If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
As the Soccer Saturday panel prepare for another final day fling, where will the traditional end of season drama occur? With Manchester United having won the title in a canter and second and third places are resolved, all eyes will be on White Hart Lane and St. James' Park where the battle for the final Champions League spot will be won and lost.
The other night, the light-bulb came on when I watched Real Madrid and then Barcelona being dismantled by German teams on successive evenings. The excitement was partly about the football itself, but mainly at the way two powerhouses of European football were swept away with barely a whimper. It was the same with the Mongols. The great empires of China and Persia went up in a puff of smoke, demolished without throwing a punch in self-defence.
Like many, I've never been the biggest 'Fergie Fan'. However, on the pitch, his United teams have far surpassed anything we have ever seen. The man from Glasgow has taken Manchester United, and turned them into a dynasty. The like of which me won't see again.
While this may have heralded the rise of Bayern - although it's worth remembering they reached the final in 2010 and 2012, so it's not exactly as though they've suddenly came from nowhere to usurp Barca's throne - it was not necessarily the 'end' of Barcelona.
Last time we saw a Heineken viral they were putting their own spin on the video prank genre in a gloriously over the top attempt to find a new apprentice. They and budget busting agency Wieden + Kennedy have returned though with a much glossier effort for another round of Champion's League ad action.
Arsenal can only improve now. With rumoured targets in Stevan Jovetic, Ashley Williams and more, we are finally improving rather than replacing - something Wenger has sought to do for a long time now. This season is yet to be concluded, but boy, am I ready for next season.
Today, Chelsea sit fourth in the league and in all likelihood will cling onto that place or better for the remainder of the season. It's mathematically possible for them to be champions still but a gap of 19 points to United with 10 games to go would require miracles of Red Sea proportions to make that happen.
Recent events, on top of a long history of prominent stories figuring the controversy and fuss that attend one football club above all others, might lead us to ask a somewhat wider version of the same question. Why is it always Manchester United?
A lot is said about the much publicized circus, that Chelsea seems to have become. Negative press has become as regular as Ashley Cole's one night stands. This severe fall from grace would have been unthinkable back in May when Didier Drogba and the bus that was parked behind him won the most treasured prize in European Football, the Champions League.
The virtually unanimous praise of Villas-Boas from Spurs players and even Monday's mass celebration on the touchline show a team that's united, happy and fully behind their manager. Either that or the Spurs squad are more deserving than Daniel Day-Lewis of an Academy Award for good acting at hiding their dislike so well.
Arsenal's Champions League campaign, and, at the risk of sounding melodramatic, for all intents and purposes, their season, is all but over after they were comprehensively beaten by Bayern Munich on Tuesday night.
This was the match everyone was eager to see and it didn't disappoint. Enthralling in the first half thanks to Real Madrid's endeavour, intensity and quality with the ball, it became a more intriguing tactical battle after the break, and although Manchester United will be delighted with the result and an away goal, there were more than enough promising signs from the Spaniards to fill them with confidence ahead of the return leg.
I was hoping to begin this article with the words 'Forza Celtic', followed by a long piece about another fantastic European result. And for 70 minutes I held genuine hope of that being the case. Celtic - scintillating but trailing. 20 minutes later Juventus had all but finished of the tie.
United fans of any generation saw things you people wouldn't believe. The counter-attack versus Bolton, the free-kick against Portsmouth, the Exocet away at Porto, the destruction of Arsenal... Cristiano Ronaldo was the best since Best.
There's something reassuringly old-fashioned about Scott Parker as a footballer; the unflappable side-parting, the perma-grass-stained knees, the affection for bone-shuddering challenges.
Alex Ferguson routinely pours scorn over the idea of recruitment at this time of year, but he should know more than most that for every Jean-Alain Boumsong or Ricardo Rocha there's a Nemanja Vidić or a Patrice Evra out there waiting to be snaffled up.
