Champions League Final 2019: Tottenham Hotspur v Liverpool

[K]

I wonder how much of the Manchester United interest, real or rumoured, was connected to the manager and player both being Norwegian.

[Jezza]

^ It actually surprised me he was linked to a move to Manchester United considering the bad blood between his father (Alf-Inge Haaland) and the club. Erling Haaland's father used to play with Leeds United in the 1990s and is well known for his feud with former Manchester United captain, Roy Keane.

In 1997 during a clash between Leeds and Man U, Keane suffered an ACL injury in the penalty area and Haaland assumed Keane faked an injury to obtain a penalty and verbally abused him while he was on the ground suffering in agony.

This obviously didn't go down too well with Keane and he sought revenge against Haaland. In 2001, Haaland had moved to Manchester City and in the Manchester Derby Keane injured Haaland with a rough tackle and with the aim of deliberately targeting Haaland as opposed to the ball. Haaland suffered a knee injury and his career essentially came to an end in that moment.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qaFfhhGVMP0

[K]

Wow. What happened to Keane? (Can anything more happen than the ref giving a red card on-field?)

[Jezza]

Keane received a three-match suspension and a £5,000 fine from the FA.

A year later in 2002 when he released an autobiography, Keane stated he intended to injure Haaland. As a result, Keane was banned for a further five matches and fined £150,000 by the FA.

To this day, he remains unremorseful for what he did in 2001.

[K]

It's amazing what sportsmen merrily admit to in their autobiographies.

[K]

FiveThirtyEight's predictions (Feb. 9, 2020, 5:01pm) -- win final:

Liverpool 21%
Bayern Munich 20%
Man City 17%
PSG 10%
Barcelona 9%
Real Madrid 6%
RB Leipzig 4%
Juventus 3%
Atalanta 3%
Chelsea 2%
Dortmund 2%
Atletico Madrid 1%
Tottenham 1%

[K]

Feb. 19:

"Defending champions Liverpool made an unhappy return to the Wanda Metropolitana ... when they lost 1-0 against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League last 16.

In Germany, a brace from striker Erling Haaland saw hosts Borussia Dortmund beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-1."

(DPA)

[K]

"Cristiano Ronaldo scored a brace, including an unstoppable long-range goal, to give Juventus a 2-1 win over Olympique Lyonnais in the Champions League on Friday but it was not enough as the French side reached the quarter-finals on away goals.
...

The defeat left Juventus coach Maurizio Sarri in an uncomfortable position as the Champions League title eluded the Turin side for another season.

Although Juventus have won Serie A for nine seasons in a row, they have not been able to get their hands on the Champions League trophy since 1996 when they won it for the second time.
...

City qualified by beating visitors Real Madrid 2-1 for a 4-2 aggregate triumph, with scorers Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus taking advantage of two dreadful errors by Raphael Varane.
...

Zinedine Zidane had never lost a knockout tie in the Champions League as Real manager, having won his previous 12 encounters while winning the trophy three times, and Spaniard Guardiola noted the significance of the victory."

(Reuters)

[Jezza]

^ Juventus have lost too many finals over the years and should have more than two Champions League trophies to their name.

[Jezza]

Speaking of Juventus, they just sacked Sarri.

[K]

Weekend results:

Man. City 2-1 Real Madrid (Aggregate: 4-2)
Juventus 2-1 Lyon (2-2)
Barcelona 3-1 Napoli (4-2)
Bayern 4-1 Chelsea (7-1)


So the QFs are:

Atalanta v. Paris
RB Leipzig v. Atletico Madrid
Barcelona v. Bayern
Man. City v. Lyon

[Pies4shaw]

Lewandoski was good in the Bayern game.

[K]

"RB Leipzig stunned Atletico Madrid, with a 2-1 victory in their Champions League quarter-final on Thursday, to reach the competition's last four for the first time in their club's short history.

With two minutes of normal time remaining, United States midfielder Tyler Adams snatched victory with a deflected shot from outside the box to set up a semi-final clash with Paris Saint-Germain."

(Reuters)

[K]

Bayern Munich 8-2 Barcelona

"On a humiliating night in Portugal for Barcelona, Bayern became the first team to score eight goals in a Champions League knockout match, while Barca conceded eight in a match for the first time since 1946."

(CNN)

[Jezza]

^ Barcelona are finished. They need a serious rebuild.

Bayern Munich will win the CL. Best team I've seen all season.