Football Tactics and Opinion
The Camp Nou. The Gamper Trophy. The 25th of August 2010. A night of flowing narratives. Ronaldinho returns to Barcelona with Milan in what was a sense of what used to be. Zlatan Ibrahimovich plays against his future club, Milan — a sense of what would be.
But hidden on that night was a sense of what might have been.
That was the night Pep Guardiola almost signed Andrea Pirlo. As explained in Continue reading “Xabi Alonso: Pep Guardiola’s important ideological signing for Bayern Munich”
Whenever Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta retreat to their personal homes, they probably look in amazement at their personal trophy hauls and medal collections. There, right before their eyes lay gold medals for every competitive football competition in which they have ever participated in for Barcelona and Spain at senior level.
Apart, of course, for the FIFA Confederations Cup.
It is that trophy which in these period of dominance, Xavi and Iniesta personally, and Spain collectively, has not acquired. Their only possible outing four years ago in South Africa ended with the surprisingly less Continue reading “The questions of Spain’s dominance”
[A Champions League semi-final preview of Borussia Dortmund vs Real Madrid. For Bayern vs Barcelona, click here]
When Santiago Bernabeu became President of Real Madrid, this was exactly what he envisioned. As Madrid went on to win the first five European Cups from 1956 to 1960, it was done with a galaxy of stars who invoked fear as they went about conquering Europe.
As such, it defined what a club from Madrid would eventually come to be associated with. So, nothing at the moment is bigger at Real Madrid than the fact that finally, the 10 year wait for a European Cup seems likely to be over.
It is so big it papers over the cracks of the civil war that has existedContinue reading “Battle royal as Dortmund battle Real”
Great spectacles are defined by compilations of individual isolated moments.
That was the case as Manchester United welcomed Real Madrid for the second leg of a Round of 16 Champions League tie. Ultimately, a night of stars will be remembered for the various moments of bright lights and sporadic darkness.
As is the norm, the game had started long before the game had started. Not lost on anyone was the fact that the first leg had ended 1-1 at the Bernabeu, Danny Welbeckâs opener handing the Red Devils a valuable away goal. Also,Continue reading “Manchester United see red in the Champions League”
Futball Triangle 