Champions League Final

[SeaBass]

Free to air tonight on BT Sport Europe...(SKY 414)

[irishmcbride]

And on YouTube.

Simeone would get football stopped, I hope Real pump them.

[The Coach]

Pepe's a wee bitch. Hope Atletico turn it around.

[scottyboy]

Game on when it should have been game over. Atletico got spirit. 

[GG Riva]

''Simeone would get football stopped, I hope Real pump them.''

You might want to edit that, in view of Atletico's performance from the 46th minute, Irish?   ;-) 

Tbf, I was in the same boat as you in the first half. He had to change it at half time, with Real quite happy to sit on their lead and keep 9 or 10 men behind the ball. Even when Atletico equalised they still kept things tight at the back. Zidane may feel the penalty triumph justified his tactics, but the Real socios won't be happy to see that approach on a regular basis. Ask Mourinho or Capello before him.

[scottyboy]

You got to hand it to Simeone.. He turning out to be a top manager. Who would have thought unfashionable Atletico would run them so close and not a household name in the squad minus Torres. Maybe Man Utd are looking in the wrong places.

[irishmcbride]

''Simeone would get football stopped, I hope Real pump them.''

You might want to edit that, in view of Atletico's performance from the 46th minute, Irish?   ;-) 

Nope. An early Real goal was the best thing that could have happened last night, it meant Simeone couldn't pursue his standard "sit back, kick anything that moves" style. Besides, my objections to Simeone don't rest solely on whatever style he deploys, more the fact that the guy is an inherently unlikeable  f*nny. Anyone who thinks that hurling a ball on the pitch to stop an opponent's counter attack is acceptable has crossed the line from shenanigans to flat out cheating, IMO. 

As for the second half, I don't actually feel that Atleti created any more chances than Real, certainly not if you include extra time in that. Atleti were no better than Real last night, and that's considering that Real had a pair of bombscares at the back for most of the game.

Other points to note: Clattenberg had a good game, I thought. Ramos is like the ultimate big game player, he was fantastic, as was Casemiro. Yannick Carrasco: where the eff do the Belgians get all these players?

As an aside, I find it utterly tragic that the final was held in the San Siro, and neither Inter nor Milan were in any sort of position to even contemplate being there. Hopefully they both sort themselves out, European football is poorer without them, I think.

[GG Riva]

''An early Real goal was the best thing that could have happened last night, it meant Simeone couldn't pursue his standard "sit back, kick anything that moves" style''

Perhaps, but all that happened was that Real took over Atletico's game after half time with at least 10 men behind the ball, looking for a quick counter. When did you last see the Colchoneros dominate possession like that?

''Besides, my objections to Simeone don't rest solely on whatever style he deploys, more the fact that the guy is an inherently unlikeable  f*nny. Anyone who thinks that hurling a ball on the pitch to stop an opponent's counter attack is acceptable has crossed the line from shenanigans to flat out cheating, IMO.''

Struggling to argue with that. 

''As for the second half, I don't actually feel that Atleti created any more chances than Real, certainly not if you include extra time in that. Atleti were no better than Real last night, and that's considering that Real had a pair of bombscares at the back for most of the game.''

I thought they did enough to deserve to win the game during the last 75 mins. Real rode their luck more than once and for all that Clattenberg attracted praise from the English media for his handling of the game (surprise, surprise) Pepe should have seen red and that might have been that. Agree about Casimero, easily Real's most important player, Ramos not withstanding.