The European/World Football Thread III

What are the predictions for tonights match?

The reason Gotze is leaving? He is the favorite transfer of Guardiola," he told reporters.

"So if it's anyones fault it's mine. I cannot make myself 15cm smaller and learn Spanish. Gotze wants to work with this extraordinary coach that is Guardiola.

"I cannot preach football of quick transitions and now start playing Tiki Taka."

And there we were thinking that the best German league players going to Bayern was at an end. Guess this is the end for Robben, not that he was going to fit into Pep's philosophy.

Looks like Lewandowski is definetly leaving as well but to whom? I'm not too sure about the Bayern link, they're already extremely stacked in that position. United seem likeliest given the recent and increasingly overt apathy towards Rooney.

That was such a lucky win! Sporting were all over us for long periods of the game and should have had at least one penalty really early on. I couldn't believe how badly we were playing in the first 10-20 minutes. Our first goal came against the run of play and then our second was just a moment of absolute brilliance by Gaitan... those two moments settled the match.

Next two matches are the most important ones of the season now.. Turkey and then straight after that we go to Madeira. It's gonna be tough and you could tell in todays match that the players are really tired, JJ has gone back to using the same players over and over again and it is taking its toll on some of them... Enzo and Salvio are not as good as they can be..

I think we need to beat Maritimo in order for me to finally believe we're gonna win it because it's not over just yet..

Yeh, I don't think Matic will be with us next season.. or Garay.. maybe even Gaitan or a couple of other players.. even Jorge Jesus might leave! Even though he annoys me sometimes, he would be really tough to replace..

I don't know about VP staying on next season.. if Porto don't win the title, I doubt PdC will offer an extention, and there are a couple of really interesting young managers around at the moment, like the dude who manages Pacos de Ferreira (great that they've guaranteed European football for next season! They'll be losing some of their key players though, like Josue most likely)..

I saw Porto's match yesterday.. Jackson is back in the goals now, which is kinda annoying because it gives him just enough time to recuperate his confidence for the Benfica match a few weeks from now >_<



EDIT: Can't get enough of that second goal.. everything is so perfect, first touch football with great skill to start it all up..

I honestly don't see Rooney leaving. I think he might go into the midfield.

Gonna lose Lewandoswki, Lost Goetze, Barcelona supposedly made Hummels top transfer target who next? Gundogan or Subotic?

Those first 15-20 minutes Sporting should have really grabbed a goal with the amount of pressure they were putting on you guys, it took a while but eventually Benfica started to get going. Sporting had their chances but Benfica made a greater job of actually taking theirs. Saying that, they had a few youngsters in their side and i think Bruma and Ilori done a pretty good job. I feel Sporting will be a team of youngsters going into next season and they'll continue to lose their bigger named players (pretty much expect Capel to be the next out of the door) in order to lower their wage bill. It's a shame this is what is happening to Sporting but if they continue to produce youngsters like those two and give them first team opportunities then it's not bad for Portugal at all!

I know you have two long trips with one to Turkey and then another to Madeira but i still can't see you dropping points against Maritimo. Sadly. I've given up, it's yours.

Why did i think Garay had already signed for Manchester United? Has he not? No idea why i thought this... Knowing me I probably read it on abola and actually believed it.

Ah, i wouldn't worry about Jackson. I can see that you'll win the league at the Dragão... just to make things 10 times worse for me. IF it comes to that game and you can win the title on our ground i really don't think i could watch it with my silly Benfica supporting family. Just a complete and utter nightmare! Ha.

Yeah, i can see Paços struggling to keep their players which will be a shame after acheiving something great for the club. I see we're already snapping up youngsters from elsewhere with signing Ricardo and Tiago Rodrigues from Guimaraes.

When watching the game and seeing that goal i thought "yeah, good goal" but when actually watching it again when they were showing it on the news i didn't quite realise how good it was. Gaitan in particular who tricked the two Sporting players, they had no idea! Haha.

Just read about the Goetze transfer, and I'm absolutely disgusted. I've always been pretty appreciative of Bayern, but I'm developing a dislike for them now. I was uncomfortable when they snapped up Neuer, but this is heartbreaking. I've also lost my respect for Goetze; so much for being a childhood Dortmund fan and all that. Distraught, tbh.

It stands to reason that you are distraught, if you are a Dortmund fan and one of the best players at the moment goes to the best German football club. But all in all football players are playing football to earn money as much as possible during the period of a career. The times in which players keep faith with their clubs has gone by.

Bayern have a history of poaching league rivals' players in order to win. Despicable club. Only reason I am happy they won is because at the end of the day they're still German and half our national team plays there.

It stands to reason that you are distraught, if you are a Dortmund fan and one of the best players at the moment goes to the best German football club. But all in all football players are playing football to earn money as much as possible during the period of a career. The times in which players keep faith with their clubs has gone by.

All those players have longer contracts and there is no way Dortmund will let them go. They already said that after Kagawa left and after Lewandowski made it clear he would leave.

Götze is just a **** for leaving for Bayern.

Just read about the Goetze transfer, and I'm absolutely disgusted. I've always been pretty appreciative of Bayern, but I'm developing a dislike for them now. I was uncomfortable when they snapped up Neuer, but this is heartbreaking. I've also lost my respect for Goetze; so much for being a childhood Dortmund fan and all that. Distraught, tbh.

It stands to reason that you are distraught, if you are a Dortmund fan and one of the best players at the moment goes to the best German football club. But all in all football players are playing football to earn money as much as possible during the period of a career. The times in which players keep faith with their clubs has gone by.

When people like you come up with this statement, you make it sound like Gotze is been paid peanuts at BVB. I don't know what his wages with them are but I'm sure he's already a multi-millionaire.

And tbh, if you look at the bigger picture, he might actually be making less money through his move to Bayern. Endorsement and all that which is where the top athletes make the bulk of their money but this is massive conjecture on my part.

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When people like you come up with this statement, you make it sound like Gotze is been paid peanuts at BVB. I don't know what his wages with them are but I'm sure he's already a multi-millionaire.
(...)

He's leaving to go to his boyhood club where he'll be working with an outstanding manager for arguably the best team on the planet, it's the best move for him, even if somewhat disloyal to a club thats given him so much.

If you consider the yearly salary, then that's right. But that is not the point. A career may be gone faster than you think. I remind me of Tobias Rau who was a very talented German football player. He finished his career with 28 years, he was 20 years old when he begun with... How long lasts a period of career? twenty years in the best case. There are many German football players who was playing in the highest German league, the Bundesliga, but not good enough to keep the level constant. Many of them, who played just few years there, would change the seats with Götze. From this perspective I understand his move.