Speaking of neutrality, clearly the commentators weren’t. One of them said
“I hope United win and do us Proud”
His respect levels went down a couple of notches before he earned it all back and more with the quote of the day
“There should be no controversies with the referee. He’s Swiss and therefore certainly neutral”
In the recent years Barcelona and Manchester United have been two of my least favorite football teams in Club Football. United – because of reasons already elucidated in an earlier post and Barcelona – because they were responsible for me having a miserable May 2006. Though I was pretty close to being neutral last night, deep inside in that warm place I guess I always wanted Barcelona to pip United.
Let’s for the duration of this post neglect the fact that I am a die hard Arsenal fanatic. (Failing to neglect this one crucial detail would explain the above mentioned sentiments in the aforementioned warm place). I’d have absolutely no qualms in admitting Manchester United and Barcelona have inarguably been the top two clubs in Europe this season. Manchester United has been amazingly resilient and has efficiently gotten the job done every single time. They had their rough patches like everybody else (notable example being the game against the scousers), but they got up, dusted themselves off and went on with it. Barcelona on the other hand was an unstoppable force. The front three of Henry, Eto’o and Messi is certainly the most fearsome strike partnership in the world today (Stat: The three of them have scored 99 goals between them this season in all competitions). Add to the pot Xavi and Iniesta who were ably backed up by Yaya Toure and you had a winner all the way. Madrid briefly gave them something to think about, but the issue of the Premiera Liga was settled emphatically at the Bernebeu.
The road to Rome for these two clubs, particularly the last bend could not be more contrasting. United demolished Arsenal over two legs, while Barcelona progressed under very controversial circumstances. It is my opinion (purely from a neutral football lover’s perspective) however that Chelsea did not deserve a place in the final. True, they probably got a couple of dodgy penalty calls, but the unexciting “choke ‘em till they die” style of football that they played didn’t make them in my eyes, worthy of calling themselves ‘Barca Slayers’. And of course there is the simple logic that if you aren’t even second best in your own league, how could you be amongst the top two in Europe? This logic stands for the Arsenal Football Club as well let me reiterate.
So the last thing I wanted was to waste a good night’s sleep by watching United go the Chelsea way (something they did do in the recent past) and kill a potentially exciting game. Kudos to them though. They were at Barcelona from the very outset. Ronaldo, in the first 9 minutes justified his Ballon D’Or before an Eto’o strike utterly and strangely deflated United. I hear the Chelsea fans say “That is precisely why we played the way we played”. Utter Bunk. To have a solid defense you don’t need 10 men behind the ball. That is the way relegation threatened clubs play. What United lacked the most last night was that tiny sliver of luck that is compulsory in any sport. I’m certain if United had scored in that opening salvo we’d have seen a different set of players lift that trophy. Football is so much a confidence thing and unfortunately United lost composure as Xavi and Iniesta gained theirs. Otherwise how can you explain players of Ronaldo’s and Rooney’s caliber not being to take advantage of Sylvinho – a player who looks ready to retire any time now and Puyol – who was clearly playing in an uncomfortable position. Messi however looks ready and willing to take Ronaldo’s tag of ‘World’s best player’. Sadly Ronaldo, for all his talent has a streak of petulance and lacks grace. Something which he demonstrated by picking up that Yellow for that blatant foul on Puyol. Messi is classy – with a football at his feet or without it.
So the question is Are Barcelona now undisputedly the best side in Europe? Last night they were. However if these two teams met ten times over the course of say, June I’d think they’d plateau out at 5-5. Split right down the middle.
Last night incidentally was memorable for another reason. Carlton Palmer was actually funny a couple of times!!! Instance:
Cunt of a Host on Ten Sports: “So what did you think about the grand opening ceremony and the ladies with shields, Carlton”
Carlton Palmer: “Get them off. They’re ruining the pitch”
Oh and things must be really bad if they need to hire David Dunn to be one of the experts on the panel. Sheesh.
Irrespective of whom you support, Barcelona were the better side last night. The moment United went a goal down, they were chasing the match. And, after the initial twenty minutes, when they took the game to Barcelona, they seemed to be second-best as Barca toyed with them.
However, despite going down 2-0, I’m glad we went down looking positive, trying to play positive football, rather than spoiling what is the most memorable night in the footballing calender.
And maddy, i disagree with the 5-5 split. As a neutral observer, I’d go with Barca 6-4 or 7-3. You must remember that last night, Barcelona missed Abidal and Alves, and Iniesta and Henry were barely match fit (or so Barca made us believe!)
Well…this match just proves what a terrific job Chelsea did on Barca. Anti-football my left arse !!! Better than dumb football and getting kicked up the arse. You cannot fight fire with fire without getting your hands burnt. You cannot outplay Barca with attacking football…they are the masters at it. You need tactics…which is why Chelsea succeeded..which is why united succeeded last year…Liverpool succeeded the year before..and which is why arsenal will never succeed. And Maddy…relegation threatened teams might put 10 men behind the ball…but they dont dominate and outplay Barca the way Chelsea did.
Now, coming to Barcelona. True they are the masters of beautiful football, and I congratulate Pep for turning around this squad in 1 season and winning the treble. Many teams aspire to play like Barca do, but ofcourse none can execute it quite like them. To compare, lets look at arsenal. They are like the pretty pub dancer, with all the fantastic moves and gyrations of the hips and pole dancing. Everyone watches them for entertainment, but know that they are gonna end up getting laid by the fat drunkards at night and forgotten the next day. Barcelona on the other side, are like the gorgeous stage performer…the ones that win dance shows and beauty pageants. The ones everyone wants to have but can only look on in TV in admiration. The ones that go to film stars and rock stars.
A case of poor mans Barcelona then it is for arsenal, aint it Maddy ?? 🙂
Poor man’s Barca your left arse!
See da, Barcelona are just fortunate (or blessed?) that they have super-talented group that has graduated their academy. Messi, Iniesta, Krkic and the more senior Valdes, Xavi, Puyol, etc. They have a formula for producing footballers, and it has clicked perfectly this year (and credit to them for it). Just because others use a similar formula and it is not showing the same results, that does not mean they are failures.
For instance, United have a culture of grooming youngsters in their academy too. Just because they spent two years (2001, 02, i think) playing second fiddle to arsenal, that does not make them failures.
Using arguments similar to the above, Chelsea are a wannabe galacticos? I would disagree…
nice analogy keyur.dancing girls. lolz.
Tell the truth Kedar…you are a closet arsenal fan arent you??? I have never in my life seen a so-called united supporter defend arsenal so vehemently.
Scenario 2 could be that there is no Kedar…its just Maddy using an alias so that we read his comments without laughing first. This might also explain why they are the only ones who consider each other to be sensible posters. Hmmm…I wonder..
Ladies and Gentlemen, Keyur Holmes.
Maybe, I am Maddy… Or, maybe I am the ‘imposter’ keyur.. Maybe, I am Keyur ‘The Wise One’ Joshi himslef! Maybe, I don’t exist, and am some freak random noise that lands up creating posts on this forum..
Are you more irked by what I write, or that I appreciate Arsenal’s philosophy of not resorting to shit football even if it means four trophy-less seasons?
‘Supporters’ like you are an unprincipled lot, the ‘shit-on-a-stick’ kind. I guess you’ve grown up on the principle that you will support anything that Chelsea does, and anything that someone else does is wrong. There are some of us who actually like the game. And irrespective of whom we support, if there is some club we admire for their style of football, principles, etc., we have no qualms about defending baseless accusations and taunts against them.
When United lost to Real, Ronaldo was given a standing ovation by the Old Trafford faithful. When Ronaldinho ran riot at the Bernabeau, the Real supporters clapped as Ronaldinho made his way to the bench.
But again, how would the playground bullies know what appreciation is all about?
First it was Maddy talking about morals and principles, now its you. Hmm…gets curiouser and curiouser…
Well… You never know 🙂
Keyur, I am not so eloquent da. I surely would’ve lost patience half way and said Fuck You Keyur! So it cannot be me man.
well, barca were clearly the better side yesterday.. full credit to them… they deserved to win on THAT DAY.. i agree with Maddy that United were out of luck on more than a couple of occassions… it just wasnt their day…
i would also give a 5-5 scorline to United-Barca out of 10 matches…
and yeah, at United, WE believe in settling scores… watch out for the COMEBACK.
ok this comment was put in the other post by mistake. here it is where it belongs. not that it matters
Honestly speaking, the only positive I expected from my very neutral point of view was Evra shutting up for some time. clearly I was wrong.
@ Sample :
Don’t put comments when stoned, da.. All this wrong post-commenting will happen!
You talk da Sample. Don’t bother about my alter ego and all 😛
And Evra is going to get severely beaten up next time he sets foot in London. He thinks he can take Cesc on huh? The tiny twat.
hahaha…alter ego n all it seems.
and kedar enough of the ocd man….i stay sober at home. like to you know..no get kicked out by parents n stuff like tht.
and yes….evra is gonna get beaten up when he steps into london. i am pretty sure none of the man utd fans would like eboue commenting about their players. 😛