R0y Mascherano has been Barcelona's best centre half this season, to the point it is now considered his best position.




More like he can't get anywhere near their midfield.

If mash gets a move and plays center back elsewhere or for the national side for any period of time without looking like the shambles he is there I'll give you the money myself you demented fool.

I don't think you're giving Mascherano enough credit, Roy. He's too short to play at centre-back in English football, but it's never been an issue on the continent (Cannavaro for example). But Mascherano is an excellent tackler, something Luiz is not. Defending on the stretch, Luiz looks an absolute f**king clown of a player, and defending on the stretch is the main type of defending you have to do for Barca. If Luiz played for them, he'd charge around like a clueless ape, giving fouls away -- similar to his style under AvB.

geez r0y, you ll be in a right state if madrid get knocked out

you want em to beat Barca sooooo bad

High_Lander always against Barça... please open your eyes... best team in football history !

Disagree DZA, he'd be able to anticipate and either intercept or cope with the 60-40 balls they often get in the defender's favour. And start play from there. Very few teams get out and at barcelona with quality control of the ball so I have no idea what you mean by stretch.

I'm not doing macherano a diservice at all. Plop him in an italian side or a la liga side that isnt barcelona and he'd be an accident waiting to happen.

Plop him in the utd team against non english opposition and he'd still look a total mess. Yet I bet there are some deluded clowns who'd rank him as a better defender than ferdinand.

Some mothers do have em.

I think you're writing Chelsea off too soon, if they'd had a different manager this season, they would probably be challenging ManU for the title right now. Chelsea have lost some pace but they can make up for that with their experience and they now have Mata and Torres.

Not many sides could have overturned that Napoli first leg result and beat Benfica home and away. Underestimate Chelsea at your peril.

R0y thinks all defenders have it easy beacuse they play for Barcelona and they dominate the ball.

Mascherano is a class act at centre back R0y.

Try and watch a few games.

If Barca wanted Mata they would have got him long before Chavski.
No chance he would get into the Barcelona team.

By stretch, I mean when Barca's pressing lines are broken and/or counter-attacks are mounted against them and they find themselves defending with limited numbers. Luiz has pace, but he is a poor tackler and has bad judgement. Mascherano is excellent at making crucial tackles and interceptions when defending against this -- Luiz has shown for Chelsea that he is terrible at it. I don't think putting him in Barca's team will improve his judgement or tackling skills and these would be critical.

And that being said, even if you discount Mascherano, Luiz simply isn't as good as Puyol or Pique.

Mata's only hope would be at the back

Barca' debt is easily managable just like Man Utd and Madrid.

Any club in the world would swap their financial situations with those three. Even with the debt.

Don't think they are on the stretch that often at all. Teams just do not get out in full control of the ball enough.

And we shall agree to disagree. I don't think luiz is far of pique defensively at all and looks a better footballer going forward. Stick pique in the utd team and again im not sure defensively he's anywhere near the ferdinands and vidic's.

and... you are saying Ronaldo wouldn't start for Barca?? hahaha mega mug

Barca not as good as they used to be. Not as good without Villa, their attack looked blunt the other day versus Milan. Not only that, I detected a lack of confidence around Barcelona, they looked worried, and indeed they were a bit lucky. But whatever you might say, Barcelona are not as good as they were last season. Wrong side of the bell curve - they have peaked and are on the way down - gone stale maybe.

Fair enough Roy, we both have our opinions. In the main, I just hope Chelsea get absolutely smashed to bits!

Then we can look forward to a cracking final...but before we get there, we have the game of the tournament (so far) with Real v Bayern. I couldn't call a winner there, both sides so good when at full strength, particularly at home. Might come down to a red-card, key injury or something like that.

I'm glad that Bayern, Madrid and Barca are in the last 4. I think that on their day, these sides are currently the best in Europe. I know Dortmund are top -- I just think that, when it clicks for Bayern, they can play at a higher level.

Hopefully these games won't be the anti-climax that Barca v Milan was.

high_lander     04 Apr 12 23:03 
Barca not as good as they used to be. Not as good without Villa, their attack looked blunt the other day versus Milan. Not only that, I detected a lack of confidence around Barcelona, they looked worried, and indeed they were a bit lucky. But whatever you might say, Barcelona are not as good as they were last season. Wrong side of the bell curve - they have peaked and are on the way down - gone stale maybe.

I agree with this, and, i don't know when but when xavi and iniesta are not there anymore it will be all over, we're just in the midst of a great team driven by 2 world class midfielders that are orchestrating it these great teams come along every so often but it doesn't carry on forever.

So why didn't Madrid sign Messi then AZ?It's the same thing isn't it.
I'm not going to try and explain or else I will be ill.

Yeah their attack was so poor that they created something like 23 chances to Milans 3.

Highlander the Milan players basically all came out and said that Messi was the difference between the two teams and playing against him is like the other team having an extra player.

Neither Xavi or Iniesta were all that good over the two legs.

Their job week in week out is made far easier when the other team has 2/3 players on Messi.

It's a slow old process seeing barca come back to the pack and because they are so far clear even a barca side that isn't as good as the past 2 years will be good enough to win this seasons CL but you do get the impression that they are just past their superb best.