So, Real Madrid has now made it three consecutive years in a row.

I don't know if that has ever been done before in the Champions League era. I know that Real Madrid is the only team to have won two back to back titles though.

Yet, after the game in which I nearly stopped breathing, I go on to check the news:

I'm thinking now there will be reports of fantastic defending by Real Madrid, not what they are known for. Navas will be called a GOAT. Bayern will, forever be, in Reals shadow.. going back to that league without any competition whatsoever.

But what do I find, just reading titles?

"Real Madrid was too lucky, and Bayern did everything right."

"Bayern was better, but this competition is special to Real Madrid"

And so on.. so on.. as we were before the tie - so are we after.

I personally don't need the media to know about Real's greatness. It's just.. so obvious that there's a certain feeling out there that the media gives off.. no matter what Real does, they will never be considered the best. That crown is reserved for their special darlings, Barca and Bayern.

You know who featured for Inter in the Inter-Milan semi-final in 2003? Crespo, Zanetti, Cannavaro, and Vieri. That's it.

Whats it? Toldo was the second best keeper in Italy at the time, Cordoba and Materazzi were stable for many years, Recoba was very talented and Emre went as far as reaching third place with Turkey in the World Cup 2002, Inter only lost to AC Milan that year due to 1 single away goal, it was 1:1 and 0:0 and it's funny because both teams in reality play in the same stadium, it was an even game.

When Milan was great, they were among the best knockout teams in the world!

They also had the Prime minister of Italy as their biggest weapon, when they were actually banned but somehow UEFA allowed them to participate in qualifiers for the Champions League at one point, they were involved in Calciopoli.

The only teams from that year's CL who are on the level of these top teams today are Juventus and Milan - which is what you'd expect.

From two of the biggest Calciopoli teams yes nothing could ever affect them, this is also why their football is getting worse and they are missing out on the World Cup for the first time in 50 years, but sure Juventus has a modern stadium and is dominating, while the majority of the other teams are in ruins, also AC Milan is not at the level of the other top teams.

Agree.

As for VAR, refs has been a big joke in these competition. Im pretty tired of alll the stupid controversial calls (accidental or not) that wrech the out come, especially in the last few years.

@dynastian, but there is no such thing as 5-straight season domination by a team in epl. I agree the standards of epl have been down for last 5 season or more. but the standard among each other in england is almost the same. the fact that leicester city can win while all big clubs are in slump mode is the proof. hence, it is more rewarding. off course if teams like napoli or dortmund win their domestic title respectively is rewarding as well. what I am trying to say is that madrid, bayern and barca have higher expectation compared to man utd, liverpool, chelsea, spurs and city and would be judged differently. a domestic epl win for either teams is called a great season, meanwhile if bayern wins bundesliga or psg wins ligue1, no one really says it's a great season unless accompanied by ucl.

the quality in the past is not to be underestimated. the fact that teams like shaktar and basel can slip out of the group stage shows that the quality competition had dropped down a bit compare to the past. what I am trying to say is that legendary teams can never be compared to today's team due to difference in level of standard.

It's really superficial to say that sports today are better comapred to the past.
Technology is better, medicines are better but overall sports is very debatable.

Are you guys truly, seriously and with a straight face voicing your illogical belief that is contradictory to all we know about human nature, evolution, sports, athletics, science, technological leaps, you know I can keep going.. and going..

That is just how wrong your belief that football that was being played decades ago was somehow of a higher quality than what we see now.

Please, if you are one the unfortunate who voiced this opinion, I am sorry but I.will kindly ask you to ban yourself from this community for a period of 7 days.

Not using your brain but instead allowing some nostalgic exaggeration, probably influenced by your culture... to make an absolute fool of yourself...

A grave infraction of pure 'reason'.

Some time away would do you good.

You are stuck in the past... I have seen with my own eyes that the quality of football and competition is superior now than it was 10 years ago.

Golazo

It is much better. Much faster, much more tactical and much more technical. Every sport evolves including teams and players who constantly look to find new ways to gain competitive advatange against opponents thus improving quality of the game overall.

@Amerr Someone opinion may be flawed in your mind, but that doesn't mean its wrong for that person or for some other people. I don't agree with the point football might have been better or the same as today a few year back, but that doesn't mean you need to strike them down like with so little respect. Sure, you and pherhap most people disagree with their view but there is no need to be mean about it. This is a football forum where people are entitled to their opinion no matter how foolish and stupid it may seem at time for you, so please try to more comprehensive toward other and less critical.

Every sport evolves including teams and players who constantly look to find new ways to gain competitive advatange against opponents thus improving quality of the game overall.

That's a good statement, many factors make the game better overall.
But do you remember 10 years ago how things were? Because Dynastian obviously doesn't. 10 years ago Chelsea and Manchester United had amazing defenders, goalkeepers, midfielders and played the Final of the CL, today Liverpool with at best average goalkeeper,defense,midfield is in the CL final.

... to all we know about human nature, evolution, sports, athletics, science, technological leaps, you know I can keep going..

Human nature, evolution, science, technological leaps...As far as I can see nothing has changed about human nature nor evolution, science had a big impact but that doesn't change human sportsman, using it or not players are the same it's the science and better conditions that made players have an easier time and not the players evolving from it.
But how much of that is responsible for horrible refs these days?
Mind you before the game had Less refs present by the pitch and yet they were better, now we have more refs and more mistakes are made.
How much did a player become better and more capable when Ronaldo at 34 years of age can still dominate like when he was 24?
All this talk about how things are better but it's just more money spending of rich teams more than ever, far less capable of producing their own talents and solving the big void by spending huge sums of money...

Emo: I don't know how you haven't realized this by now (and granted there have been heated debates), but I like to have fun when I'm in a discussion such as this. I will always do my best not to just go outright insulting someone. It's just that by including some of these hyperboles, it ensures, at least for me - to keep it on a lighter note and not get emotionally invested or triggered. Football fans were never meant to be debating things with fans of rivals clubs, because most carry their clubs in their hearts where reason is irrelevancies.. Yet that is all a debate should focus on. So there is always the possibility of someone losing it.

It's just a better place to debate from. You should try it, also

@Golazo sometimes you don't need to have the very best in every position to win. There are other factors such as draws, motivation, psychologic state, etc. All in all athleticism has progressed so much in the modern era.
Better can mean a whole lot of things. Athleticism, technical, tactical, showbiz, and technological (better balls, goal line tech, football boots) have all improved ten fold. What I will indeed say was better before was the fact that the players were actually tough and wouldn't flop and exaggerate every single touch or cry around for everything. It was a lot more physical in a good way.

@Amer, the way you convey yourself is incredibly assholeish. Take it a Dow a notch, there are more ways to say that to continue conversation, yours pretty much kills it.

lol, ban yourself 7 days is the reply you get for talking about the level of competition in the past compared to now. now I see why the media hates a particular team that is supported a particular fan. Thank you for nothing.

@Amer: really mate? Really?

@Amerr30 I get your point and thats fine but only as long as other user with whom you discuss feel the same way as you and understand that , if you uncertain they can make the part of thing, maybe just be a bit more careful with how you phrase your feeling about their opinion.

@tuan: Well, clearly not.

@rai: Assholish? Might be. But if it leads to a better researched, well informed opinion, even if it's the slightest of nudges - I would not complain. Did you read the posts after the Juve - Real game? That this community has become that is a far, far larger problem that nobody even noticed or cares about it. I'm not sure which would be worse.

@the_bald: You really have me figured out from reading, what, one comment? My comment literally just helped you make sense of the vast dislike of this one, huge, fan group. The fact that it did that, that you've come that conclusion DURING the years of Real Madrid's utter dominance of the greatest prize of club football. Wow.

Of course, before this you stated that football in the past is better than the game today.

I'm not claiming to know you from these two posts but it seems like there's a certain understanding that you lack, the_bald_guy. An understanding that, I will add, is shared by almost all football fans. It is almost automatic because we've watched these things happen in front of our days. The same way all scientists agree on gravity, all agree on climate change, all people agree that Trump is an idiot. You see what I'm trying to say?

The fact that football has gotten better over the years is one of those things, as is the connection between the amount of envy/hate towards a club is directly proportional to the amount of prestigious prizes they have gotten their hands on.

When you disagree with such a common held, core belief - you just asking people to make fun of you, to turn your opinion into mockery. It was merely a suggestion. You may instead choose to spend 7 days informing yourself of all that is football. A more positive outcome.

Emo: Don't be ridiculous. If that ever happened, I wouldn't see the purpose behind it.

sometimes you don't need to have the very best in every position to win. There are other factors such as draws, motivation, psychologic state, etc. All in all athleticism has progressed so much in the modern era.
Better can mean a whole lot of things. Athleticism, technical, tactical, showbiz, and technological (better balls, goal line tech, football boots) have all improved ten fold.

I understand that you don't need to have the very best, but a weak link in the past was much more exploited tactically.
The game is a big business today and technology follows it so a lot of things have changed that made players better but at the same time because of it they can be just as less capable compared to players from the past.

At least there should be a good enough reason to question the overall quality of teams today since Real Madrid is just 1 win away to win CL for the third time in a row which never happened before, if 1 team is so dominant it does beg the question of the overall competitiveness in football.

lol, all people agree that trump is an idiot doesn't mean all people agree that the quality of football today is better than years ago. simple as, you don't have a counterargument to my opinion. it's almost automatic lol, looks like your brain shifts like an auto. core belief? what? the amount of hate is directly proportional to success, bs, only a hater would agree on that. football is not certain, football is not science or politics. your comment is nothing to my sense, again, thank you for nothing.

Listen to me, the bald eagle,

I have taken time, my valuable free time out of my day to tell you a thing or two about this sport you clearly only recently started paying attention to. You are so green, if you were anywhere between the celtic kit, and a footy pitch, you'd be running towards the lines just to be seen. On the other hand, I have lived and died with this sport for a good 23 years, give or take.

I'm really just trying to give you a towel for the wet behind your ear.

What you do with it is up to you. if you want a counter-argument, make an argument. The sky is green because I said so is not an argument and thus needs no counter.

Believe me, a whole lot more people agree on the progression of quality in football than they do on Trumps intellect - if the elections are anything to go by..

23 years of nonsense

I disagree highly about competition, once Barça got eleminated Madrid wins the trophy and its like this since 2013 now...
Basically Barça gave CL on plate to Madrid this season just like they gave us Copa del Rey.

about domination, we arent in a madrid domination era, they dominate CL but they have the worst domestic era of their History.

A club dominance is highly depending on the league first, SAF Manchester, PEP's Barça, Sacki's Milan were all greatest clubs of their respective leagues...
Now if VAR was applied this season, Madrid wouldnt have qualified and even that they werent far superior from a full of injury Juventus and Bayern. Juve almost played with a B-Team and Bayern suffered from injury too...

Doesnt mean what they did isnt impressive, this team know how to suffer and they do it really well. but to say best team in History ? based on what ? they arent even Best team in Madrid History, i witnessed more powerful Madrid than this one who take 0-3 0-4 at home to Barça, need last minute PK to escape 0-3 against Juve B and need luck and PK non whistled to save the face against a very pleasant Bayern...

for me Milan of 90's, Manchester of 2008 and Pep's Barça were all better and stronger. Madrid of 2001was also stronger, " la quinta del buitre " Madrid of 80's was stronger...
im not judging on squad but strenght and quality football, Madrid squad actually is one of the strongest a team built i agree on this.