Metal Reviews

Awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdCdA6UhEJw

Sigh...

This makes me want to launch a Football Manager game and bring Aberdeen back to their ancient, ephemeral, but blazing glory...

I've tried that, it's very difficult. Shit squad, no money...

Lionel Messi. Lionel Fucking Messi.

with a hat-trick in Barça's last match, he became the club's all-time top goalscorer, with 234 goals, 54 this season in only 45 matches. he's still only 24, but he is raising the bar so high it's not even funny.

i have no doubt that he will be spoken of in the future the same way our parents mention Cruyff or Maradona, a genius that was head-and-shoulders above any and all competitors.

Ronaldo is most unfortunate to have to share the stage with a genius like Messi.

Wayne Rooney recently said Messi is the greatest of (them) all. I almost agree. Almost. He still lacks a World Cup or three.

that's unfair. Cruyff never won one, and Beckenbauer "only" won one.

of course, he is currently playing in a "favourable" league, in that it favours a playing style that in turn favours him, and in arguably the greatest team ever, so the debate on whether the merit is his or Iniesta and Xavi's is endless. the sheer amount of chances he creates, for himself and others, though, says a lot about his individual prowess.

one of these teams started the game with no centre backs (playing a left-back and a defensive midfielder in the middle), had a player (wrongly) sent off 40 minutes in, had a fraction of the opponents' budget, and was playing in front of a hostile crowd. i am extremely proud of that team. excellent display, we deserved so much more than this.

also...


Ronaldo and Di Maria's goals were also excellent, but i can't find gifs.

APOEL's Paulo Jorge apparently got two teeth knocked out after he crashed onto a teammate


EDIT:
stats from the official UEFA website, different, but they still show that Benfica should have won.

Yeah, good job even though you lost.

France now officially drops, as foreseen, to the UEFA 6th place (Portugal grabs the 5th place). I can't wait to see Russia and Ukraine being above us as well. It's a miracle we had a club at this stage of the competition (Olympique de Marseille, who thankfully got humiliated by Bayern Muenchen).

The good thing about it is now French clubs will stop whining about how poor they are: Portuguese clubs have even less funds, ffs!

No vorry. French clubs will always be there near the top. Lyon is a big club, Marseille needs to keep the team and PSG is the next big thing in football now ( really interested in seeing them perform in Champions League next season ). As for Russia and Ukraine, top teams from these countries are all owned by billionaires and have funds greater than most French clubs, it's no wonder they are ranked higher and higher every year.

Barça is only 4 points below Real Madrid, they may lose La Liga.

Seriously, but fuck Balotelli. Some of the worst behaviour I've witnessed on the field this season.

What's he gone and done now?

Thank god Song wasn't standing on that leg or it would probably have been end of career.

In my book this is worth a lifetime suspension. We already knew he was a moron, now we know he's also a human waste. He's some kind of talentless Roy Keane. And that's saying A LOT.

Balotelli is obviously very talented. he is also obviously a tremendous douchebag, and is destined to join other "would-bes" that could have made it but decided to throw away every chance they got. it's his second chance with a big club, will he get any more?

btw,

he's vain, but holy shit he's incredible. it's very sad that he had to come up at the same time as Messi. 10 years ago he would've been undisputedly the best player in the world.

Of course he's got talent, I was bitching around. I predict a career à la Nicolas Anelka: big clubs, then more and more obscure clubs, then big clubs again.
But I really don't care about this guy anymore.

As shattered as I am about Aberdeen losing the cup semi to fucking Hibernian, for Chrissakes, and having our internationals (New Zealand, Iceland and Wales, but still) outplayed by a striker from a fucking teepee in Leith (talking about Griffiths here), I am still delighted to see Scottish football as a whole becoming more interesting- Rangers are dying, and Celtic, whom everyone thought would make the treble - league, league cup and scottish cup - are bottling it. They've got the league, lost the league cup to Kilmarnock (whom they beat 6-0 later that week), and lost the cup semifinal to Hearts, who will play Hibernian in the final for an Edinburgh derby, something that hasn't happened since before the 1900's, if I remember correctly.

EDIT: Although Rory Fallon's goal was an absolute fucking peach.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7hRf3CHKJbU