UCL 1/4 Leg 1: SL Benfica x FC Barcelona [P+R]

[Virgo]

I bet he'll say that penalty not called was indeed a penalty in favour of Barça and that Miccoli fouled the grass in that offside where he was onside by like 15m and would be 1 on 1 with the keeper.

 

[INFESTA]

With Moretto on goal Barça doesn't even need to do much: just cross a couple balls directly towards Benfica's keeper and he'll do the rest all by himself.

Really, for a guy who talked as if he was the **** when he was signed, you can only laugh at his performances at Benfica.
I tip my hat at Koeman for sticking with Moretto and thus offering us such quality entertainment.

On top of that, he blamed the grass in the end of the game. That's right, according to Moretto, his misses were the pitch's fault.

Ricardo better come up with something big pretty soon or he'll lose his undisputed 'Moron Between The Posts' belt to this guy.

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About the game itself, I have to say Benfica was especially poor in the first half - way worse than what they can do on a normal day - and still got away with an excellent result! Yeah, 0-0 at home is a great result, especially if you're playing against Ronaldinho, Deco and friends. There's not reason why Benfica won't score a goal at Camp Nou if they show up to play more relaxed, hopefully with Karagounis, Quim and Miccoli.

Can't understand why Miccoli isn't a starter, unless he can't keep that pace for 90 minutes. But hell, he's twenty-something years old - if he can't play 90 minutes of football now when will he? This guy totally changed the flow of the game, and it was clear Barça defenders were more cautions in going forward, perhaps what turned the events in Benfica's favour on the second half.

A word to the referee. And we, here in Portugal, thought our refs are poor. Atrocious standard for showing yellow cards (to both teams); a crucial offside wrongfully called on Miccoli; one crystal-clear penalty not given to Benfica; a foul not called that would have left Simão face to face with Valdes, etc.
Damn, if this is what UEFA can come up with for a CL qf then we're not that bad after all.

Yeah, if Benfica score on any of those occasions it would have been very unfair to Barça, but the fact is Barcelona failed to put away easy chances and in the end, at this level, it's details such as clear penalties not given or players wrongfully sent off that end up making all the difference.

 

[fh_29]

befica's luck should run out at nou camp

 

[INFESTA]

Yeah, yeah, don't you people get tired of saying that?

 

[Virgo]

Yeah, yeah, don't you people get tired of saying that?

somehow that made me remember this

 

[Ubik Valis]

somehow that made me remember this

And somehow the Black Knight reminds me of you...

Even with your arms and legs cut off, you'd never shut up

 

[Virgo]

btw Ronaldinho

what a class guy.

Went over to Ricardo Rocha at the end of the game and congratulated him for his performance marking him

we need more people like him in the world.

 

[Internazionale]

Benfica still have a good chance to go through. Scoring one away goal in the return leg & play a counter attacking football.

There's no way Benfica can dominate Barca at Nou Camp...

 

[::shinji::]

befica's luck should run out at nou camp

you think? maybe? If you think our run until now has anything to do with luck then you're an idiot. How quick to forget we brushed aside the defending CL champs with minimal trouble, not even conceding a goal.

We don't have any illustions of being equal to Barca or anything, we don't have a Ronaldinho, Deco, Eto'o, etc. We do have a 0-0 draw to work with though, all it takes is an away goal. Not even Chelsea had went to Nou Camp with that advantage, so we'll see what happens.

 

[Avalanche]

With the number of chances that Barça had tonight, there's no question that they should have put this tie away. As for Moretto, this guy is so awful, I've uttered the Lord's name in vain in each match I've seen him play in. If we somehow get a result at the Camp Nou next Wednesday, then it will be the biggest result that we've gotten in quite some time. We've got almost the whole country behind us, and probably several of the neutrals as well, as we are the so-called "Cinderella" of this competition. C'mon lads, continue the dream next Wednesday night!

FORÇA BENFICA!

 

[nikeportugal]

We are fortunate to come away with a tie as it's friggen BARCELONA..

BUT.. I have to say... did the ref ever even LEARN about what a "handball" is when he was taught how to officiate?!?!?!

One for sure handball... another earlier in the match was not intentional likely but was still a hand ball (with agreement from commentators) ... SIMAO knocked over BLATANTLY from a push inside the box when he would have had a break or at least great shooting oppertunity...

AND MICOLLI OFFSIDE?!?!? NOT IN A MILLION YEARS was he offside... that was one of the WORST calls I've seen in a while for a linesman...

It's games like that that make me question whether there is still paying off going on in football... wouldn't be a shocker to me...

SO.. the point to that rant??

Sure it can be luck that we didn't get scored on.. BUT AT LEAST YOU GOT TO TAKE YOUR CHANCES!!

Benfica created ours and got ROBBED 4 times!!

You took your chances and missed... we got our chances taken away by the refs.. this game could have been 4 - 0 Benfica.

So yeah ask me before the match if I was happy with 0 - 0 and I say yes... but having watched it now it doesn't matter how much better Barcelona are... we got robbed and there isn't any denying it.


Now ask me who the better team is?? Barcelona by a landslide...

OH P.S.

I think the Benfica fans or supporters for the CL at least all know Morretto is all over the place... but he does come up with key saves... and we know that... it can be luck of course.. probably is a bit.... but if you are Benfica's coach.. and you have a crazy ass keeper who has a CLEAN SHEET in 5 CL GAMES now?!?

Yeah.. I really don't see how he can take him out now...

Just added that for those of you who "don't see" how we don't put quim in instead of Moretto... offering up possible explaination...

 

[Tiago_10]

The fact that we have Luisão, Anderson and Léo in front of Moretto might have something to do with him having a clean sheet in the past 5 CL games. And he made some very nice saves today, no doubt. But let's be serious, either Quim or Moreira are much more consistent and reliable keepers. It is not admitable in a CL's match to pass the ball to the defender nearby with the forward so near as well, like he did, or to usually look all shaky when a ball is crossed into the area and letting go easy balls, when trying to hold 'em. In fact, I think there is a psychological part here that should be taken in consideration. For instance, in the second half he was much more relaxed and didn't do those stupid mistakes like in the first. But what have we to do with that ? I, for one, just want a keeper that I know I can have confidence in him. And I don't think anyone can have much confidence in Moretto, as he can make a great save or screw up badly.

But I sure hope he manages to keep his clean sheet, 'cause Koeman is keeping him in the team no matter what.

 

[RUSI]

One of the most exciting 0-0's I have seen.

Both, especially Barça missed so many chances

 

[MaSsiVe]

this game could have been 4 - 0 Benfica

:funny:


In the end it was a good result for Benfica, Barça were awful in finishing and were made to pay by that.
Could have been worse for them in case the blind (he must be) ref had given the penalty on Motta's handball.

Benfica played much better after the break after a clueless first half, Barcelona even with two balls off the post weren't as dangerous as they were before.

I honestly don't think Benfica can stop Barça from scoring in the Nou Camp so they'd better not go there with an ultra-defensive game style which may be fatal for them.



Hoping for a thriller in the second leg

 

[Punkt]

it's all open for the second leg and i feel honestly that we will pass this. the first half today was awful and we had luck because Barça had great chances to score. In the second half we were a lot better


Luisão (again...)

Ricardo Rocha (great Koeman option to choose him like i predicted yesterday, very unfair some critics to Koeman here. Ronaldinho? who?)

Miccoli (changed the game completely)

Moretto (capable of the amazing or the horrible. but decisive today with 3 world class stops and nobody can say the opposite. he had luck of one of his massive blunders didn't end in a goal.)

Beto (best game with Benfica shirt. one of the "guilties" of Deco awful performance)

I BELIEVE even more now.

 

[Paulo Da Silva]

I bet he'll say that penalty not called was indeed a penalty in favour of Barça and that Miccoli fouled the grass in that offside where he was onside by like 15m and would be 1 on 1 with the keeper.

wasn't that the play where Miccolli missed the goal completely. Even if they didn't call it an offside, the ref blew the whistle after he shot. he missed so u shouldn't complain.

However, the penalty complain all u want

 

[nikeportugal]

I thought I remembered the whistle going before hand... and when the defence stops chasing you anymore you have an idea that you were called offside...

Plus you know that they look up all the time when they make those runs ... forwards do it instinctively.. you see it all the time.. they make their run... get the ball.. look up at the linesman..

I honestly think he made his run and got the ball... knew he was called either by looking up... or the defence not chasing... or the crowd.. what have you... and made a half ass attempt just for the hell of it..

If he wasn't offside I bet that ball would be in..

Just my 2 cents on that one.

Oh and i'm not saying Moretto is the goalie to play.. i'd personaly play Morreira all the time (i'm bad with names)

But there is no way in hell Benfica's coach can bench him now that he has 5 clean sheets... that's what my point was..


I love how benfica played... we did well against the favorites... and we showed we can play with em...

We'll still lose the second leg.. no doubt about it... I think we all should be proud of our team Benfica fans

They surprised me this year and gave me renewed faith 8)

Now if we could only translate some of this into the SuperLiga we'd be champs again!!

 

[Luis Ah-Hoy]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned Manuel Fernandes here, i think he was the best Benfica player... one of the best surely... reliable, strong, commited and very very calm with the ball... yeah, even the veteran Petit had a shaky game... in the First Half, 70% of the Benfica players were playing very nervously... but Manuel Fernades played very well over the entire game! Whatta a player... we are lucky to have him playing for Benfica!

Another positive note to: Ricardo Rocha (Ronaldinho had quite a hard time coping with his marking), and Miccoli (yes, he's our best striker no doubt!)

 

[Sevillista]

Dude, Silva, could you tone down your sig a bit? It's bigger than most posts.

 

[INFESTA]

For instance, in the second half he was much more relaxed and didn't do those stupid mistakes like in the first.

It was because of the pitch!!!

With the number of chances that Barça had tonight, there's no question that they should have put this tie away. As for Moretto, this guy is so awful, I've uttered the Lord's name in vain in each match I've seen him play in. If we somehow get a result at the Camp Nou next Wednesday, then it will be the biggest result that we've gotten in quite some time. We've got almost the whole country behind us, and probably several of the neutrals as well, as we are the so-called "Cinderella" of this competition. C'mon lads, continue the dream next Wednesday night!

FORÇA BENFICA!

Hey, is that a Barça badge I see in your sig?