It's not just the English. Last time I checked much of Europe feels like it's 3rd (in some places even 4th) best now. Some pundits argue that the Bundesliga is better than the Serie A now and I can't argue that it isn't true. The Bundi gets more TV revenue and its teams are making more money overall. Which means they can spend and compete. The quality of football is already there.At least Fiore won a very difficult game and proved that the serie A is not as weak as all the English people make it look :/ Also I can distract myself with that win and forget about Milan's horrible state.
I can't agree with you about Bundesliga. True, they get more TV revenue and their stadiums are always full, but that doesn't affect the quality of the teams. Bayern is the only team they have which has European quality, while we have Milan, juve, Inter and sometimes Roma/Fiore. All the other teams are way too situational, like Stuttgart, Hamburg, Wolfsburg, etc. The fact that Milan is having a bad season doesn't mean suddenly all of our league has deteriorated.It's not just the English. Last time I checked much of Europe feels like it's 3rd (in some places even 4th) best now. Some pundits argue that the Bundesliga is better than the Serie A now and I can't argue that it isn't true. The Bundi gets more TV revenue and its teams are making more money overall. Which means they can spend and compete. The quality of football is already there.
La Viola might have won but the other results won't help. Lyon play in a weaker league and beat them last time out. Inter also drew to a weak Rubin team and parked the bus in front of their own goal against Barca. Which isn't encouraging...no team that can hope to win the CL can do that. Juve haven't looked very strong so far in Europe this year either. And I won't even start on Milan...
Read bold for details.I can't agree with you about Bundesliga. True, they get more TV revenue and their stadiums are always full, but that doesn't affect the quality of the teams. Bayern is the only team they have which has European quality, while we have Milan, juve, Inter and sometimes Roma/Fiore. All the other teams are way too situational, like Stuttgart, Hamburg, Wolfsburg, etc. The fact that Milan is having a bad season doesn't mean suddenly all of our league has deteriorated.
I wasn't saying that Milan being weak means the Serie A is. I was saying that the Serie A isn't as strong as it used to be. And for some time Serie A teams haven't done well in Europe as Spanish/English teams. Inter/Juve/Milan all have European quality but I honestly can't pick any of them to win the CL.
The bit about money does matter. German teams will be able to spend more than Italian teams in the near future and that will show up in the CL. It's the same business model that the Prem runs on. As in the Bundi isn't just a money maker but also an international business.
My point about the Bundi wasn't necessarily that its better. I was only saying that ppl who say it is (pundits especially) have their point. I meant to say that I can't argue w/ those ppl when they say that.
Imo the Bundi is at the same level for a different reason. You're right that Bayern are the only team from the Bundi in the same bracket as Inter/Juve/Milan. But the Bundi also has more teams that can compete for European spots than the Serie A does. The league is more competitive overall as it's not always between 3 teams and many of the smaller teams can beat Bayern.
Keep in mind that Juve are the team I hold closest to my heart besides Rangers. I'm a quarter Italian as well. I'm only saying what I really think. The Serie A was the best not long ago but it's 3rd best now.
And by the way, I somehow think that Inter-Barca in neucamp will not be the Inter-trashing everyone is predicting...
I agree it won't. Inter will blockade the penalty area. 2-0 to Barca sounds about right.
And god bless Pompey.
hahaha of course they didn't, they aren't nicknamed "the elevator" for nothing.[ U.S. Lecce didn't, the basta***].
Heard Patrick Vieira was too late to attend it and went to watch the Stamford Bore instead. But yeah, half the goals out there would have pleased the legend.Thierry Henry picked a hell of a game to come back and watch
...Well Wolves got robbed of a penalty...
Yet more proof of why we need a video referee system in place.
Blackburn also looked like they missed out on a penalty too...