What a week it’s been for football. Two great Champions League semi-finals and some outrageous goals that have been scored over both games. Ronaldo’s 40 yard free kick against Arsenal was just ridiculous. Since I overslept, I have had to hear stories from people on what went through their minds just before he struck it. I guess the consensus was that nobody expected him to shoot from there let alone score. Oh well, there is always going to be somebody who re-defines possibilities in this beautiful game. Kieron Gibbs, the young Arsenal left back was desperately unlucky slipping at the crucial moment to let the pride of Asia, Park Ji Sung score the opening goal; a deft chip over Manual Almunia. He’s a quality player that man, Park. Probably one of the most under-rated players around, always does the simple things right , works really hard and hardly puts a foot wrong. Ronaldo scored that crazy goal 2 minutes after and the game was over after 11 minutes. You have to feel sorry for Arsenal by then who put in a great fight (based on what I heard again) and tried to play football the right way. You can watch the highlights including THAT goal here.. Arsenal vs Manchester United
Chelsea vs Barcelona was a great game as well with the Blues putting a lot more pressure as opposed to the first leg, where they put 255 men behind the ball and attempted to thwart the Barca attacks. They would feel hard done by being knocked out by the away goal which was incidentally, Barcelona’s only shot on target. They also had to endure a poor performance from Norwegian referee, Tom Henning Ovrebo, who failed to award 4 dubious penaly claims and 2 pretty clear handballs. That being said, they would also have themselves to blame for not putting away several good opportunites, a couple which were pretty smart saves by Victor Valdes (wonder why Spain does not rate him at all). Michael Essien’s goal was an absolute cracker, brilliant left foot volley from outside the box. another reminder that he is one of the best midfielders in the world.
People can comment about Chelsea’s tactics all day long and that Barcelona play the better football. The fact is my friends, that defending IS part of football, tactical awareness is ALSO part of football and playing to your strengths is ALSO part of football. So please, before you start deriding the blues for their tactics and start trying to play the purist here by dissing them, consider that if Chelsea attempted to play Barcelona at their own game, they would be absolutely slaughtered. Nobody can keep the ball like Barcelona and nobody can play football like them. It is therefore necessary that Chelsea play to their strengths which include a) being physical, which means harassing and marking out their main men which include Xavi, Iniesta and Messi and b) attempting to play the counter-attack which would expose Barcelona’s defence due to the high positioning of their marauding full back Daniel Alves and their soft centre where Yaya Toure was being deployed as a makeshift defender.
I felt that Chelsea were successful on both fronts and worked awfully hard to combat Barca’s attacking prowess and should be applauded for the game that they played. That being said, the highlight has to go to the pandemonium and in particular, Didier Drogba’s rant on television after the game. What a great role model he is. All the children must be suitably impressed. This is a disgrace! =p
Cheers,
Dan
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