Nike does it again. I like the part with Federer!
PS : Got it wrong again yesterday with Inter – Bayern…
Maracanazos can smell the World Cup approaching.
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Mourinho was Van Gaal’s assistant at Barcelona a few years back. Now both can become the 3rd coach (after Hitzfeld and Happel) to win the Champions League with 2 different teams. Mourinho already won it with FC Porto and Van Gaal with Ajax Amsterdam.
Odds seem to be in favour with Inter who has already eliminated Chelsea and Barça on their route to the final. Mourinho is like a world class chess player; he always seeems to be a play ahead and has the ability of dissecting his opponent’s tactics.Mourinho seemingly wants to play a 4-4-2 tonight to complicate Robben’s life on the pitch.
Bayern have had a more rocky trip so far barely getting through the 1st round and playing a complicated quarter final against Man United. However, they have incredible resilience and Van Gaal is a master in bringing out the offensive potential of his teams.
I am and vote for Bayern. I have been in the stadium of 2 of their Champions League Cups (Bruxelles 1974 and Paris 1975). In 1974, they scored and tied during the last 30 seconds of the overtime against Atletico Madrid and won the 2nd match (at the time there were no penalty shootouts for finals, why don’t we go back to that system which is so much fairer M. Blatter!!). I predict a 2-1 win with goals by Olic and Robben.
This will be the first Champions League final between the 2 teams. Inter have won it twice and Bayern four times.
Maracanazos like to take sides.
Despite being a fan of arch-rival Paris Saint-Germain, hats down to the Olympique Marseille (“OM”) who after 18 long years has finally won the French Premier League again known locally as the “D1″ for division 1. 60,000 fans gathered in the famous “Vieux Port” of Marseille to celebrate their champions. This can only happen in Marseille where “l’oème” is the cement of the rich and the poor, the immigrants and the locals, the left and the right. It reminds me of clubs like Boca Juniors or Atletico Madrid.
World champion coach Didier Deschamps was key in building a very balanced and physical team, perhaps with not so much talent, but finishing very strongly after a hesitant start. Deschamps was also flexible enough to change his central defense after the mid-season, a move which proved to be decisive. Then there was also the excellent second half of Lucho Gonzalez who finished with the highest number of decisive passes. The question for all the white and blue fans now is what future in the next Champions League? Deschamps can sell some players and will benefit from the Champions League pot of money to buy some players at probably much more competitive prices than just 1 to 2 years ago. The key for Marseille is probably to find a great goal scorer.
Maracanazos are generous enough to celebrate arch-rivals.
The recent parody of a game between Lazio and Inter has caused a major outrage in Italy. The behaviour of most Lazio players was scandalous (with the notable exception of the Uruguayan goalkeeper Muslera) in that they didn’t behave professionally and gave Inter an easy win. This will probably mean that Lazio’s archrival AS Roma will not win this year’s scudetto. Prior to the game, Lazio fans had voiced their opinion on forums stating that they would prefer to have their team relegated to the 2nd division (Lazio are not yet sure to stay in the Italian Premier League) rather than seeing AS Roma win the title. I don’t have a problem with that. When you are a die hard fan, part of the passion is as much being against your favourite ennemy as it is in supporting your own team. That is why derbies are so intrinsic to football history. On top of that, there are well know ties between the Inter and Lazio fans which probably didn’t help the context of the game. I’m also quite sure AS Roma fans would have acted just the same had they been in the same position as the Lazio ones.
Where I do have a problem though is that the Lazio staff and players can’t decently behave as they did. We are talking about a professional team being paid heaps of euros to do their job as well as possible. I don’t care if Lazio’s President got death threats, a team just can’t stop playing because some fans have decided to dictate what they should be doing on the pitch. Don’t they have more pride in their club’s values?
This is even more damaging since after a couple of years of decline (decreasing crowds, increasing violence, corruption), this was the first time attendance was increasing again in most Italian clubs in a relatively Ultra free context. The last 2 championship days promise to be very tense in all the games involving Inter and Lazio and I don’t want to imagine the potential problems in the upcoming Italy Cup final between Inter and….AS Roma on Wednesday (this is the 5th time this happens in the last 6 finals). Lazio staff and players should meditate about the climate their behaviour have brought about.
Maracanazos think players should have the balls to act professionally.
The verdict has fallen following the 2 Champions League semi finals; it’s Bayern Munich against Inter Milan.
Bayern won logically against Lyon. The truth always tells and Lyon just didn’t have the required level to even think about making it to the final. Their 2 games against Bayern were appaling and I have rarely seen such weakness at this stage of the competition. Bayern on the other hand did their game and with Van Gaal at the helm they stand a real chance to win their 5th Champions League.
Much more interesting was the other semi final between Barça and Inter. Many football specialists know that to beat Barça you need to eliminate the passing game between Xavi and Messi (at least when Iniesta is not there which was the case). The question therefore is why nobody applies this tactic? I think this has to do with getting players to really believe in this and that’s where Mourinho is a master. I think his players have such confidence in his strategic capabilities that they will follow him blindly to the grave! Just look at how Eto’o and Milito defended in tonight’s return game. I have rarely seen a team play defensively with such beauty as Inter did tonight. When Motta was sent off after 30 minutes, 99% of coaches would have played it safe and immediately taken away at least one offensive player. Mourinho didn’t and he was right. By leaving Milito and Eto’o for a big part of the game he introduced doubt in the minds of the blaugrana.
I was very dissapointed by Guardiola’s tactics in tonight’s match. Why didn’t he make Thierry Henry play at least the last 30 minutes? That was when the experience Titi brings could have been useful. Guardiola still has to gain more experience and he was clearly outplayed by Mourinho during the semi finals. It’s a paradox that Mourinho wants to leave the Italian league since his playing style seems so naturally suited for Italian football.
Maracanazos respect great coaches.
Heard these days about the some of the major premier league championships in Europe; if you can’t win the championship, it isn’t so bad since you can also qualify for the European Champions League by finishing second, third or even fourth. Well what do you think about that?!
That’s the reality of major league football these days. Obtaining the national title is still important of course but isn’t vital anymore. A few years back, only champions could participate in the then called European Champion Clubs’ Cup. Now with the European Champions League, priority is given to playing more games, protecting the most prestigious teams and making as much money as possible along the way. The consequence is that it undermines the prestige of winning national titles, at least in the German, French, Italian, English and Spanish leagues where more than one club can participate in the UEFA’s European Champions League. I would propose to rename the competition to something like the European Old Boys’ Cup!
UEFA and Platini should step hard here. I would go as far as to advise underdoing competitive events to football. It’s by creating relevant scarcity that you actually increase the quality of an event and not by proposing more.
Maracanazos argue for less, not more.
The clasico of clasicos is in just over 1 hour from now. This clasico is even more important since both teams are tied at the first place of the Liga. Real Madrid are ahead because of a better goal difference but in case there is a tie tonight, Barça will lead because in the Spanish Liga it is the specific goal difference between the 2 teams that matters and Barça has won the first game 1-0.
So why do I want Barça to win:
- They simply have a style that I prefer. Great passing, players always in movement, willingness to play towards the goal and not laterally.
- Messi, Messi, Messi! The best player in the world without question. Just love his capacity to make a difference.
- The patience in building a team and not spending hundreds of millions of euros to mend a patchwork like Real.
- The aim of forming young players in-house and giving them their chance.
- Thierry Henri plays for Barça and he is a personal favourite (hope he plays tonight).
Maracanazos like to take sides.
The quarter finals of the European Champions League have just delivered their semi finalists:
Bordeaux 1 – Lyon 0: Lyon go through with their home win 3 – 1
Manchester United 3 – Bayern Munich 2: Bayern go through with their home win 2 – 1 (away goals count double)
Barcelona 4 – Arsenal 1: Barça go through (away tie 2 – 2)
CSKA Moscow 0 – Inter Milan 1: Inter go through (home win 1 – 0)
The semi-finals will see Bayern play against Lyon and Inter vs Barcelona.
What are the main conclusions I take away from these quarter finals:
- In the star quarter final between Barça and Arsenal, 2 teams that play similar types of games, Barça went logically through as they do everything better than Arsenal and they have a Martian on their team, well you know who!
- Lyon had more Champions League experience than Bordeaux and they have one of thes best goalkeepers in the world right now, Lloris.
- Inter have the “Special One” and he can outplay any team.
- Man United underestimated Bayern, you should never do that, even more so with German teams.
Barça are my favourites to win it again this year but of the 3 other teams Inter is probably the one that will give them the hardest time due to the strategical and tactical intelligence of the “Special One”. However, with Messi being in the form he is, I see Barça winning that semi-final. Bayern – Lyon can go both ways but I like Lyon’s “grinta” and it would be great for a French team to get to the final after the 2004 edition between Monaco and Porto.
Maracanazos like to make forecasts.
Great football clubs, those that last through both good and bad times, have memorable tag lines. A great tag line defines what the club is about in a few words. It conveys the spirit of the history, the staff, the players, the fans, the stadium of these clubs. It’s like a good concept, if you can’t say it in a few words then it just isn’t a good one. Here are some:
- Liverpool: “You’ll never walk alone”
- Barça: “More than a club”
- Marseille: “Straight to goal”
- Boca Juniors: “A club each day bigger”
- Milan AC: “The most titled club in the world”
- Penarol Montevideo: “You will forever be eternal and blossom each spring”
I really like Liverpool’s “You’ll never walk alone”, it says it all!
Do you have a favourite club tag line?
Maracanazos like short to the point phrases.
With the 271st derby (I added 9 since this Gazzetta article) between Milan AC and Inter Milan coming up next Sunday, I thought I would give you my recipe for what makes incredible derbies (I also include classics here which differ in that derbies concern 2 clubs in the same city or at least in the same region):
- Start by adding at least 70 years or more of statistics to show for
- Stir with the football passion that only some cities can bring
- Spice up with political differences
- Cook with the memories of some legendary matches and stars
- Serve hot with the inimitable parfum that makes these derbies and classics passionately debated from one generation to the next
The top 6 derby matches/classics in my opinion are:
- Boca Juniors – River Plate (I’m for Boca)
- Milan – Inter (I root for Milan)
- Barça – Real Madrid (go Barça)
- Rangers – Celtic (neutral here)
- Flamengo – Fluminense (Fla!)
- Penarol Montevideo – Nacional Montevideo (dale Penarol!!!!)
The Observer even listed attending the Boca – River superclasico as number 1 of the 50 sport events you must do before dying!
Let’s see for example if Boca-River follows my recipe:
- Start by adding at least 70 years or more of statistics to show for : sure does, the first game was in 1931…
- Stir with the football passion that only some cities worldwide can bring : Buenos Aires is the city with the highest concentration of professional teams and stadiums over 40,000…
- Spice up with political differences : Boca is the blue-collar team and River the white one…
- Cook with the memories of some legendary matches and stars : When Maradona was only 15 he said he would never play for River, he scored 5 goals in 7 Boca -River games and he played his last game against them…
- Serve hot with the inimitable parfum that makes these derbies and classics told from one generation to the next: More than words, just look at the video of this Boca – River clasico in Boca’s famous Bombonera!
Maracanazos go crazy for derbies!