watch right there. It was," Kazmir s | Forum
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Jan 9 '19
To not win a European Cup for two years is more than understandable for most teams in world football but not this current Barcelona. Cheap Jordan 11 Ireland . They remain a long way away from winning it again, of course, but their performance in Manchester on Tuesday night was a sign of intent, a message they very much intended on delivering the moment their attention turned on the last 16 clash. When they landed on English shores this week, there was a sense of a new dawn, the opening of a new window for this current crop of winners to accomplish something relatively new. To many, it wasnt new at all. They did have eight of the 11 that started the triumphant 2011 final against Manchester United on the pitch from the start at Manchester City on Tuesday evening, but after they were massacred by Bayern Munich in last seasons semifinal, a line had been drawn on the past and it was time to concentrate on the future. All great teams need motivation to continually reach the top and this is it for Barcelona 2013-14. "Maybe (City) do not fear us anymore, because in the last two years, we didnt win the Champions League," said defender Gerard Pique on Monday. "We can still be the best, but we have to show the world we can do it. Tomorrow is a great chance." It was in England, at Wembley, in May of 2011 that they indeed cemented their place as one of the greatest club teams of all time. Pep Guardiola was hoisted in the sky by his players after securing their second European Cup in three years. It was a time for reflection but also of great excitement at what the team could go on to achieve. However, the great unscripted drama that is sport, went on to tell a story of a different Barcelona in the next two seasons of Champions League football. As so often happens in knock-out competition, things didnt always go to plan. Chelsea ended their quest in 2012 when they defended brilliantly at the Nou Camp while last season Barcelona were never quite at the level they had set in years previous. A loss in Milan at this stage last season gave us a glimpse of what was to come. A superb comeback at home showed us again just what they are capable of but two draws against an up-and-coming PSG side in the next round squeezed them through to the battle with Bayern that was so one-sided a new legacy had to be started. "It is not the end of an era," Andres Iniesta claimed at the time but that is not what the future will say. If this Barcelona team are to go on to accomplish more European success, it will be considered a new era; one without Pep, or Tito Villanova, a team under Gerardo Martinos wing influenced more now by Cesc Fabregas and, in time, Neymar. The finals against Manchester United in 2009 and 2011 were similar in how they dominated but also in how they took around 10 minutes to get going. Sir Alex Ferguson spoke about it often in the lead-up to their second final together. United needed to take advantage of that time if they were to win. Not surprisingly Barcelona had more of the ball but United had much more of it in that phase than at any other time, just like in Rome two years earlier. At Wembley, Barcelona completed just 10 per cent of their total successful passes in that opening 10 minutes but United completed 15.5 per cent of all of their successful passes. Once Barcelona got going, United, even when they got it back to 1-1, never got any rhythm into the match. All great teams need to keep reinventing themselves and, having waited 10 weeks since the group stages to show what they could do, this current Barcelona team exploded out of the blocks against Manchester City. There was a genuine purpose about their start and for 100 seconds, shortly after the first minute was over, City never touched the ball. Four minutes in and Barcelona had already completed 60 successful passes. The Spanish giants dominating possession is nothing new but them starting this way in the Champions League is. "Maybe we gave them too much respect in the beginning," reflected City skipper Vincent Kompany, whose mind was drawn back to a time in the game that City couldnt get out of their own half. Yet, despite this, it was hard to fault City for their style. At 0-0, they defended excellently and as the first half wore on, showed just why some had thought this was a very dangerous tie for Barcelona. Martinos men will always dominate possession to protect but it is against teams that counter efficiently and remain calm with the ball that they can look vulnerable. In Yaya Toure and Fernandinho, City have two outstanding midfielders who can ensure a team does exactly that. The pair were magnificent in the first half and it would have been interesting to see what more the Brazilian midfielder could have done, had he not tired playing with just 10 men after being injured for over two weeks. Both were pivotal in a key phase before half-time when City put 22 straight passes together. Not many teams can make Barcelona chase a ball for over a minute without getting it back but Manuel Pellegrinis men did that and were encouraged when they walked off at half-time at 0-0. Six minutes after the interval, however, the tie turned when Jesus Navas went down and Barcelona countered. It looked like a foul on Navas but he also seemed to try and sell it and at that point, left his team exposed. With them attacking, City had Toure and Fernandinho further away from their back four than normal and one magical pass from Iniesta sent Lionel Messi through on goal before he was chopped down by Martin Demichelis. Demichelis had to be sent off but had played well up until that moment. Well, however, may not have still been good enough and, certainly, was probably the peak of what he could have achieved. He was, for example, never going to be the rock that Kompany was throughout the match. All great teams have a way of exploiting their opponents main weakness and Barcelona did that in the 53rd minute and, later, in the dying minutes when Neymar and Dani Alves combined to rip apart Joleon Lescott and Gael Clichy on Citys left side. The Brazilian right back had a fine match and almost scored earlier when he did the same to Citys defensive pair but shot just wide of Joe Harts goal. In between those chances, City had their best period of the match when Barcelona showed a conservative approach showing just how vital an away victory in a knock-out stage was crucial. The red card didnt help City but neither did the presence of Lescott and Clichy, who can look nervous against Swansea let alone Barcelona, and the decision to take off Aleksandar Kolarov and leave on David Silva to protect them on the left proved costly. Barcelonas fantastic four Spaniards gave another football clinic on how to treasure the ball - 409 successful passes from 434 attempts (94.2%). Some call it boring, but once again, they were at their best when their team needed them to protect. Xavi and Fabregas….. Sergio Busquets and Iniesta….. Barcelona arrived in England this week with some fear because Man City were arguably the toughest team they could have been drawn against. They left knowing the stern test was passed, likely marching them into the last eight and a step closer to reaching the same level of success in Europe as they are accomplishing domestically. Jordan 11 Wholesale Shoes . Garcia had eight birdies overall to go with a lone bogey on the fourth to move to an 18-under total of 198 at the Asian Tour event. "I was able to hit some really nice shots and then was able to roll two or three really good putts in and it was nice to be able to finish birdie, birdie on this difficult finishing stretch," Garcia said. Air Jordan 11 Retro Cheap . But history aside, theyre still happy to participate in the Par 3 contest, traditionally held on the day prior to the first round of the Masters.OAKLAND, Calif. -- After being shut down by Anibal Sanchez all night, the Oakland Athletics were happy finally to get a chance at Detroits bullpen in the ninth. Josh Donaldson hit a game-ending three-run homer off Joe Nathan with one out in the ninth and Scott Kazmir pitched his first complete game in nearly eight years to help the As rally for a 3-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday night. "Its always a bit of a relief," As manager Bob Melvin said. "But its not like Nathan is a day at the beach either. But certainly when a guy has had your number for that long for that period of time, you feel like now here is a new breath of life for us." Sanchez was in command all night, allowing only two hits as he took a shutout bid into the ninth inning before Oakland rallied to hand the Tigers their eighth loss in 10 games. Coco Crisp got it started with one out when he hit an opposite-field double just inside the third-base line that ended Sanchezs night after 111 pitches. John Jaso greeted Nathan with a single off third baseman Nick Castellanos glove to set the stage for Donaldson. "The big out there was getting Jaso," Nathan said. "You get him and it changes everything. It changes how you approach Donaldson. It changes how you pitch to him. It gives me a chance to play with him a little bit. When we didnt get Jaso, it put us in a tough spot." Donaldson made the most of his opportunity, hitting a towering drive down the left-field line that he stood and watched, hoping it would stay fair. It did as he ended up with his second career walk-off homer, having also hit one April 12, 2013, against the Tigers. "They had about three balls tonight that went down that line and they kind of kept hooking foul," Donaldson said. "I saw where mine started. I was just praying that it would stay fair." It did and Nathan (2-1) blew his fouurth save in 16 chances. Air Jordan 11 Wholesale. "It was a tough spot to bring Joe into, with the tying run on second base," manager Brad Ausmus said. "He has no margin for error. It was tough spot." Kazmir (6-2) allowed six hits and no walks with eight strikeouts, giving up only a solo homer to Torii Hunter in the fourth inning in his second career complete game. "As a fan that was a fun game to watch right there. It was," Kazmir said. "Throughout the whole game Anibal and I were just battling it out, out for out. We ended up getting a couple of baserunners up in the ninth and Donaldson comes up. You just kind of had that feeling when he came up to be honest with you. He saw that first pitch and didnt miss it. It was awesome." Sanchez faced the minimum through three innings with centre fielder Rajai Davis making a diving catch in the gap to rob Yoenis Cespedes of extra bases in the second inning and the Tigers turning a well-executed 3-6-1 inning-ending double play after Josh Reddick walked in the third for Oaklands first baserunner. The As got their first hit the following inning when Donaldson hit a clean single to centre. Sanchez was helped again by his defence after that with first baseman Miguel Cabrera snaring a liner by Brandon Moss to end the inning and preserve the 1-0 lead. The Tigers had gone ahead in the top half of the inning when Hunter hit a drive over the fence in right-centre for his eighth homer of the season. Hunter hit a game-tying solo shot in Detroits 6-5 win Tuesday night. NOTES: Kazmirs only other complete game came in a 3-0 win over Boston on July 3, 2006. ... Donaldson has reached base safely in 46 of his past 47 games. ... Davis left in the seventh inning with a bruised left shoulder and is day to day. ... Jesse Chavez (4-1) will start the series finale on Thursday for Oakland against Rick Porcello (7-1). Wholesale China Jerseys Wholesale Jerseys Wholesale Authentic Jerseys Nike NFL Jerseys China Wholesale Nike Basketball Jerseys Hockey Jerseys China Supply Baseball JerseysFootball Jerseys Sale Authentic College Jerseys MLB Jerseys China Stitched Soccer Jerseys Cheap Jerseys From China Cheap Nike Jerseys ' ' '
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