Semi-finals and even lesser games are mentioned in advance to him, but I'm not allowed to even the score? There is no. I just think that the adoration is going too far and we shouldn't compare him to Pele, Maradona and Zidane (yet?). Come now, they got very lucky to beat lowweights Bosnia, Nigeria and Iran. Anyone remember they weren't far from losing to f'n Iran? True. "I'm not saying he hasn't been..." -- double the pleasure. Wrong positioning by van der Sar, way too far in the corner. After bringing that game back to my mind, I agree Messi did great in that one, just like whole Barca did. That's supposed to mean, the way I remember it, United was physically present but after strong first minutes did show zero signs of effort and let Barca basically toy them for the remaining minutes. Not Messi's fault, I admit. Maybe he didn't make the big difference in these two games because he didn't even had to. That's basically what I was trying to say the last posts, just a little more harsh and underlining the "room for improvment" in showing up in big games, especially for Argentina. I do. But please don't bring up the Club World Cup without words like "joke", "circus event" or "money making FIFA crap". I ignored the overall stats because they're kind of irrelevant to the discussion whether Messi shows up in the biggest games or doesn't. Miro Klose scored the most goals in World Cups, does that make him the best striker in World Cup history? I don't think so.
Ok so that's the main thing. As long as we can agree he is a great player. An all time great? Some can make the argument but maybe we wait until his career is over. I get you, you just think the Messi love is sometimes a bit much. Although, probably best not to argue with fans of the team he plays for. :grin:
The Schweinsteiger interview after the Germany-USA game really sounded like he'll leave Bayern this summer, not the first time it sounded like this in the last weeks. ATW know more?
Where's Bastian going? How good is Antonio Rudiger? He looks pretty decent from the game I just watched.
Has all the tools, young and great athleticism. Reminds a lot of people of a young Jerome Boateng, who also played central and wing defense, has all the tools but prone to unforced mistakes and turnovers. Can also be a bit of a headcase and commit unnecessary or overly aggressive fouls. Reminds me of Boateng in all aspects, time will tell how he pans out.
Gündogan apparently wants more than 10mil salary per year and has scared most top-teams away now (Bayern, Barca etc did contact his agents and were in advanced talks, but the incredible/rising salary demands made them realize he's not worth the costs and demands, as he's a gamble and not one of the top guys in Europe right now). Turkish players with family(in his case father&uncle) as management&agents are the worst, the families are incredibly greedy and want to fill their own pockets more than anything. Will be interesting to see how this turns out, Dortmund bosses are really angered with him right now and already said he has to leave in the summer or immediately extend his contract.
Just saw this from today, Bwin is ManU's official partner: <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="de"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">United sponsor <a href="https://twitter.com/bwin">@bwin</a> have just deleted this tweet. Gundagaon is heading to Utd. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/MUFC?src=hash">#MUFC</a> <a href="http://t.co/1OKGdm74ho">pic.twitter.com/1OKGdm74ho</a></p>— Busby Bulletin (@BusbyBulletin) <a href="https://twitter.com/BusbyBulletin/status/608614501701840897">10. Juni 2015</a></blockquote> <script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
Don't know about the credibility of this, but ESPN Brazil saying Man U has signed Firminho from Hoffenheim. http://www.balls.ie/football/espn-b...twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter
The 18mil fee seems ridiculously low, heard he has a 30mil buyout clause. Was actually hoping we'd try to sign him, so this would suck.
Matteo Darmian nearing a deal with Bayern for roughly 20mil, anyone know more about him? Watched a ScoutNation video and he looks very promising.
Multiple outlets reporting that Liverpool turned down City's initial offer of 30 million pounds for Sterling. Liverpool has valued him at 50 so most are saying this was a intentional low offer to gauge just how serious Liverpool are about that quote.
Wrong Button, didn't finish. Yea it's Carl Zeiss Jena and thanks. Don't know if there will be anything news-worthy though. They'll play vs Hamburg in the German Cup, so I'll get to see everything live and also backstage, which should be nice. Maybe I can manipulate the HSV players into feeling really bad and finally being relegated from the league later.
Wolfsburg definitely won't sell him this summer, that's the advantage when you have VW as your owner. Rumors are they'll extend his contract and write-in a 70mil buyout clause, which will then be triggered by Bayern in 2016. This will apparently happen as the VW president is also member of the Bayern board of directors and everything is being worked on behind closed doors. This will ensure Bayern gets de Bruyne and Wolfsburg receives a nice sum.