UCL Last 16: Celtic v Juventus Chat

why the * are you on another teams forum instead of your own or have you been banned from there for talking so much *

 

I was really raging about the result, and Lichsteiner's antics, last night. I've calmed down a bit now but I am still * off.

I * hate playing Italian teams. I just hate the way a lot of Italian teams play. The way they defend set pieces just makes my blood boil. They are taught to defend that way from a young age and it is ingrained in their culture. Obviously Italian referees just accept it and let them away with it. Every time we come up against an Italian side the same * happens and we end up feeling cheated. I'm sick of that feeling.

I've never liked Juventus anyway but I have even less time for them now after watching last night's game.

 

Claims being made that Juve bribed the ref are being made without any foundation. Sad fact is the ref had a shocker and not for the first time. He should never be allowed to referee games at CL level. If he'd been stronger the result may well have been very different. Certain Juve players wouldn't have looked out of place in a Greco wrestling event. By acting in such a manner they lost a lot of respect, not just from Celtic fans but all over the world.

Claims also that it is just the British/ Scottish press who are condemning the antics of Juve in the box are also completely wrong. Try reading some of the match reports from other European countries.

Anyway despite the disappointment of last night I for one have enjoyed the entire CL experience this season. I'm extremely proud of what we achieved and hope to see us continue progressing in future years. For sure there won't be many clubs in Europe who will dismiss us so easily in future.

 

I was impressed by your energy and fight, but some of the grappling definitely was not only excessive, but also gaining an unfair advantage. It was like watching wrestling sometimes. Thanks for the nice things you said about our performance. You seem a fair minded guy, so please just watch some of these incidents again, bearing in mind that these set-pieces are our biggest chance of scoring normally.

 

If you're going to call that "mild contact" then I can't take you seriously.

 

What was Lichtsteiner supposed to do? How are Juve supposed to stop Hooper from obstructing Buffon? That's what I don't understand. If Lichtsteiner had tried to stop that from happening by going down easily at every Celtic corner he would have been called a cheat. Now that he played Hooper at his own game and stood up to him, he's called a cheat.

Somebody please explain how Juve are supposed to stop Hooper from obstructing Buffon.

Watch any - say - Stoke match and the same thing happens. Stoke put a man on the goalkeeper at every set piece and the opposing team tries to have a man preventing the attacker from obstructing the goalkeeper. The British press calls it 'committed' and 'hearty', but only so long as they're the ones doing it.

 

It's a *-for-tat battle where both striker and defender are pushing each other. Penalties are never given for that.

 

Hooper is not obstructing Buffon though! If he is, when the ball comes over, the ref would give a foul. Standing your ground is not obstructing a player. Putting both arms around a player and not even looking at the ball is obstruction however. If Hooper stops Buffon coming for the cross or jumps into him then it is a foul. Standing in front of him is in no way a free kick.

 

It's the referee's job to give the foul if he thinks any player is obstructing the goalkeeper. Just as it is his job to act against players like Lichsteiner who thinks wrestling a player whilst the ball is in play is acceptable.

 

Oh come on, Hooper goes straight for Buffon and stands right in front of him until Lichtsteiner gets in the way.

 

I will say one thing, as soon as I saw that ref, i knew the game was going to suffer. I remember him from the 2010 World Cup and he is shocking but, ironically, that was because he was blowing for every little thing and completely destroying any flow the game could have had.

 

This is just going to go round and round in circles.

Juventus fans think their team done nothing wrong, the rest of the world knows the truth of the matter.

That sense of entitlement is awfy familiar.

 

What is the problem with him standing right infront of him? As long as he doesn't touch him then how is it a foul? So nobody is allowed to stand infront or next to the keeper now? Must be a new rule that.

 

Same old Juve,terrible and spineless (at best) referee,but they took their chances and we never.We could and should have beat the * last night,despite the referee and their behaviour,but it wasn't to be.

 

Stay within the laws of the game.

He's not playing Hooper's game though, and that's what none of you Italians seem to understand. Standing still next to the keeper is entirely within the laws of the game, so what Hooper is doing is fine and dandy.

What Lichtsteiner is doing is pushing and shoving in the penalty area, both during play and when the ball is not in play, which should have resulted in two yellow cards and one penalty for him. Likewise for Padoin later on.

That is the difference between what our players and your players are doing.

 

So if Buffon tries to come out for a cross but can't because Hooper is standing in front of him and obstructing him, would you have been happy for a foul in Juve's favour to be called?

 

Yes, that is a foul! But when did this happen? Not once because Hooper was not being allowed to attack the ball or even stand still because he was being shoved and pulled!

 

For what it's worth, Juventus had a fairly set game plan, which included how they set up at corners and free kicks based on the evidence of Celtic's Champions League campaign to date, so they did their homework.
To that end, their plan worked a treat and as the referee is the custodian of the game: appeared to be within the laws, but only just.
The first goal was always going to be key and when Juventus got it, their plan was reinforced as we tried to get back in to the game.
I don't mind being beaten by a better team, but football can be cruel sometimes.
At this level any defensive errors will be punished and Juventus had enough quality to punish us, which they did with aplomb.
Quality will always shine through in the end and unfortunately the extra millions on a wage bill of one team will invariably filter out the teams that haven't.
We can take some heart from the fact that we took the game to them and it was Juventus who had to contain us and not the other way around.
All talk of penalties, man-handling of our players in the box and let's say all the forms of "gamesmanship" on behalf of Juventus; should be taken as a compliment.
In my humble opinion the officials were not strong enough to deal with this "gamesmanship", but it should not distract from the fact that we lost the game 3-0 due in no small part in our failure to put the ball into the back of the Juventus net, and of course being punished for our defensive errors.
People can quote all the statistics they want, possession, shots on/off target and corners.
This does not matter in the context of a game if the result of these statistics is that you lose.
It was widely reported that the Barcelona game at Celtic Park had Barcelona having 89% of possession, but we won 2-1 and a place in history was made.
There was a lot of "whataboutary" in tregards to these statistics as if Barcelona deserved to go through because:

A. They are Barcelona and how dare you!!
B. Celtic had less possession

By that thinking they should win the Champions League every year, but we all know that they don't!!
We are all hurting about the game and no amount of anger over the "gamesmanship" will change the result. It probably makes the wider footballing world perceive us to be no more than poor losers as a consequence.
If the debate was all about the referee sending off two players, booking nine others and we lose to an offside goal, off the hand of Pirlo; then we could and should gripe until it became an Olympic Sport - we could replace wrestling at the next Olympics, which of course would be ironic!!
Very disappointed (if you knew me well you will know how much I hate that word), but we can hold our heads high and say that we give it our best and we fell short.
The second leg may be a formality, but an early goal and Juventus' team on the day, may be sufficient for us to stick it to them.
It's a long shot, but a team that was one minute away from getting a draw against Barcelona in the Camp Nou, had 11% possession against the same opposition in the reverse leg, surely can make a game of it.
"Football is a funny old game" and "It only takes a second to score a goal" were quotes from Brian Clough.
He knew a thing or two about taking a so called "lesser" team all the way.
Hail Hail

 

There's a difference between standing in front of somebody and wrapping your arms around them or leaning up against them with all your body weight.

What Lichsteiner was doing last night was well outside the laws of the game.

 

They were pushing and shoving each other, which is why the referee booked the both of them. It stands to reason that any further sanction against Lichtsteiner would have also meant a further sanction against Hooper.