EURO 2012 - Group A - POL/GRE/RUS/CZE

[Adi]

I'd still say Barca is best.  Barca lost Villa so that was a problem this year.  Same with Puyol and Abidal who were out most of the season.  I think Madrid's deeper team helped them win the league.

Look at their head-to-head match ups.  No arguing Barca is better when you look at those.  Barca still outclasses them and beats them more often.

[redsforlife]

Well, if you look only at head to head, Liverpool is better than Chelsea the European Champions, so we must be the best team in Europe! Now realistically, Real Madrid were the best team this year. Injuries are part of the game. Depth is an important part of the game. You cannot disagree with Real Madrid's season performance not being better. Also, the head to head was much closer this season. Real Madrid did have to beat Barca to win the league this year.

[Adi]

Looking at everything, Barcelona is still the better team.  Maybe Madrid will be better next year since Pep is gone, but not for a second will I believe that Madrid is better than Barca yet.  Barca still schools them.

[vittoleon]

Barca was better before Villa fell out, his injury however crippled them too much to compete with Real. . And im a real fan

[Adi]

Barca was better before Villa fell out, his injury however crippled them too much to compete with Real. . And im a real fan

Well said... crippled them enough not to win the league due to all the matches.  Even without Villa or a true forward, they still played better/even against Madrid.

[redsforlife]

Fuck man, if anything, I'm an Atletico fan(not hardcore by any means), and I'm defending Real lol. Still think they are the best team in the world currently.

[Adi]

Look at it this way...

I thought Bayern would beat Real.

I would never expect us to beat Barca on the other hand.

We'll see what happens next year.  I still think the best way to tell is to look at their head to head matchups.  Luckily we have 5+ games between them each year.  Good sample size...

[redsforlife]

Best way is a league table. Like I said, Liverpool is better than Chelsea if we look head to head only, and even I disagree with that. This year we could have never managed to beat Barca. There are always match ups that favor different teams to the style. Liverpool matched up better to Chelsea than Barca. By no means does that mean Liverpool is better than Barca than. Barca's only real claim would be the head to head. Other than league matches, when did Real and Barca play? They split the league matches. Bayern only won on penalties, so not a real win. Penalties is a lottery. Chelsea the same in the final. They didn't lose the game, they lost the tie breaker.

This season with all factors built in, Real have to be the best. Past 3yrs, I'd agree with you Barca has been by far better than Real, but Real have closed the gap and edged them this season.

[redsforlife]

Your argument also contradicts yourself. Chelsea must be better than both Barca and Bayern if head to head matters more.

[Adi]

League does tell the story for the most part.  Chelsea is 5th best in England... about right according to last season.

I think most people agreed that Bayern outplayed Madrid over two legs and deserved to win.  It wasn't just about the penalties.

Same with Barca over Chelsea... Barca was better over two legs but it didn't matter.

I think Madrid has closed the gap but I would still give a healthy Barca side the edge.  Madrid was very lucky with injuries last year... nobody went down for them all season.

[Damiano]

don't even know what I'm arguing about, slept about 10 hours in the last week
just don't disrespect chelsea, you can see they did what they had to win, and they made the best moment of my football life, the played with heart
and barca bayern benfica napoli failed miserably
don't use liverpool in football arguments, lucky to get in top10 of premier league(you support athletico, liverpool...how many teams can you support lol crazy)

[jabarinho]

actually there are many fans who do not care about the style of football their team plays. Some people place higher value on it than others.

But what i liked most about real madrid this year was how they attacked vs barca with no fear. In previous years madrid looked scared of barca. I like attacking football, so i was really disappointed.

Overall i would say madrid and barca were very evenly matched this season, not better. I'm trying to be unbiased But chelsea deserved the champ league because they were strong, but i expected more style after all that spending.