A Special preview of what Madrid may have in store
Nope, this was the week when Irish sports’ governing bodies swapped the blazers for the kit, rolling up their sleeves and getting down and dirty in the face of a trenchant opposition.
And so we had the FAI v Limerick FC, the dreaded meeja and the court of popular opinion, the IRFU v The Minister and the GAA v players, managers and bewildered spectators.
All might appear intractable in their own way, although it strikes me that there is an obvious solution to Handpassgate – the GAA should simply invite Thierry Henry to give a series of workshops throughout the country during the summer.
It’s not as if our favourite Frenchman is likely to be detained overly long in South Africa next month though, like Paul McShane, we of course wish his team nothing but the best at the World Cup finals.
All the signs are that he’ll then be following David Beckham to the US, a sporting climate which should prove congenial since that nation’s own peculiar brand of football is massively dependent on the use of the hands.
Meantime, we can say with total sincerity that we will actually miss Henry in Madrid tonight.
True, he might only have played a bit-part, if he’d played at all, but Henry being absent means Barcelona are absent, and that’s an outcome about which few in football – with the obvious special exceptions – can be totally happy.
Put it another way, wouldn’t you be feeling more than a little exhilarated at the prospect of tuning in to see Lionel Messi in the Bernabeu tonight?
Instead, we have Inter Milan versus Bayern Munich, no dullards either of them, but as a Champions League final a prospect that’s more rather intriguing than thrilling.
Which is not to say that Jose Mourinho’s men didn’t deserve their semi-final triumph over the Catalans.
That tie was won with the three goals they scored in the San Siro yet they might still have snatched defeat from the jaws of victory but for a masterclass of disciplined defending in the Nou Camp.
From previous experience of his achievements at Porto and Chelsea, we all know about Mourinho’s superlative man-management and ability to create a raging team spirit but, in the Nou Camp, his tactical boldness – if not the style with which his men resolutely followed orders – took the breath away.
With his side down to ten, he more or less instructed his team to let Barcelona have the ball, on the basis that he didn’t want his players pulled out of position and in the belief that the resulting solid banks of four and five would thwart the best efforts of even an opposition as sinuously creative as the Catalans to pass their way through Inter’s impenetrable defences.
And it worked, brilliantly.
But while you could admire the strategy, it was hard to feel affection for it. Pep Guardiola might not have helped his own team’s cause by playing Messi through the middle rather than out wide but, in what essentially became a competitive version of one of those attack versus defence training games, it was Inter’s fortitude which rendered Barça toothless until it was too late.
Perhaps not since Italy knocked Brazil out of the ‘82 World Cup had one team’s thoroughly deserved victory left you feeling like all the air had gone out of the party balloon.
At least, Inter will be back on the front foot tonight though, for the good of the game, you suspect that Bayern taking the lead would make it a rather more attractive spectacle for neutrals.
And although the loss of Franck Ribery is a blow that only reinforces Inter’s billing as favourites, the likes of Arjen Robben, Bastian Schweinsteiger, Ivica Olic and even the relentlessly attacking full back Philipp Lahm are all capable of finding a route to goal for Munich.
But standing in their way will be Inter’s formidable back four while, further forward the scheming of Wesley Sneijder and the strike force of Samuel Eto’o and Diego Milito should make it an uncomfortable night for the Germans.
So the smart money is on Inter to win and Mourinho to clinch the treble before, presumably, he moves on to fry even bigger fish elsewhere. Not that he’ll have to move at all from tonight’s venue if the speculation linking him to Real Madrid is confirmed. That alone would be enough to make the galacticos serious contenders next time while Barça’s signing of David Villa from Valencia and their pursuit of Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas points to a determination on their part to reclaim the European title they won in such fine style 12 months ago in Rome.
Manchester United were the runners-up that night, just as they were on the domestic front this year. And while Chelsea are entitled to celebrate their double, they won’t need tonight to remind them that they suffered the same fate as their nearest rivals in Europe this year, both falling before the semi-finals.
So it’s Germany and Italy in the spotlight tonight but, even before a ball is kicked in Madrid, it looks like Spain is already getting the edge on England in the race to claim European football’s most glittering prize next time around.
Contact: liammackey@hotmail.com
