Comments on: Lyon 1 – 1 Barca: I’m Not Giving Up Hope, Dammit

By: make solar electricity

make solar electricity — Tue, 05 May 2009 06:05:22 +0000

Incredible points will come back,,

By: Will

Will — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 13:38:54 +0000

agreed, lefutur. i never thought i’d say it, but i think i’d be confident watching lyon take penalties against barcelona, because of our hugo…

By: lefutur

lefutur — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 02:36:32 +0000

youre right not to give up hope Inara. Lyon are a team that are peaking at exactly the right time. they are playing with a lot of confidence right now and are starting to show strength in both defense and attack. Makoun is becoming a lynchpin between the defenders and the forwards. the number of through-balls he’s been threading through to Karim really amazes me. in the dying minutes of the Barca game he split the Barca backline with one that Benz started sprinting alone towards Valdes’ goal. he was called offsides but the replay showed he was actually on. had Benz scored there it would have been historic.
besides Makoun, theres Ederson, Delgado and Keita who are all playing several notches above what they were in the beginning of the season. so much so that Kallstrom has been sidelined to the bench. this in turn has taken some pressure off of Benzema to score all the goals.

and Juni is playing like a rejuvenated man. watching him against Barcelona was a pure joy. in possession of the ball he twisted and turned, slowed down, then accelerated. Zidanesesque in the artistry he displays while on the ball. but then, thats all overshadowed by his freekicks, which render the rest of his play mundane, because when you take a freekick that just stupifies everyone watching, who’s gonna remember what else you did on the pitch.

And then there’s the defense. Cris and Boumsong are a rock solid pair now. all those worries from the beginning of the season are gone. and despite all the injuries at RB the replacements never really disappoint. if Clerc isnt fit in time for the away leg i would gladly take Mensah again in his stead…he was impressive. and Grosso, well he’s been solid all season.

but the real ace in the sleeve; well that’s our goalkeeper. Lloris versus Valdes is no contest.

By: lefutur

lefutur — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 18:55:45 +0000

^^^according to this article he called him the ” new Ronaldo”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2009/feb/26/juninho-pernambucano-lyon-barcelona

By: Will

Will — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:11:22 +0000

wow. apparently after juni’s goal, the english ITV commentator said “this juninho could challenge cristiano ronaldo’s title as free-kick master” or something to that effect.

talk about ignorant. even just looking at juninho’s face you can tell he’s not some young upstart. and being english, not watching ligue 1, is no excuse. juni has been in the champions league working the same magic for seven years running.

and this doesn’t even address the fact that ronaldo’s free kicks are 90% shanked straight into the wall. what a muppet.

By: John

John — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:02:39 +0000

Will: Exactly what I was thinking the other day as Bayern demolished Sporting.

By: Will

Will — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 16:22:44 +0000

yeah yeah we have a glimmer of hope vs barca, but yeeesh, if only we’d gone at bayern in game 6, finished first, and drawn sporting….

By: Mathias

Mathias — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 11:56:18 +0000

About this wonderful freekick, an article from the Internatinoal Herald Tribune:
A Brazilian art: Bringing a dead ball to lethal life
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/25/sports/SOCCER.php

By: Carrerra

Carrerra — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 10:39:56 +0000

Juninho’s magic freekick against Barcelona is still a sensation here in Korea. People talk about it in coffee break or mean time even in my workplace. He’s freekick is absolutely unique in football history.

By: Jao

Jao — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 07:47:48 +0000

Puel should show the players the Rangers match from last year to send their confidence soaring heading into the match at the Camp Nou. Also, if we do advance to the next round, there’s no chance Toulalan and Grosso will play in the first leg. They will not leave Barcelona without yellows. That’s just the way they play.

It will be impossible for Puel to adopt the same strategy heading into the 2nd leg. Everyone was rested for this match and it showed in the first half. He can’t do that this time around because we are playing two important league matches with Rennes and Lille, the latter being back to back, one a cup tie and the other a league encounter.