Hard not to enjoy misfortune of others

AS WEEKS go, that was close to perfection. I am, of course, writing this prior to last night’s match against Bolton so if we managed to balls it up please substitute all that follows with “flippin’ Ancelotti – I knew he would bottle it . . . team didn’t want it enough, etc, etc.”

Schadenfreude – pleasure derived from the misfortune of others. I have to confess that I have been guilty of same in recent days and can only hope that the football gods don’t decide to punish me for my lack of grace.

But really, can you blame me? I don’t know who to thank first – Lionel Messi perhaps? As an aside, I would like to point out that in the umpteen times we played Barcelona, we never got close to being so systematically out-classed as Arsenal were last week. Nor did Messi get the freedom of the park from Bosingwa and Ashley Cole that he was so generously allocated by Arsène Wenger in his quest for the pure spirit of football.