Official Football Thread

I'm sick of the referee protection for Spanish teams in Champions League. Real Madrid obviously were the better team and they beat us 3-0 (we played fairly well but couldn't get the job done, more possession, more attempts). But the foul before the third goal wasn't even close to being an actual foul. Also an obvious penalty was missed + Burak Yılmaz was shown a yellow card for cheating (replay clearly shows Ramos steps on his foot).

 
David Santon and Steven Taylor must be feeling pretty silly now. At least in the past Taylor has pretended to have been hit in the stomach after deliberately handballing!
 
Black Wizard said:
Oh, and the complete lack of English teams in the quarter-finals? That really shows that the Premier League is the strongest league in the world doesn't it?
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It was - up to about 5 years ago when La Liga came strong.
 
Black Wizard said:
Oh, and the complete lack of English teams in the quarter-finals? That really shows that the Premier League is the strongest league in the world doesn't it?
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The Premiership was created by the time UEFA launched the Champions League (both competitions celebrated 20 years last season), so there's a ground for comparison: 13 clubs from 7 countries won the Champions League. 9 of those 13 clubs, won it once. So we get an elite of the four best European teams of the last 20 years: Milan, Barcelona, Real Madrid (3 trophies each) and Manchester United (2 trophies).

Besides, Italy, Spain, England and Germany are the only European countries winning the Champions League more than once, and only Italy, Spain and England won the competition more than 4 times and their clubs are the only so far capable of winning more than once.

So despite all the criticism, the Premiership perfomance in the Champions League places it in 3rd position overall in Europe.
 
I think Premier League still is the strongest league, it's just that the best teams are from other countries this year. It's fair to say Real, Barça, Bayern and Dortmund are the Top 4 of European football at the moment and even though they're not in the quarter finals, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City are fairly close, absolutely Top 10. Arsenal challenged an unstoppable Bayern with a 2-0 win in the 2nd round.

And another thing, Tottenham and Newcastle are quarter finalists in Europa League.
 
The Flash said:
I think Premier League still is the strongest league, it's just that the best teams are from other countries this year. It's fair to say Real, Barça, Bayern and Dortmund are the Top 4 of European football at the moment and even though they're not in the quarter finals, Manchester United, Chelsea and Manchester City are fairly close, absolutely Top 10. Arsenal challenged an unstoppable Bayern with a 2-0 win in the 2nd round.
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Exactly.

In 20 years, no team in Europe won back-to-back trophies: Milan, Juventus and Manchester United were very close (reigning champions losing in the final).

The first one to achieve that should win a special medal, or something lol.
 
Question: does anyone know if three (or more) teams from the same city have ever won three (or more) different divisions in the same country?
 
Black Wizard said:
Question: does anyone know if three (or more) teams from the same city have ever won three (or more) different divisions in the same country?
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Actually I think three Oslo clubs (Vålerenga, Lyn and Skeid) have all done this between WWII and today. I'll try to find out.

PS: For Lyn, I found this: Last top finish at level 3 was 1986. Level 2 in 2000. Level 1: 1968.

For Vålerenga: Last top finish at level 3 was in 1971, at level 2 2001. Last top finish at level 1 was 2005.

For Skeid: Last top finish at level 3 came recently, in 2008. Last top finish at level 2 was 1995, and the last (and only) time they became league champions was 1966.
 
That is almost impossible in the latin countries, since there's always only one or two major teams representing one district's capital (out of them only 3 or 4 have national attention) and capable of winning a title, then a couple of medium clubs are in the immediate lower division and a lot of smaller teams representing a town or a village within the district are spread in the lower divisions. This means there are only a few teams with 2 division titles but almost always from different cities. And one team winning 3 division titles is rare (though there are some exceptions).
 
I think I may have miscommunicated what I meant!

This feat has to happen in one season with three or more different clubs from the same city each winning different divisions. For example, Rangers have won the Scottish Third Division (haha), Celtic are about to win the SPL and Partick Thistle are top of the First Division. All three teams come from Glasgow so if Partick win the First Division there will be three winners from the same city of three different divisions in a single season. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear originally as I missed out the season condition.
 
@Rotam: Well, Norwegian football was pretty much amateur up to around 1990, so there was no constant hierarchy, and several teams have travelled up and down the divisions. My own favourite team, Fredrikstad, has also won all three top divisions. But the last league title was as far back as 1961 ... will I ever witness another one?

@Black Wizard: Oh, sorry. Well, then it has never happened in Norway.
 
We beat Real Madrid 3-2 with a dominate display throughout the second half. The last Real goal was at 90+2, one does wonder, if we were given the two clear penalties last game, how this would turn out.

But I'm proud of our guys.
 
I watched Dortmund vs Malaga. What a finish to the game. Malaga didn't seem interested in playing for a long time, but in one of their few attacks they got an offside goal. Then Dortmund turned it around in added time to win 3-2 - and their winning goal was offside as well. The two linesmen will want to sink into a hole together once they see replays of the situations.

So the teams got an offside goal each, and the right team (as in the team who played best over the two legs) went through.
 
As much as I dislike Ronaldo, I must admit that he does make the difference. Scores an away goal and seals off the match (nearly). So much unlike that blond Spanish misunderstanding.
 
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