against us. They weren't that good even against Fiorentina in the previous round.
 

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I would say both semi-finals were the poorest in quality I have seen in many years. Goal laden yes but incredibly poor moments from all four teams.

I just hope Real can drag themselves over the finishing line ahead of that lot.
 

ti vu

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They weren't as good as what was to come but still had plenty of quality in their side and won the Bundesliga double. Even if they were lucky to get past us, we were still a fairly strong side back then...not as good as 06-09 but strong enough to reach the latter stages of the competition.
Exactly. It showed the following year we made final even if you could say our route was easier than Barcelona. You don't beat a team making 3 final in 4 years on pure luck (Rooney injury) alone
 

JB08

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I wouldn't exactly say attacks consisting of Salah/Firmino/Mane, Ronaldo/Benzema/Asensio and Lewandowski/Ribery/Muller are devoid of quality.
 

redIndianDevil

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Would you rather watch a technical masterclass of a tie that ends with a couple goals scored, or would you rather watch a goal fest like the one we've just witnessed? I know which one I prefer, as a neutral football fan.
I'd prefer the first one but if it was two teams unwilling to risk anything and play out a 0-0 draw I'd consider that a huge waste of time whatever "tactical masterclass" both of the teams displayed.
 

FootballHQ

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Bayern were average that year. They were very lucky against us. They weren't that good even against Fiorentina in the previous round.
From memory Man. United dominated the away leg but somehow lost 2-1 (last minute goal). Of course then went 3-0 up in the home leg before Olic knicked a goal just before half time and then the Rafael red changed everything.

Bayern line up that night had Hans-Jorg Butt as keeper (took penalties), Badstuber, Van Buyten in defence so not a vintage edition although the attack was pretty much the same as now (Robben, Ribery and Muller all started.)
 

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This gets said every year. The Monaco vs Juventus game last year was very average. Before that, the City vs Real game was as limp and lacking in intensity as anything I have seen in the CL. We should have put about a dozen past Schalke in 2011 and there was a semi between Bayern and Lyon that might have as well never existed. There is just never a year of top quality football in every game at both attacking and defensive ends. Something will always be lacking.