Scene One: A hotel room in Barcelona, 17 August, 01:45: A man lies in bed, his shadow cast against the closed curtains of the main window that overlooks a dreary car park – in situ, a coach bound for Madrid. The phone rings and the man picks up the receiver.
“Hello, this is The Special One. Who is this?”
It seems Mr. Jose Mourinho, the manager of Real Madrid, had a masterplan. This plan was to play for a draw in the Champions League semi-final 1st leg at home, and then score away to their opponents, Barcelona. It kinda worked, that’s the thing. It was telling that the 2nd leg finished 1-1. Real Madrid were, of course, outplayed, but they scored and away goal. They also ‘had a go,’ they tried to attack Barcelona but not in the gung-ho fashion that saw them battered 5-0 earlier in the season.
Oh dear. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. We weren’t supposed to see a bunch of highly-paid, diving, moaning, unscrupulous footballers trying their hardest to disgrace themselves in any way possible in the name of victory. Is victory worth your soul? Apparently it is.
The Champions League semi-final between Real Madrid and Barcelona was supposed to the creme de la creme of football; the ultimate in theory, thought, passion, technicality, expertise and glory. We didn’t see that. We saw something else. We saw a gross adherence to one’s own vulgar sense of self – a self that doesn’t care about the millions of people watching the world’s favourite game; a self whose dishonesty is considered just as key a skill as accurate passing.
Manchester United have all but made their passage to the 2011 Champions League final a certainty with a 2-0 victory over Schalke 04 in the semi-final 1st leg in Gelsenkirchen.
Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney scored United’s goals in the second-half of a game that could very well be the most one-sided semi-final tie held in the cup’s recent history.
As the 2010/11 season starts to draw to a close in most leagues across Europe, we are left questioning whether or not seasons following a World Cup are as riddled with the kind of football we would wish, or does a summer tournament shatter even the most gifted of stars? If you take a look at La Liga’s finest, it’s plain to see that the sparkling Barcelona are completely exhausted with most of their players having been present in Africa last year. Of course, many would point to Pep Guardiola’s obviously thin squad as a prime cause for the club’s over-use of the same players week in, week out, but the point still stands: Does international football prove detrimental to our domestic games and if so, should something be done about it?
Tottenham Hotspur and Wales Winger Gareth Bale has admitted that he would have ‘no qualms’ about moving abroad if the lure of a Real Madrid or Barcelona came about. Wales have not qualified for a World Cup finals since the days of legendary Leeds and Juventus forward John Charles – when he led his nation to the quarter finals of the 1958 tournament, only to lose to a single goal against Brazil. Bale is Wales’ greatest talent since the emergence of Ryan Giggs nearly two decades ago and has been unplayable at times this season.
Sepp Blatter’s time in charge as FIFA president could come to end, that is if vice president Mohamed bin Hammam is successful in his bid to become the new president, after Sepp Blatter’s thirteen years in charge of football. Hammam believes that football has come to a ‘virtual standstill’ and will run against the Swiss national on June 1st for the presidency. FIFA have been dogged with allegations of corruption, backhanders and vote rigging in recent years – with many fans citing Sepp Blatter as a major problem in world football today.
So to the ‘winding down’ phase of the league. Well, winding down is perhaps the wrong term, ‘winding up’ is possibly more appropriate as tempers flare, pressure rises and the winners and losers contemplate next year’s financial and league statuses.
Legendary French captain and World Cup winner Zinedine Zidane, was accused earlier in the year of ‘selling his soul’ following the former player’s involvement in Qatar’s successful World Cup bid (which reportedly earned him £1.9million). Zidane has since sued over the remarks, which he believes is ‘harmful to his honour’. Where do you sit on the issue?
Forgive the brevity of this weekend’s review. This writer has been out of action for the last few weeks and it’s a case of having to get back into the swing of things.
