So I eat my hat. Barca are not through to the Champions League final in Munich this morning as I had predicted days ago they might be, and sitting here writing this in Sitges, I share in the collective Catalan hang-over.
My heart and soul tells me that Chelsea did not deserve to win. That a team that played for much of the game just defending their own goal line against a much more skilled and talented team that simply was unlucky on the night will make the final a more boring occasion than would otherwise have been the case.
But in the cold light of today one has to accept that there was something heroic in Chelsea´s resistance, showing a kind of spirit that was lacking in some of Barca´s key players, not least Messi and Alves. And that the Chelsea goals when they came showed quality.
For Barca fans it was another night of frustration,after losing to Chelsea in the first leg and Real Madrid atthe weekend, watching missed opportunities by a team whose overall star status was badly let down by its evident lack of effective fire power. And yet the chant in Catalan of Óla, Ole, to be a Barca fan is the best thing on the world´ that went rund the Camp Nou after the end of the final whistle, suggests that cules still believe in their team´s greateness, and quite rightly so.
Chelsea may be briefly dancing on the grave of beautiful football, but it will resurrect soon enough this summer when La Roja play in the European championships.
Football is of course more that just about technique and style. Its also about stategy , tactics, and spirit, and all three simply were not there in sufficient quantities in the Barca team last night.
Today is Johan Cruyff´s 65th birthday. He made Barca great by combining all the elements necessary to produce a beautiful football that could win. Pep Guardiola has learnt a lot from his mentor and helped develop Barca into the great team we have seen in recent years. But there was no dream team last night, just a rather tired group of hugely talented players unable to resolve the nightmare of losing to a lesser but more deserving opponent.
Just want to say that Jimmy had the courage to call “Captain Terry” after the game and congratulate his team. Thanks, that took some cojones!
I still think you are desperatly missing the point about beautiful football and it being buried by Chelsea parking the bus.
I think 2 criteria are basic to football, and not exactly compatible:
– It mirrors life
– It is entertainment
If you accept these 2 basic principles, then last night’s game was an Epic Poem.
Life is not about control (Pep’s boys reached hit 80% last night – and Xavi made more passes than the whole Blue team put together!). Life is not about doing the same thing, playing the same tune (Plan A), over & over again – it gets boring and stale. Life is an ebb and flow. There you have a bully (Barça) forcing a less skilled opponent, to do the only thing possible, put a wall up and prevent any approximation to the goal. For Barça to go the next step, they are going to have to let teams come to them, and then attack them with space & width.
Yesterday is a cathartic moment in football when the King was shown to have no clothes.
And entertainment? Well if you read the 1.000’s of commentaries on internet from fans both in Spain & England, then you will discover this was entertainment to the maximum. Fans who once hated Chelsea, say they are in total admiration of the Blue team and thought yesterdays game as one of the best ever. Not because Chelsea parked the bus, but because Chelsea put up a heroic effort, against all the odds, to reach Munich – and at a great cost, as all their defence will be missing in the Final!
And drop the unlucky bit too. Barça last night had the opposition Captain shoot himself so played against 10 men, had the other centre half pull a muscle so Chelsea had to bring their 34 year old forward to defend the wing, they were 2-0 up, and had a penalty… Come on, our luck was the woodwork, twice, but little more.
So Chelsea to win the Cup? Prefer you didn’t predict as you get it wrong these days. As for Barça, well it all depends if Pep stays..and if he learns from the Chelsea game.
On a final note, we know that pain of defeat all too well, when it should have been you through to the final or raise the Cup (Liverpool, Manchester, Barcelona…). As in life, now accept the pain, it will go, and we hope to see you in next season’s Champions!!
After last night’s display from Real Madrid, it seems very obvious that the top 2 Spanish teams are tired and short of ideas and spirit.
The season has been long, the fight for La Liga & Champions has taken its toll. It was very signficiant that while the Merengues & Cules fought to the death last Saturday, both Chelsea & Bayern played reserve teams in their respective leagues.
So I disagree with you (again!) and reckon the European Championship will see a burnt out Roja and there will be no resurrection….