Europeans defeated

In 1930 many European countries looked down on the initiative to hold a World Cup in Uruguay, and many European nations decided simply not to participate; some because of the costs of sailing halfway around the globe, but many more because they considered it beneath them to participate in a tournament where their superiority would be questioned by so-called “inferior sides”.

There is an echo of this today as some arrogant Europeans are complaining of the sporting value of the Club World. While it is true that players in European teams have crowded calendars, they are all highly paid professionals, winning more than overworked doctors, nurses, teachers… who in fact contribute much more value to society than the little rich boys, who are increasingly difficult to feel sorry for (and none of whom we hear complaining about other things than the referees when they lose). 

Although I still believe that the tournament will be won by a European side, two fantastic results yesterday underlined that the quality of football is global, and does not just belong to European clubs: firstly, Brazilian Fluminense defeated CL finalists Inter Milan 2-0 in a good match where both teams had their chances, but Fluminense were simply better when it counted, and won on goals by the Argentine striker German Cano and the strongly named Hercules. 

On the day’s second match it was “not-so-mighty-any-longer” Manchester City to be defeated by the Saudi Arabian side Al Hilal in a thrilling match, where Bernardo Silva, with good help from his hand, brought the English side ahead early on, leading everyone to believe in a walkover. 

But by early in the second half Al Hilal were ahead 1-2 with two goals by Brazilians Marcos Leonardo and Malcom, before Erling Haaland equalised to 2-2 in a match that then had to go into extra time. 

Are Manchester City too tired after a long season where they reached only the FA Cup final? Or were they simply unable to match the Saudi side as the Senegalese veteran Kalidou Koulibaly brought them ahead? In fact, Phil Foden equalised but it was the young Brazilian Marcos Leonardo who with a strike in the 112th minute brough the final victory to Al Hilal. 

Note that Marcos Leonardo is only 22 years old, played one season in Benfica, and could still return to Europe sometime! 

All this said, it is refreshing to see European arrogance vanquished, and in my view the tournament has already showed its great value and potential for the future. Whoever wins it will go over in history, just like Uruguay in 1930.

PSG Champions

The Champions League title has eluded Paris St. Germain for a long time, but now that it finally came it certainly came with style. 5-0 is the greatest difference in a European final ever, and it was not too little as the Parisians were far superior to the disappointing Milanese.

Perhaps it was as expected that Inter came out with a defensive attitude, but this was clearly not working as a highly motivated Parisian side tore apart a shaky defense after 12 minutes with the Moroccan Achraf Hakimi scoring the opening goal after 12 minutes against his former club, and the young Desire Doue scoring a second for PSG after 20 minutes. Inter really had no response, and in the second half one would have expected them to move forward but a far more intelligent PSG side again went a ahead 3-0 on a brilliant counter-attack where Doue scored his second at the greatest stage.

After this is was really over. PSG were clearly enjoying the match while Inter clearly just wanted the match to end. Kvisha Kvaratshkelia made it 4-0 and Senny Mayulu made it 5-0.

Despite it all it is worth congratulating Inter's players who took the heavy defeat with dignity, while for PSG it was particularly fantastic to see Luis Enrique lift the trophy. 

It is in place to congratulate PSG fans, although at the same time it is a shame that the celebrations in the French capital turned violent, when all most fans really want to celebrate is the great victory of a great football team.

City's legendary Champions

 Manchester City managed to do what they have been trying to for years: win the Champions League. It was was not elegant, and they played a nervous and poor match despite being full favourites against Inter Milan, who with more precision could or should have scored. In the end Rodri's precise strike in one of the few good moments created by City gave them the victory.

A pity for the Italians, but seen overall, City are the best team in the world right now, particularly proven by their performances against Bayern Munich and Real Madrid earlier in the tournament. Guardiola was given time to forge a strong side of complete players, even though results were absent in the first years, and that is a lot of credit to the club's owners, who now see their team sweep aside all opposition, and become the first team to win the treble since Manchester United in 1999.

So truly a historical victory for a team that will go into history, and congratulations to its fans.

The owners of the Europa League

Sevilla did it again: they have won their sixth Europa League title since 2006 and is surely the most dominant team in this tournament. But also consider the fact that they have won six European titles since 2006!
It was a fantastic first half with a 2-2 score in an intense match, where both sides had been in the lead: Luuk de Jong had scored two headers for Sevilla, while Lukaku had scored on penalty and Godin on a header. Despite the parity, I had the feeling that Sevilla had an edge against an Inter Milan side that seemed more nervous on the night. The second half was more controlled, with Sevilla getting the lead late in the match and cruising to the title with experience and a certain degree of cynical time wasting.
Whom I feel really sorry for in Romelu Lukaku: he misdirected the ball into his own net following Diego Carlos' wide bicycle kick, and thus, in my view, scored the goal that gave defeat to his own side (Diego Carlos has nevertheless been credited with the goal). An unlucky finish to Lukaku's great season.

I watched the match under lockdown at home. I would have loved to have someone to debate with during the match, which was very eventful. The problem of discussing with the TV is that despite the fact that I am always right (I would anyway), is that they do not seem to listen to me!

Juventus champions!

With a 1-0 victory over Palermo Juventus won their second Italian Serie A title in a row. In spite of Napoli defeating Inter Milan 3-1, the runner-ups cannot catch up with Juventus.
Great for Juventus, who are cementing their place back at the top of the Italian league after their disgraceful season in the lower Serie B league following the "Calciopoli" match fixing scandal.
Napoli will follow them into the Champions League, while AC Milan, Fiorentina, Roma, Udinese and Lazio seem to be fighting for the three CL qualification spots.

Schalke 04 rules!

I think that Schalke 04 were probably considered the little guys in this season's Champions League, and not many would have put money on the German side as they were to face Inter Milan in the quarterfinals. But today any lack of respect for this German side that it is virtually impossible to sympathize with should be totally absent.

Schalke 04 destroyed the defending champions of Inter 2-5 in Milan and should have one foot in the semifinals of the Champions League!

Shame on Inter, who played a horrible match; such lack of concentration can only be blamed on underestimating their opponents, and their desperate outbursts are very uncharming.

If you fall, fall like a champion, and not like pretty arrogant boys!

When Real Madrid's Raul changed to Schalke 04, many people criticized him for not changing to a "big" team in one of the better leagues. The German league is outstanding, probably one of the most talented in Europe, and when Raul changed, he knew he was changing into a team where he would be more than a well-paid veteran substitute.

Raul, the great footballer he is, knew and wanted to be playing Champions League football, and this has now taken him very close to the semifinal of the Champions League, something he had not achieved since 2002 with Real Madrid!

But besides Raul, there are many reasons to be delighted about Schalke 04's triumph! A great club and great fans not the least!

More quarterfinalists

It seems that all Italian teams are on the way out of the Champions League: today it was AC Milan. After losing 0-1 at home to Tottenham, the Italians were unable to score in London, and 0-0 was enough for the English to progress to the quarterfinals for the first time ever. Last Italian team left is Inter, who lost 0-1 at home to Bayern Munich, so they will surely have a difficult time keeping up Italy's place in the Champions League.

Schalke 04 defeated Valencia 3-1 to make it to the quarterfinals. On a personal note, this is of course disappointing, but I knew it would be hard after 1-1 in Valencia, and knowing the fact that Valencia has always had it difficult with German sides. That said, Schalke 04 are surely a strong team that will give any team a good fight!
It was to be no different, but I am happy that Valencia this season, after selling out previous' season's stars, did it far better in the CL than I was expecting, and that they seem to be heading back there next season.
Amunt Valencia!

Benitez out

Although Inter Milan just last week won the World Club Championship, it is perhaps not surprising that it was today when coach Rafael Benitez was fired after only six months. Benitez has been very critical of the Inter leadership, and as results have not been forthcoming (they are only 7th in Serie A and came second to Tottenham in their CL Group A), the firing of Benitez is perhaps not so surprising, in spite of the short time and many injuries on the Milan side.

Benitez is a great coach (A CL title, a UEFA Cup Title, a Spanish Championship) but he apparently has a controversial personality that has often led him to part ways, as in Valencia, Liverpool and now Inter. It will be interesting to see where he will be heading next.

More interesting will be to see who now takes over in Inter. The Brazilian Leonardo, with a history in AC Milan seems to be first choice. Whoever it ends up being, he will have a difficult task!

The Golden Boot

I must add my voice to the choir of critics of the chosen finalists for the 2010 Golden Boot: three Barcelona players, Andrés Iniesta, Xavi and Lionel Messi are the contenders for this year's title as the world's best player.
Barcelona are indeed a powerful team that plays the most entertaining football in the world, and these three players are indeed the spinal chord of the team. Add to this that Iniesta and Xavi are also the most important players of the world champions of Spain (with Iniesta playing a splendid World Cup, and scoring the winning goal in the final against the Netherlands), and it is obvious that these two players are obvious candidates for the title.
Lionel Messi is splendid to watch, and has had a great fall season with Barcelona. But he was almost pathetic in the World Cup in an Argentinean side that started well but disappointed enormously when it counted. So the inclusion of Messi is odd, considering the one player that should have been among the finalists: Wesley Snejder. The Dutch player was splendid for Inter and in 2010 won the Italian championship, the cup, as well as the Champions League (defeating Barcelona on the way). At the World Cup Snejder was also splendid; the best player on a Dutch side that made it all the way to the World Cup final.
Perhaps it is because Inter and the Netherlands have not played such entertaining football as Barcelona, and Snejder is not such a Playstation-player as Messi, but it just shows the entire strangeness of having a title as "world best player" in a sport that is about a team, and less so about an individual player.
I don't know whether Snejder is "better" than Messi, but I think he surely deserves to be among the finalists.

Gold, grace and farewells

Inter Milan won their first European title since 1965, and their first Champions League title after a fully deserved 2-0 victory against Bayern Munich at Madrid's Santiago Barnabeu Stadium.Personally, I watched the match in a farm in eastern Venezuela, not wanting to miss what was one of the matches of the year, but expectedly disappointing...
Expectedly disappointing, because Jose Mourinho's Inter played as brilliantly boring with a controlled defensive and amazing attackign power, where the Argentinean Diego Milito shined above all others with his two goals.
Inter have won everything, and are undoubtfully the best team in the world, in spite of the fact that their way of playing is not so entertaining as that of FC Barcelona: Inter closed off from Bayern's superior possession, and when they didn't, Julio Cesar was there with spectacular saves (any more doubt about Brazilian goalkeepers....?).
Besides Milito and Inter's defense, Bayern Munich played a great match where they might have deserved better. But the true victors were the Bayern Munich team and fans: they immediately recognised they had lost to a better team, and I think that seldomly has a team and fans taken a defeat with such grace.
A great team loses with grace, and Bayern Munich is, in that sense, the greatest club in the world.

The most talked about thing about the final was José Mourinho who is, - according to numerous rumours- , apparently to be staying in Madrid, as coach of Real Madrid. His attitude at the match seemed to confirm the rumours, as he amid the celebrations of the victory seemed to be sayign goodbye, although this is all hard to tell because of Mourinho's showmanship.
However, he is undoubtfully the best and most charismatic coach in the world, and if he goes to the Spanish giants, it will surely bound to be interesting.

That said, the night belongs to Inter and to all great Inter and Bayern Munich fans, who all deserved to win!

Just like life

One of the best but also frustrating things about football is that it is just like life: it is fun, but can be sad, happy, unfair, annoying; sometimes the ones that play most beautiful win, but other times, cynicism, cunningness, intelligence or mere spirit win a match.
FC Barcelona have been an example of beauty and skill over the past seasons, but tonight they got eliminated by a better Inter team that did not play as entertaining, but who nevertheless won through discipline and fight. FC Barcelona completely dominated the match, in particular after Thiago Motta's early red card; they were in complete possession, but were given so little space that their open chances were almost non-existant. In spite of the late goal by Piquet, it was always doubtful that the Catalonians, in spite of their possession and dominance, could score a second against such a powerful wall that had been built up in Inter's defence.
The match ended 1-0 for Barcelona, but it wasn't enough to upset the well-deserved 3-1 victory to Inter from the first match.

Although the season is not over yet, the title as best team of the world is looking to be passing from FC Barcelona to Inter Milan this season: the Italians now have a good chance of winning a triple (Italian Cup, Italian triple and the Champions League), while FC Barcelona only has the meagre Spanish league title to fight for (meagre as the Spanish league is basically a two-team league, with the rest being second-class European sides) - one they may yet lose!
Many people will perhaps not be happy about this passing of the title from a team that has thrilled by its offensiveness, to a team whose strength lies in discipline and fight.
But hey, that is life!

Congratulations to all Inter fans, and may I count myself as a small one!

Super Inter

FC Barcelona has been tamed: the seemingly invincible Catalonians will be facing their biggest challenge ever when they face Inter Milan in Barcelona next week, after losing 3-1 in Milan tonight. Although the Italian's second and third goal were very controversial (an apaprent foul against Messi and a clear offside of Diego Milito), it could not take away the fact that Inter were much better than FC Barcelona, and that they have perhaps found the formula to defeat them: pressure all over the pitch, particularly on Xavi (they effectively stopped the "brain" behind the team) and on the defenders, without giving Lionel Messi any space. Their fighting spirit was formidable, and in particular Inter's captain Javier Zanetti was spectacular, outshining any of the Barcelona stars. He simply seemed to be everywhere on the pitch.
Although anything can happen in football, scoring twice against Inter seems almost impossible. But if anyone can do it, it should be FC Barcelona. Next week's match will be extraordinary. I will still put my money on Inter to be one of the finalists.

Roma overtakes Inter

Only a couple of months ago it seemed given that the Italian championship would end up in Milan: Inter was top of the table with AC Milan following suit. Nobody seemed to be looking at AS Roma under coach Claudio Ranieri. But then results started to flaunder for the Milanese, and a couple of weeks ago, AS Roma seriously entered the fight for title when they defeated Inter at home. With this weekend's results AS Roma has gone to the top: AC Milan only tied in Catania, and so did Inter, 2-2 against Fiorentina. This meant that AS Roma, with a 2-1 win over Atalanta, now takes the top spot with 18 points, one more than Inter, and now has all the opportunities to take the title with five games left.
Who would have thought...?

The Milano derby

One of the greatest derby's of world football took place yesterday in Milano, namely that between Inter Milan and AC Milan. This one had been looked forward to as Inter's lead in the Serie A had seemed to be threatened by an AC Milan side that lately has started playing outstanding, in particular Ronaldinho who seems to have flourished like in his younger days. However, today was all about Inter Milan, who truly showed who the best team is; in the first minutes they overran AC Milan, and the Argentinean Diego Milito brought Inter ahead. Even though Wesley Sneijder was shown a very strange red card, Inter continued to dominate and the Macedonian player Goran Pandev brought Inter ahead 2-0 on a beautiful free kick.
In the last minutes of the match AC Milan was given a penalty as Lucio was thrown out for Inter Milan. However, in front of his countryman Julio Cesar, Ronaldinho missed the penalty.
The title seems on its way to Inter who with this victory cements their leadership of the Serie with 9 points ahead of AC Milan on second place.

New and old coaches

Football rumours of coaches are plenty these days, but apparently some things are clear: Sven Göran Eriksson is out of Manchester City and will apparently turn to coach the Mexican national team. Surely pressure will be less than when he coached England!
And finally José Mourinho will be returning to the football world: the arrogant Portuguese is probably the best coach in the world, and an already strong Inter Milan side will be even more frightening with him as coach.

Champions League 2007-2008: My top five favourites

The fixtures for the Champions League last-16 to take place in February/March next year has resulted in the following matches to look forward to:

• Arsenal-AC Milan
• Schalke 04- FC Porto
• AS Roma-Real Madrid
• Celtic-Barcelona
• Olympiakos-Chelsea
• Liverpool-Inter
• Lyon-Manchester United
• Fenerbahce-Sevilla

Liverpool-Inter, Arsenal-AC Milan and Lyon-Manchester United are some of the matches to look forward to a lot.
Although anything can happen in these knock-out phases, but I must at this point make a list of my top-five favourites to win the tournament:

5. Barcelona: Has not been looking that strong in the Spanish league, which seems out of their grasp. But in the CL they have been invinsible, and may put all its resources in for succes.
4. Real Madrid: The merengues seem to be reborn under Coach Schuster, and should be considered a serious contender for the title.
3. Inter: The Italians are not known for entertaining matches, and have disappointed before in the CL. But this may be their year; they are looking strong both in the CL and in the Italian League, and may have one of the broadest selection of star-players.
2. AC Milan: They are again very strong and are looking to defend their title.
1. Manchester United: With a new young and strong team, Manchester United has already been unstoppable in the first round, and I am increasingly feeling that they may be the team to beat to win the tournament!

Let us see! I can't wait!

Valencia brawl

What a huge fight Valencia and Inter had in their CL match. It is a disgrace. Although I support Valencia, this support is limited to the qualities of the players on the pitch. And Inter... well, they are not much better.
David Navarro is truly a coward, and I hope he is no longer seen on the team.
There is a reason football just ain't the same any more. And it ain't just because of fan violence, but seems the players are as bad at least - they should know better and be more responsible.

Valencia

I am almost too depressed after Valencia's incredible defeat at home, 1-5 to Inter, last wednesday... I hardly feel like watching football any more. There is emptiness all around me with this disappointment.
Well, at least it was not a final, and Valencia has the chance to recuperate, by winning the next games in the champions league, as well as defeating Real Madrid tonight on Santiago Barnabeu.
After wednesday, I doubt very much that this will happen. But I must keep hoping.