Liverpool FC Forum

[KAKA22]

If I' won't come in here anymore before it....I just wanna wish ya a Good Final...I hope it will be the Best to win...hear ya after it ....n we will see who was truly right..

[destro]

If I' won't come in here anymore before it....I just wanna wish ya a Good Final...I hope it will be the Best to win...hear ya after it ....n we will see who was truly right..

Looking forward to hearing your views on the match, many have promised to return here after a game, few have!

Win or lose we will all be here 

[66-1112520797]

Thanks for the Words Kaka 22.

On the subject of our midfield how strong would this formation look.

                       Sissoko -- Alonso -- Mascha
             Gerrard                                       Kewell

[zarababe]

Well - 1 day to go - I can't wait, so excited.

A prayer - Please God let My Liverpool win. Amen!

Love Liverpool so much - proud to be a red and part of the greatest footballing tradition ever established- history, passion, belief and success - this and much more; Liverpool, Liverpool, Liverpool, my heart, my soul !

[*Juventino*]

Thanks for the Words Kaka 22.

On the subject of our midfield how strong would this formation look.

                       Sissoko -- Alonso -- Mascha
             Gerrard                                       Kewell

The ideal would be:

                    Reina

Finnan - Carragher - Agger - Fabio Aurelio

                       Sissoko

Gerrard - Mascherano - Xabi Alonso - Riise

                        Kuyt

My only question is on the left.

[stmichael]

ITV trailer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDsf3gBPQJM

[66-1112520797]

Thanks for the Words Kaka 22.

On the subject of our midfield how strong would this formation look.

                       Sissoko -- Alonso -- Mascha
             Gerrard                                       Kewell

The ideal would be:

Reina

Finnan - Carragher - Agger - Fabio Aurelio

Sissoko

Gerrard - Mascherano - Xabi Alonso - Riise

Kuyt

Aurelio is injured, so Riise or Arbeloa will have to go LB. Momo Sissoko is not one for "sitting" infront of the defence, Xabi and Mascha are, but I suppose I'm splitting hairs really.

[zarababe]

I luv that Saint - that song is so Liverpool !

[KAKA22]

If I' won't come in here anymore before it....I just wanna wish ya a Good Final...I hope it will be the Best to win...hear ya after it ....n we will see who was truly right..

Looking forward to hearing your views on the match, many have promised to return here after a game, few have!

Win or lose we will all be here 

I had already said it before u did....winner or loser i'll be here For ac MILAN..

[zarababe]

Justice - Where is the justice in this

Why Milan should not be in the CL - The Guradian:

Last summer, Milan were implicated in the Calciopoli scandal, which began when phone-taps revealed the general manager of Juventus, Luciano Moggi, had been attempting to control the selection of officials for Serie A matches. Moggi's club suffered the harshest punishment, being stripped of their league title and relegated to Serie B, but Milan - along with Lazio and Fiorentina - were also found guilty of lesser charges.

In Milan's case, their refeering liaison officer, a restaurateur from Lodi called Leonardo Meani, was said to have made incriminating phone calls, one of which was to Gennaro Mazzei, the Italian Football Association's [FIGC] head of linesmen, after Milan had lost 2-1 to Siena. Meani criticised the appointment of one linesman in forthright terms: "I don't want him. I never asked for him nor wanted him." And he added a request for their next match: "On Wednesday, try to send two intelligent ones."

Although the charges were on a much smaller scale than those levelled against Moggi and Juventus, they were nevertheless enough to incur a retrospective deduction of 44 points from the total with which Milan had earned second place in Serie A in the 2005-06 season, plus an advance deduction of 15 points from the present season. On appeal, however, these were lowered to 30 points and eight respectively, the former being just enough to put them in third position, ensuring them a place in last August's qualifying round of the Champions League, while the latter made inclusion in next year's tournament a realistic ambition.

For Juventus, being erased from the final table of the 2005-06 season meant they would automatically be excluded from the Champions League and many felt the same punishment should be inflicted on the other clubs involved in the scandal. At the headquarters of Uefa, however, it was discovered that the governing body's rules did not allow it to override the decisions of a national association. If the FIGC deemed Milan fit to represent them, there was nothing that could be done.

"It was very simple," William Gaillard, Uefa's head of communications, told me. "Our executive committee could only take up the matter after the Italian sentences were confirmed, because there were many appeals. The Italian association sent us their list of clubs, which included Milan. Some of the committee had misgivings about the situation, but when we examined our statutes and regulations we saw that we could not do anything about it because, in matters such as this, the national association was sovereign.

"The only possibility was to change our statutes, and that was done at our congress in Düsseldorf in January. Now we have the power to intervene. If a team has been game-fixing or affecting results, and if the case is sufficiently grave, Uefa will be able to exclude them."

Welcome as the change may be, it came several months too late to exclude Milan from this year's competition, which they are now the bookmakers' favourites to win for a seventh time on Wednesday. And there are those, such as Crerand, who will find it difficult to take comfort from the knowledge that, at least on paper, things will be different in the future.

"They're a smashing team, Milan, and maybe they didn't know what was going on," Crerand concluded. "Or would some of them have known? You'd have to ask them. Obviously the players want to win the top trophy, but if you do it unfairly, is it worth it?"

How the punished clubs have fared:

Milan Docked eight points, they lie fourth in Serie A and have reached the Champions League final

Fiorentina Started with minus 15 points but now stand fifth

Lazio With only three points to make up, they are third in Serie A

Reggina Began 11 points down and hover above the relegation zone

Siena Only one point deducted but they are in danger of the drop

Juventus Relegated with nine-point deficit, but have won promotion
--------------------------

Typical of  UEFA always F***ingwell acting after the event !

[redtrader74]

Sends a cold shiver down my back St.Mick:) come on redmen!

[supersub]

this is omonia square by the way. we should try and arrange to meet up here or something.

Leon told me this is Athens equivilant to Taksim,so I will be heading their match day with me big flag.St michael how will I recognise you....surely you don't really look like spongebob

I have Ian's mob.no. so hopefully I can share a bevvy or 2 with him.Send me a PM with a mob.no....this open invite applies to any of the members that are travelling.

[zarababe]

BTW Super - did ya get your T-shirts?

Great Article form the Guardian:

Benítez aims for a repeat but without all the drama


Dominic Fifield
Monday May 21, 2007
The Guardian


The thrill of the re-match ahead has been tempered. Liverpool's fans may eagerly recall the majesty of one of the greatest- ever comebacks, all the talk drifting back to the frenzy of the Ataturk Stadium, but Rafael Benítez merely winces at the memory of half-time in Turkey. Asked what he has learned in the two years since, his response was immediate. "English," he snapped. "To be losing 3-0 to Milan, one of the best teams in the world, and you need to express yourself in 10 or 15 minutes and you only have broken English? That was my most difficult situation as a manager."

Wednesday night in the steamy heat of Athens will offer another test with the Rossoneri seeking revenge and Liverpool craving a repeat, albeit one less dramatic. Benítez has learned much in his three years in England. His command of his adopted language, while hardly flawless, has improved and his team have steadily developed. They may never have challenged for the Premiership under the Spaniard but reaching two Champions League finals in three years is remarkable. Some say he is a tactical genius, particularly in Europe, though Benítez would concede he is also a lucky manager.
Fortune undoubtedly played its part in Istanbul. With his initial game-plan wrecked by an early goal and then the withdrawal of Harry Kewell through injury, Benítez spent much of the first half sketching down a response to relay to his troops aimed at recovering a one-goal deficit. Hernán Crespo's two goals in six minutes just before the interval, however, left him flummoxed. Briefly, amid the chaos of the dressing room at half-time, the manager's improvised response had 12 players scrawled on the whiteboard. Then, with Dietmar Hamann to come on and Djimi Traoré in the showers, an injury to Steve Finnan prompted yet another rethink.

That those 15 minutes of mayhem could spark a revival remains staggering. "I knew what I was going to say at 2-0, but then we conceded a third," said Benítez with a grimace. "I ended up just saying to the players: 'Listen, we've worked so hard to get here. We are in the final. We cannot leave our fans like this.' That was the first message. I sent Didi [Hamann] out to warm up - we needed to control the middle - with Djimi off, and then the physio told me Finnan could not play. It was eight or nine minutes into half-time and Djimi was going to the shower, so I changed it all again. But to do that with my English, that was a problem.

"What happened afterwards was amazing. At the end of the game I shook hands with [Carlo] Ancelotti and said sorry. As a manager, he did everything right in that game, going 3-0 up in the first half then using Serginho on the left to open the game after we'd come back to 3-3. In Italy they criticised him for not going more defensive but Milan are a top side who like playing offensive football. He must have wondered why it happened like it did, but we had a bit of luck."

The desire to analyse and improve is key to understanding Benítez. Like all managers at the top, his is an obsession. His wife, Montse, has long since learned to live with her husband closeted away in his office endlessly watching DVDs of his team's performances and those of future opponents. He spends hours at Melwood in dialogue with his staff, meticulously piecing together a strategy for success. He recognises his is a team still in transition, a side perhaps unable still to impose themselves upon teams of the calibre of Milan for long periods, but the manager's thoroughness gives them an edge.

"When I was younger I was a bad loser," he said. "I wanted to win whatever game I was playing - chess, cards, whatever. I had this desire to be the best, always, and that was something my parents gave me. People say I put more into management because I wasn't much of a player but I started playing when I was two, and then competitively from 11. I have always played. OK, when I was injured in 1979 in Mexico, I turned to studying the game, but I'd been doing that since I was 16, thinking about my team, analysing statistics and trying to work out how to improve.

"There are still things to improve with this side. I would like to see the perfect team, and that would be proactive. In Istanbul, we needed to be reactive because we conceded too early. You always need a Plan A and a Plan B. In fact, sometimes you need a Plan C or D. But my idea for the future is to give the players the chance to impose themselves on the other side."

An inability to react arguably exposed Manchester United in the semi-final at San Siro last month, the visitors eventually swept aside 3-0. Liverpool would rather not test their ability to bounce back from such a deficit again. For Benítez the perfectionist, victory without the drama would be ideal.

..........................

Rafa Benitez, Rafa Benitez, Rafa Rafa Rafa Benitez, Xabir Alonso, Luis Garia .. (to labamba)

[*Juventino*]

Thanks for the Words Kaka 22.

On the subject of our midfield how strong would this formation look.

                       Sissoko -- Alonso -- Mascha
             Gerrard                                       Kewell

The ideal would be:

Reina

Finnan - Carragher - Agger - Fabio Aurelio

Sissoko

Gerrard - Mascherano - Xabi Alonso - Riise

Kuyt

Aurelio is injured, so Riise or Arbeloa will have to go LB. Momo Sissoko is not one for "sitting" infront of the defence, Xabi and Mascha are, but I suppose I'm splitting hairs really.

Sissoko is fundamental to mark to man Kakà, as two years ago it made Hamann in the second time

[zarababe]

this is omonia square by the way. we should try and arrange to meet up here or something.

Just make sure you lot don't get 'neumonia' 

Will look grt in a sea of scouse red