They were still shite. Getting the hardest team you could get doesn't mean it's a tough draw?
Toughest/easiest run to the CL Final?
- Thread starter thepolice123
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Gets overlooked because they were a surprise winner, but Porto in 03/04 had a piss easy run to winning it.
Had Real in their group but really only had to finish ahead of Marseille and Partizan Belgrade. Squeaked past us in the next round only to have to contend with Lyon and Deportivo before facing Monaco in the final.
Not many club have easier ties the further they get in the competition.
Had Real in their group but really only had to finish ahead of Marseille and Partizan Belgrade. Squeaked past us in the next round only to have to contend with Lyon and Deportivo before facing Monaco in the final.
Not many club have easier ties the further they get in the competition.
What a load of shite. They played poorly and we made them do that. Getting the hardest team you could get means it's a tough draw. You assess how tough a draw is by which teams you can draw. Do you think Man City got a tougher draw last year when they got Lyon and Bayern got Barcelona?
Also - Chelsea's run to the 07/08 final from group stage to Terry's slip was laughable.
The shalcke game, Neuer was having a worldie and looked unbeatable untill giggs was offside and just shot the ball inside the net to break the juju. The commentator even said it, and untied scored plenty after that
Yeah that was a tough route to the final, but the refs made it easy
Pretty much every run Barca had between 06-15 as they had the refs play 12th man for them.
So if the options were Brighton, Portsmouth and Charlton and you drew Brighton it's a hard draw?
You assess how hard a draw is by how good the other team is.
We could have only drawn Wigan in the 2006 league cup final so that's a hard draw? No it isnt.
Yes you played well, well done. Obviously the truth is between you being brilliant and them being shite. But you're in a CL semi final and haven't really played a good team.
Beckham should have won it ahead of Rivaldo that year.
That's true but at the same time they had it good because the best sides buggered up against the same type of opponents. If the best team's did their job it would have been a Milan semi and Chelsea/Arsenal final.
The reason you got Wigan was mainly because Arsenal screwed up vs them and we got k/o'd at home to Charlton. The reality is as i've just said re Porto if teams are getting such a kind run to final's it's almost always down to other top teams messing up vs the same so called easy teams.
Our run to the CL final in 2011 was the first one that came to mind. Even the group stage was fine against Valencia, Bursaspor and Rangers. Flattered a side that was past its best.
Milan 2005 - A garbage United, a garbage Inter, PSV! and still somehow bottled it vs the 5th played Liverpool(also pretty garbage) 
Honestly, how did Chelsea do everything right that year, except score a single goal vs Liverpool?
Honestly, how did Chelsea do everything right that year, except score a single goal vs Liverpool?
Atletico are a good team. Stop the cap.
Nope. Beating Bayern, United and Liverpool in the same CL season is always impressive, regardless of the form or injuries of other clubs.
No - Real Madrid were. But I'd suggest Chelsea we're also the fourth favourites for that CL opposed to Inter or Bayern too, who had regressed massively, so it's not like United avoided stuff. It was just a generally an odd year.
In reality, I'd say Porto's run in 2004 is the easiest from memory, but because it's Porto, it's not getting talked about.... United in SAF's lowest Prem era phase, Deportivo, Lyon and Monaco. TWO French teams.... when French teams we're considered a walkover for anyone elite!
Do you actually believe that or is this tongue-in-cheek?
Juventus were still strong. They didn’t have the best year in Serie A but still only finished 1 point behind 4th and 2 points behind 3rd. It was a hard fought league. Plus if we hadn’t stopped them they would have reached their 4th CL final in a row, they were a very experienced CL side.
So if other teams mess up it makes the draw harder? So Wigan was a tough draw? I agree it is because other teams messed up, but that doesn't make that team any better.
They're alright. They've thrown away a nice lead in La Liga due to their poorer form in the second half of the season.
My point was that people base these things on the names of the teams you play, not the actual quality of the sides.That Inter side who got absolutely annihilated by young Bale in the group stages?
Because they weren't down on agg during 180mins of football, unlike Juve who were down for almost the entirety of it, and went down anyway.
If that helps Glazers or whomever sleep better at night.Yeah that was a tough route to the final, but the refs made it easy
Nah, United were far from second best at 2011. The real final was in the semis (clasico).
United getting into the final and getting wrecked in a very one-sided final made Pep's Barca look better in your eyes than they actually were.
Meanwhile in that very same year Real and Barca had played 4 clasicos within 14 days, drawing twice, and winning once each (and that was with dubious decisions in sending Pepe off, or disallowing a correct goal by Higuain), they were that close.
You just tried to compare them to Wigan Brighton etc.
They were top when we played them. Clear at the top.
Easiest draw is Real in 2016.
Then you're just looking at the name not gauging the actual difficulty.
A few years ago maybe. They’re on a downward trajectory.
That series of clásicos was very rough physically and mentally, technically. But the Barcelona team of that season is still the best I ever saw. Their 5-0 against Real in November 2010 is the best football performance I ever saw in technical level. Barcelona played at their best almost all matches from October 2010 to January 2011. After that, their form declined in the season, suffering with huge physical and mental fatigue and injuries, overplaying in the box and so on, looking laborious, missing too many goals. Before February, Barcelona was on track to beat the record of goals in a single La Liga edition (125 if I'm not mistaken), they scored at least three goals in every game, afterwards they weren't averaging even two goals per game and finished the league with 95 goals. The UCL final against United was a big return to form for Barcelona, by far their best performance since their magical period of October 2010 to January 2011.
No I didn't. We were talking about what constitutes an easy draw. Whether it's the teams available or the quality of the team. Don't put words in my mouth.
bar must have been really low that year then as in the league that year we only won 5 away games. It's also like 4th on the lowest points total to win a league in the PL era
And in no way shape or form does atletico constitute as an easy draw.
Hardest: United 98/99, Real 16/17, Real 17/18, Barca 14/15
Easiest: Real 15/16, Chelsea 07/08, United 10/11
Easiest: Real 15/16, Chelsea 07/08, United 10/11
Not really. Liverpool, Milan and RM have shown again and again that some clubs can step it up in Europe despite their poor or average league runs. And usually some big clubs are always in turmoil while others are in their peak years. You will rarely find a CL season with more than 2 or 3 great teams at once.
That was an insane CL season. I recall Barca fans clapping both sides off after that fantastic tie at the Camp Nou. Juventus were also such a powerhouse... beating them in Turin to get to the final has to be our greatest away performance of all time. A few years early we weren't quite as good as the 99 team and sadly looked men versus boys against a powerful Juventus side with Vieri and Boksic. Serie A was such a strong league back then littered with superstars..must admit I used to be full of envy.
Depends doesn't it.
Yep. Marseille and Chelsea were reigning champions of their countries, they were not as bad as people think.
Not really top of the league clear when we drew them. I bet if we look on the threads here most had atletico going through.
We didn’t concede a single goal away from home in that seasons CL. We may have been mildly below par in the league (mostly due to Rooney effectively taking half the season off) but who are these other European sides we were lucky enough to avoid who were better than us? The only arguable one is Real, and where our QF opponent was the champions of England there’s was fecking Spurs.
That United side was in decline, but it was still a very strong team, the last real Man Utd team tbh. And yes 80 points is the fifth lowest points total to win the league, but you know what the third is? The treble winners. Was the bar really low that year too?
Minor point, wasn’t Ronaldo off form/coming back from a major injury. In any case, agree with everything you say
Got past us courtesy of an awful offside decision too.