Association football (soccer)

It has been a while since I last visited this thread.

Crystal Palace has lost 3 consecutive matches, but I believe they should be safe from relegation. Next up, against Manchester United, who isn't on form either.

On the topic of Champions League, I am hoping Juventus will be able to reach the finals. Hasn't it been a while since we last saw an Italian team in the final? However, they must shut out the attacking prowess of Real Madrid in the second leg.

With regards to Barcelona vs Bayern Munich, even though the former now leads by 3 goals, they should not be conceited. Wasn't Porto leading against Bayern Munich in the quarter finals too? Although I have to admit Messi was brilliant.

I honestly doubt that Guardiola can beat Barca in second leg, remembering his obsession with possession football. Last year Guardiola also got trashed by RMadrid at their own home despite having 60% possession. 2 years, 2 semifinals, 8 goals conceded, 0 goals scored.

I'm hoping for Juve-Barca finals more than El Classico final, shit is full with diving drama.

Barcelona won the Champions League.

I suppose most football fans expected such a result. I was rooting for Juventus though.

At the end of the match, the camera zoomed onto Pirlo's somewhat sad expression. He shouldn't have any regrets. Juventus did their best. Xavi, who is leaving Barcelona, was surrounded by more gifted players.

I didn't expect Juventes to even have a chance. They have some great players but Barcelona is just stacked. Starting with top 3 Neymar-Messi-Suarez ridiculous. Then it only gets more stacked from there with an amazing midfield. I just thought Barcelona was just going to takes their "bites" and finished satisfied through Champions League.

Time to revive this thread.

As usual, I will be talking about Crystal Palace. They appear to be flying high at the moment. However, most Palace fans are deemed to be cautious. We had our fair share of ups and downs over the years. I will be satisfied as long as we continue to avoid relegation and remain in the Premier League.

In other news, the usual big names such as Manchester City, Arsenal, Manchester United and notably Chelsea, have been erratic thus far. Any fans of these clubs would care to comment?

While in the Spanish League, Messi is out for quite a few weeks. It might have a deep impact of Barcelona's title challenge, be it domestically or Europe.

I'll focus on The Premier League with me being English and all lol.

Chelsea have been dismal this season and I can't really figure out why we are...we just seem to lack grit and that determination that saw us through to the title last season, yeah we didn't play well but we got results but now the players seem so lackadaisical and poor. Hopefully we don't jump the gun and fire Mourinho, if anyone can get us back in form it's him.

And onto my other team, being Bournemouth. I was so happy seeing the family team in the top flight for the first time and 8 points after 8 games isn't bad, it's pretty good. But we've lost our two most expensive signings (one of which had fitted into the squad really well) and our star striker. I hope we show that we aren't the kind of team that rely on one player but it's been really bad luck for us so far.

As far as my title picks: Man City to win the title at the end of the season, with Arsenal being beaten in a close race. I think they've been the most consistent and Man United really haven't convinced me yet.

I dunno why EPL is so entertaining on last few years.

First being Moyes on ManUtd and Liverpool almost winning the title and slipping, heh.
Second we got Van Gaal's hilarious first year on ManUtd.
And now we got Mourinho sacked from Chelsea (despite winning EPL few months back), another Van Gaal hilarious philosophy + wasted transfer, and LEICESTER on top of the league with Vardy + Mahrez wrecking everything.

I noticed this hasn't been posted in this thread yet. So, have some Lewandowski dominance.

Leicester confirmed as 2015/2016 EPL champions. Now only Bundesliga and LaLiga waiting for rightful league champions.

Feel bad for Spurs, the squad is way too young and it's their first time on title race. Obviously can't handle the pressure unlike Leicester, with Ranieri keep being positive and moving the team goalpost from 40 points - Europa League - Champions League.

People who bet on Leicester from preseason is drowning in mad cash.

Champions league and Europa still looking exciting.

Fuck yes, congratulations.

Call me a sore loser, but I will not congratulate Manchester United for winning the FA Cup against Crystal Palace.

Clattenburg was obviously biased against Crystal Palace. On 2 occasion in which we had the advantage, one of which the ball was in the net, he moved play back to free kick positions.

On the bright side, there are a few positives I took from this match. I believe the Palace fans are one of the most passionate fans in English football. I live on the other side of the planet, but I stayed awake till the final whistle at 120 minutes. Whereas lots of friends who claim to be fans of Manchester United went to bed at half-time and 90 minutes.

So-called fans of these big clubs will never understand how it feels to be supporting a smaller team.

Sad day for Messi as he decided to retire from Argie national team. 3 years, 3 finals, zero trophies. Mascherano also decided to follow Messi.

As usual Higuain is the scapegoat, understandable because he always find a way to choke at finals.

I really like Messi, but even I could take a better penalty.

The final of EURO is tonight, which team are you guys supporting?

France for me. They're really strong in their own home.

Portugal won after extra time, which can still be considered an upset.

I was thinking France will probably clinch it at home too.

Yeah, slighly gutted. Let's hope the next tournament (WC 2018) will be good.

I actually played soccer(football) in high school and was the best at my school, but our school was ranked very low overall so my skills meant nothing. Also, I was pretty mediocre compared to actually skilled athletes my age - everyone at my school just sucked that much.

So, Man United payed a world record transfer fee of £89 million for a player they sold to Juventus for £1.5 million 4 years ago.

Football these days has gotten pretty weird. :P