The Master and the Pretender

Yes, this is turning into a football blog, but if so, so be it! The past 2 weeks have been incredible to watch football-wise, and while boring everyone with depressing details of my academic achievements during the study holidays is an option, I think I'm making the right decision here.

On Tuesday night, Barcelona completed the job they should've done at the Emirates. They only played about 60% as good as they had in the 1st leg, and went behind to an astonishing early goal courtesy Nicklas Bendtner : but a little genius who leads the European scoring charts raised his hand up to be counted. If there was ever any debate over who is the world's best player : the bullish and bang-in-form Rooney, arrogant prince 'CR9', or the magician who enthralls the Nou Camp week-in, week-out, then that debate has been settled once and for all! Messi demolished Arsenal in a first half delay that had the commentators gasping for breath and scanning their thesaurus for plaudits that had not already been showered upon him. The first goal was a bullet, powerful, precise, squeezed between 2 defenders' legs in a split second into the top corner before Almunia could move. The second goal was the result of a trademark Barca breakaway, and credit goes to the youngster Pedro for a delightful pass that put Messi through barely 2 metres from goal. The third was a touch of class, a delightful chip passing inches over a desperately advancing Almunia. The fourth goal in the second half merely the cherry on top! Barcelona outpassed Arsenal, and proved why the level at which they perform, Arsene Wenger can only hope his young team will do in 7 years' time. It showed how Barca were not only more adept at passing and retaining the ball than Arsenal, but were also more clinical in front of goal, and more composed in their reaction to going down! To their credit, Arsenal didn't let their shoulders drop and kept soldiering on, but having less of the ball, and less penetration due to the absence of Fabregas, Song, Van Persie and with Rosicky putting in a shoddy performance, Arsenal had little hope of rescuing anything from the match! At the weekend, Real Madrid host Barcelona at the Santiago Bernebeu, with last season's outcome being a 6-2 demolition by the visitors. Madrid may be top of the league, but any layman could tell you they don't play nearly as well as this Barcelona team do, even on their off days!

Wednesday night saw United being dumped out of the Champions' League by a remarkably patient, cunning Bayern Munich side. Though they won 3-2, Robben's wonder strike which produced the 2nd goal levelled the tie on aggregate and sent Bayern through on away goals. It was a first half that United dominated : putting to bed fears that they'd be suffering a hangover from their miserable 1st leg loss at the Allianz Arena and the despair of dropping 3 points at home to Chelsea! United produced a sparkling display, and Nani in particular, was brilliant, producing two magical pieces of skill that we would expect from the likes of CR9 and Messi. 3-0 up and cruising, young Rafael retaliated to a challenge by the all-at-sea left back Badstuber, needlessly earning a yellow card! Olic sneaked in a goal just before half time, proving to be a thorn in United's side once again, thanks to poor defensive work by Carrick. Rafael proved his naivety at this level by pulling back Ribery when he was already on a yellow card. The 2nd yellow was inevitable, and United found themselves a man down, and needing to keep Bayern out to progress. A well worked corner shattered those dreams. Ribery picked out Robben straight from the corner, who volleyed, almost Zidane-like (2002 Champions' League Final) with power and precision straight into the bottom corner. No goalkeeper in the world would've stopped that Howitzer!

Ferguson blamed the 'typical German' mentality of the Bayern players pressuring the referee to send Rafael off. But across all these quarterfinal ties, what anyone would've noticed is that even purists such as Barcelona aren't averse to rolling around on the floor and feigning injury to win free kicks and convince the referee to brandish cards. Chelsea were undone similarly by Inter, Barcelona outclassed as well as out-foxed Arsenal, while United shot themselves in the foot to be honest! United were the poorer team in Germany, failing to keep possession against a Bayern team with only Ribery for inspiration, and despite dominating the first half at Old Trafford, let Bayern back in it in the 2nd half! Someone should explain to Sir Alex that losing 3 out of 4 halves in a 2-leg tie, doesn't make you the better team over the two legs ! The very fact that he'd blame luck and the opposition rather than analysing his team's own frailties should be worrying! As for Bayern, their 'star' Ribery, to me, is THE most overrated player in European football! Comparing himself to Zidane, having a price tag of 50 million pounds labelled against his name : what exactly has he achieved to deserve that? Of what I've seen of him he's self-centred, lazy to hustle the opposition to regain the ball, reluctant to track back, often attempts too much when he does get the ball( reminiscent of the Cristiano Ronaldo of old) and generally has no effect on the team when the team itself plays poorly. When United went down to 10 men, he suddenly appeared from the shadows and began to play, just as Bayern began to keep the ball better! Until then you wouldn't have known that he was the hottest talent produced by France after Zidane! Ultimately, it's big occasions where the big players step up...I have not seen Ribery do that, and for that matter, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, barring his 2 goals vs Arsenal, comes on that list as well! The World Cup might give him the platform to do just that however, with an uninspiring French side led by a national hate figure of a manager, but until then, his greatness will remain in his mind, and he will always be the pretender to the throne upon which Messi is seated today!

I cannot see Bayern winning the Champions' League Trophy. They're patient, and they wait for their opportunities, but against Barcelona or Inter they won't get many. United have lost themselves an assured 3rd consecutive final appearance!