[turkeydinner]

Ajax played with an air of defeat in the latter part of the second half, mighty hats off to Tottenham that half time talk must have had one hell of an effect
I admit to being heavily biased towards Ajax and sorry to see the side most probably torn apart without realizing its full potential but what an exciting two games of Football and involving EPL sides no less on the winning end!
Cant even knock Arch-Rivals Liverpool, beautiful Football, passion, determination, everything I wish Man Utd had again!

[0762]

I still think there was a "pivotal moment" in this match when the Ajax defender, Schone ,really "let himself down" badly by not being sharp enough in allowing his goalkeeper to grab the ball after making a terrific save from a Spurs' header - so fortuitous for Spurs and I "feel" for Ajax as they certainly didn't deserve to lose that semi-final on the basis of a 3-3 draw and the other team has scored two fortuitous away goals while watching two particular great shots skelp off Spurs posts at WHL and in the Amsterdam Arena - that is fate being so cruel!!!
I watched part of the Chelsea match last night v Eintracht Frankfurt and again I have witnessed massive good fortune for another London footie club who should've been finished off by a battling Eintracht side with proper clinical finishing instead of ending up in a pk shootout that they literally "threw away" after being 3-1 ahead, an absolute shocker in capitulation. I've come to the conclusion that this year has seen a "silly season" in footie terms with the fortuitous moments being consistently experienced by the English footie clubs, something that IMO will not happen again for a very long time. The irony is that few English players line up for these clubs anyway!!

[St Charles Owl]

I still think there was a "pivotal moment" in this match when the Ajax defender, Schone ,really "let himself down" badly by not being sharp enough in allowing his goalkeeper to grab the ball after  making a terrific save from a Spurs' header - so fortuitous for Spurs and I "feel" for Ajax as they certainly didn't deserve to lose that semi-final on the basis of a 3-3 draw and the other team has scored two fortuitous away goals while watching two particular great shots skelp off Spurs posts at WHL and in the Amsterdam Arena - that is fate being so cruel!!!
I watched part of the Chelsea match last night v Eintracht Frankfurt and again I have witnessed massive good fortune for another London footie club who should've been finished off by a battling Eintracht side with proper clinical finishing instead of ending up in a pk shootout that they literally "threw away" after being 3-1 ahead, an absolute shocker in capitulation. I've come to the conclusion that this year has seen a "silly season" in footie terms with the fortuitous moments being consistently experienced by the English footie clubs, something that IMO will not happen again for a very long time. The irony is that few English players line up for these clubs anyway!!

Boy, you’re bitter about these two finals being contested by 4 English teams!!!!! For all the fawning over Ajax you have been doing, they lost not because of being unlucky, but because they didn’t see it through and weren’t good enough!!!! I think its telling that in the previous rounds they played their home games first, and went into the 2nd leg with no expectation or pressure on them. They prevailed in those rounds against Juve and RM but this time they were at home with a lead from the first leg and then a 2-0 half time lead, whether the pressure then got to them or the realization they were heading to the CL final did we will never know, but either way they were blown away by Spurs in the 2nd half. Huge credit should be given to Spurs and Liverpool for getting the results they ended up with, it wasn’t luck, it was fighting for every inch until the end!!! Liverpool in particular put in a better performance in the first leg than the 3-0 scoreline suggests, the clinical ability of Messi caused that result, but Liverpool were well worth their 4-0 win and played in a style that Barca could not cope with.

As to whether it will happen again, probably not, its never happened before this season for any country, ever!! But at the moment the PL teams are better than almost all other equivalent European teams with Man City and Liverpool probably the best two teams in Europe. Barca and Juve are up there but Real and Bayern, like Man Utd have a rebuild to do, and in reality the only one of those who can afford to do that in Man Utd as they are the only ones with any money. What has really changed in the PL over the last 5 years is now not only a lot of the best players play there but the best coaches are coaching there, that is a dangerous combination for the rest of Europe.

No idea what the number of English players has to do with anything, nor what the “irony” is either!!! The current Barca CL squad has 5 Spaniards in it, Liverpool’s CL squad has 10 English players in it and Spurs have 7, so thankfully Barca didn’t make the final!! Ajax have 10 Dutch players for comparison.

[0762]

Give it a rest with the "bitterness" line FFS St Charles Owl! Replace that word with disappointment, a disappointment that is no different from Turkeydinner's comment and the comments of thousands n thousands of fans throughout Europe who wanted to see an up n coming young side like Ajax challenging the hugely financed Euro footie clubs that are successful due to being wealthy!! It was indeed a "breath of fresh air" as previously described!! Ajax were very unlucky in not reaching the CL final and Christian Eriksen shared a similar sentiment in his post match interview with a fairly accurate summary of both matches played. Re my "ironic comment" re English players, I admit I threw that "dangly hook" in as an aside and I expected YOU to "bite it" and you did exactly that!! Well done!! And btw you have your own "moments" of derisiion as much as anyone else. I can recall you actually admitting that fact before. So don't bother "preaching" too much on issues where many members, and other fans of another persuasion, will "beg to differ". That is one of many reasons why we follow football/soccer and endure its "ups n downs". C'est la vie!! Nuff said!!

[St Charles Owl]

Ok, we will call it disappointment. The difference between your post and Turkey’s was his praising both teams, not claiming one had no luck and one had all the luck and was “fortuitous” both in terms of the self inflicted poor defending from Ajax and the goals they scored!! Also the comment that the “fortuitous moments being consistently experienced by the English footie clubs” is also disingenuous in terms of what they have achieved. As was pointed out at the time Eriksen as a past Ajax player was rightly humble and slightly muted in his celebrations during his interviews. Ajax have been a joy to watch and it would have been good to see them reach the final, but Spurs, a team that has spent no money for two transfer windows have been just as exciting to watch this season in the CL. Lets not forget they too are novices at this level of the CL.

You are right, we follow football and we experience both ups and downs, certainly more downs for most of us, and we contribute to forums such as this to be able to express our opinions. On this occasion I am very happy to see the four finalists come from England, I have always supported the English teams in Europe, obviously this is a disappointment for you, so the ups and downs are clearly visible on this thread!!