Ivica Olić scored a hat trick (26′,66′,77′) in Bayern Munich’s 3-0 win over Lyon in the Champions League semifinal second leg Tuesday night. Bayern will now play Inter Milan on May 22nd in Madrid, Spain at Santiago Bernabéu Stadium in the Champions League FINAL.
Who would have thought that Ivica Olić would have seven Champions League goals in nine appearances at the beginning of the season? This guy has been the heart and soul of Bayern this entire season. He might not score the prettiest goals; but he most definitely gets the job done.
OLIĆ IN THE COMPANY OF MESSI & RONALDO THIS CL SEASON
Was Darijo Srna’s lifting of the UEFA Cup last year a prelude to another Croatian (or two) lifting Europe’s most prestigious club trophy this season? Bayern will be underdogs in the Final, but anything can happen the way Olić and Arjen Robben have been playing. Danijel Pranjić will be available for the Final in Spain as he sat out the semifinal due to a yellow card suspension.
GOAL #1
GOAL #2
AND GOAL #3
In defense of Lyon, Olić’s first goal sucked all the air out of Stade de Gerland, but it was referee Massimo Busacca that really slammed the door on Lyon’s Champions League season. He gave Lyon captain Cris a yellow card in the 59′ for a clean tackle on Olić followed by a second yellow seconds later when the Brazilian started clapping sarcastically at the referee’s decision. These types of calls need to stop in emotional situations and games such as Champions League semis. It ruins the game. But what’s done is done. See you in Madrid!
NBA talk, I love it. Watching the Bucks-Hawks game right now. Milwaukee seems to be falling apart. I need the Hawks to win this series to complete my parlay otherwise I could care less about this series. Orlando will smash on either team.
@Ziva
Let me tell you something about the Lakers. They are by far the best team in basketball. They show up when they want to show up. Game 1 and Game 5 they showed up. Why? Because they had to. Game 6, they dont have to show up, win or lose, OKC doesnt have a chance in game 7.
This series is a series of Men against Boys.
However….
Kobe is getting old, has a lot of miles on those legs, and is fighting injuries. Kobe is on the decline. He is conserving his legs for the big games and rounds 3 and 4 just like the Celtics did in their championship run a few years back.
Remember, a playoff series is 4-7 games long. Teams take a day off here and there. For those of you that dont know, the NBA is rigged. I bet on NBA series.
Im an Andrew Bogut fan. Its a shame that he's out, cause the Bucks would be victorious in this series.
Make sure it's not that windy so your skirts don't fly up…that can be a pain. Enjoy the iced tea.
Bucks or Hawks…..Orlando will have an easy time with either team. I will admit that I am surprised about Milwaukee, but we'll see if they can close out tonight. The toughest game for a young team is to close out on their home floor when they have never been in a situation like this.
As for the Hawks, they are a regular season team and not built for the playoffs.
In the east its still Cavs, Magic and Celtics.
In the west, it will probably still be the Lakers led by selfish Kobe. All the proof you need about Kobe is the contrast between game 5 and game 4. He has the ability and skill to play like he did in game 5 all the time and not how he sabotaged game 4. The rapist has an ego the size of california. It is insane for Gasol not to have more than 15 shots per game, but rapist Kobe only cares about himself.
But, I love it how the media claims Kobe's D on Westbrook was the turning point in game 5. Westbrook blew by rapist Kobe, but he kept missing at the rim. Had more to do with Bynum and Gasol meeting him at the basket.
jebiga….NBA basketball is a bunch of tatooed majmuni running around and screaming like animals.
@ ante B
there's nothing gay about disc golf. it's a challenging sport, and fun to play. most courses are free, and discs are between $10-15. people who play are generally laid back and friendly. and it doesn't come with all the pretensions, elitism and expense of ball golf.
@ ante kvartuc
i've been in austin tx for the last 6 years, but i grew up in milwaukee. i picked up disc golf on a trip to austin in 2000. when i got back to WI i started to notice courses popping up all over the place.
do you know of any other croats that play? it would be cool to plan a cro disc golf outing around some croatian events or soccer tournaments.
next time i go to cro i'm going to try and play that course in cakovec for sure. i can think of a lot of cool places in cro that would be sweet locations for disc golf courses. the nice thing about disc golf courses is that you can plop them into a park and not really have to do any landscaping (unlike ball golf) and maintenance is minimal (unlike ball golf).
I'd like to say that I'm impressed by that comment but I just can't bring myself to lie. I would think a sophisicated and clever dinamo fan as yourself would come up with something a bit better than this.
I'm actually disappointed.
Oh cool! Maybe you guys can read poetry to eachother afterwards…or some other manly activity. A long ride on the pier perhaps?
@ Boris,
Don't jinx it!
And if you're talking about frisbee golf, I have played it. And I love it. Great 18 hole course in San Diego. Thought it was gay when I heard about it but that completely changed when I played for the first time. Where you from?
also, i was wondering if there were any disc golfers among the CSR readers? i'm an avid disc golfer. i'm not really very good, but i love playing.
anyway, as far as i know, this is the first disc golf club in croatia:
http://www.discgolf.hr/
btw, for all you doubters out there (ziva istina), the bucks are up 3-2 on atlanta, with game 6 in milwaukee on friday night. all this without bogut.
i seem to remember some of you guys saying the bucks would lose the series even WITH bogut.
Cibona v Partizan… check this out!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kb2UME1fBYo&feature=player_embedded
I'm not sure i'd want to put any labels on Olic, but at the end of the day the people who actually are regarded as the best could only play like Olic in their dreams. Olic is an athlete and that is a different story altogether. Olic fits in with people who are excellant physical specimens like Boxers and athletes who can go through hell for there sport. Can you say this about guys like Fernando Torres. 100% not.
Obviously Olic is not better than Torres, but i totally respect Olic as an athlete and his abilities to push the boundaries of the human body. He's outstanding. As a footballer he plays football like few others. He has his own type of game which he is very good at and which few other players can play. Sometimes when you watch Olic you can be taken aback by how far he drives his body. Initially you think he just works hard and then you realise he's going beyond just working hard. He's pushing his body to the limit and that's how i respect Olic.
As a footballer he's hit and miss. He only gets a dozen in league and few in cup. There is obviously other strikers out there who collect a fair number of goals. Olic doesn't have this goalscoring consistency. With Olic he's took Bayern to a Champions league final and also on course for German title. He's doing just fine. I would not make a statement saying he;s a top 10 striker in world, but i definitely would have him on list of one of the best 20 Croatian players in the last two decades. At CSKA he was sort of on a level with guys like Goran Vlaovic, Alen Peternac, Igor Cvitanovic – people who were nice players, but just short of the hightest tier of football. I think the spell with HSV and now Bayern has made him one of the better Croatian players.
Inter played the only way they could to win…and it worked. I hate watching bunker, but it worked.
I enjoy watching a team like Arsenal, but looked what took place when they played Barca and refused to play behind the ball. I congratulate Wegner for sticking to his guns and playing attractive soocer or trying to play attractive soocer, but at the end of the day where did that get Arsenal against Barca.
Top 20 maybe but definitely not Top 10, I love the guy but I can easily think of 10+ strikers that deserve the accolade more than him.
That said if he keeps this current form up and keeps on banging them in, no matter how unrefined the goals are, who knows…
I do believe that Olic is seriously underrated especially here in the UK when even if after scoring a hat-trick in a CL semi-final, the most they could begrudge him was that he was a great "little" finisher. Patronising c*nts.
@ Fisto,
Look at the poll question and the poll itself. If Ivica Olic a top striker in the world RIGHT NOW?
The answer has to be: ABSOLUTELY!
Who's been hotter in 2010? Messi, Robben, maybe Rooney…Believe it or not but Olic has 7 Champions LEague goals this season, and if he scores again in the final, he will tie Messi but do it in much less minutes.
We are skeptical as Croatians because we know Olic inside and out, but we have to give it to him. He has a fantastic supporting cast at Bayern, but he will this year as well with Croatia. Maybe he's a late bloomer.
But I pray him and Pranjic lift the Cup on the 22nd. Inter is going into the match with 15% ball possession against Barca. Pathetic that that's the only way they could progress. Bunker like male pičkice for 90 minutes. What's done is done.
Hopefully Olic can shut them up too one more time this season.
And take a look at the poll. there is no majority consensus.
work ethic****
@ Cig Bosanac
I'd rather play the harmonika than sing with my pinky in my ear.
@ the topic
Olic is not a top 10 striker in the world. In order to be considered in this class, you need to have the technical skills that stand out. The reason Olic is scoring goals like crazy especially in the Champs League this season is becuase #1 he's finally in the CL and #2 he's got a superior supporting cast. Shoot, if i had Ribery and Robben as my wingers, I think I might be able to pop a few goals in, not taking anything away from Olic.
I'll be honest, 3 years ago and beyond, along with many of you, I was super down on Olic and cringed when Bilic would put him in a game. However, in this case, hustling can prove to results on the pitch. Olic should be the example in which we teach future generations how to play football. With a proper ethic and effort, ANYTHING is possible. Even if you are a little technically challenged.
Welcome back to the boards CB.
Create a Blogger name so we really know it's you every time. And add yourself to the Followers list nder the CSR calender on the upper right side of the site. This goes for all of you.
dayum straight ziva
when i wake up in the morning, I say a prayer to god and thank him for making me a hrvat and for not making me a musliman or a srbin.
bosna mojaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
lipa gizdavaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
aaa aa aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
pusi kurac
hey tome go back to your islands and play hormonika
fucken coza
how come CiganskiBosanac hasnt commented in defence of Miralem Pjanjić and his team?
oops i meant underrated in my 1st sentence
Olic is somewhat overrated but he is not quite as good as say Petric skill wise. He is Hardworking and very intellegent on positioning and reading the goalie. He might not have the prettiest goals that petric scores but ALL that matters is he puts it in the net and does this often. So I believe he is in the top 20 strikers in the world easily. Though his skill might not exactly be categorized in this category, he scores enough goals to deserve such a rank.
Well, Ribery has received a 3 match ban from Europe due to his yellow card suspension…………http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1269495/Franck-Riberys-Champions-League-dream-dashed-UEFA-ban-Bayern-Munich-star-Bernabeu-final.html?ito=feeds-newsxml#ixzz0mOd9gZbw
great win for bayern. olic was fantastic.
if the CL finals were next week and bayern could keep riding this wave, i'd give them a good chance of beating inter or barca. i'm not so sure they can keep up the intensity in the german league through to the CL finals.
i wonder if pranjic will play at all in the finals. i think van gaal's preferred starting midfielders are robben, ribbery, schweinsteiger and van bommel.
Olic by far is NOT one of the Top 20 best strikers in the world. He is however the hardest working. The majority of his goals come from extra effort and being in the right place at the right time.
Most underrated? He might not be from here on out. But Olic is not your typical #9 striker. He must play off of someone else who has skill in taking on defenders straight 1v1.
But Robben and Olic have certainly got their timing right this CL season. If it's not Robben one night, it's Olic. Robben didn't even have to show up tonight against Lyon. He will also have a chip on his shoulder playing in the stadium of his former club, Real Madrid.
Who knows how this CL Cinderella season will end for Bayern? If it's against Inter they have a shot. If they play Barcelona, not a chance.
I have Barcelona winning 2-0 tomorrow. They will light up the Nou Camp with an early goal that breaks Inter's bunker D.
He is definitely underrated. His job is to score goals, and that's exactly what he's done for Bayern. I'm personally not too concerned with how they look or how lucky some may seem. Besides an undeserved penalty, there is no such thing as a lucky goal. If the ball is about to pass the line, then the defense should stop it. If they can't, then they deserve to concede a goal. So basically what I'm getting to is that Olic deserves a lot of credit for what he's done in the Champions League this season.
Is he one of the best strikers in the world now with this performance? At least most underrated maybe?