Hola Madrid !

Hola Madrid!!

When Real bought their Galaticos -2 this season for over 250 million dollars in Roanldo, Benzema, Kaka, Garay, Raul Albiol these were the same words they uttered after being paraded in the most pompous ways.

Sadly, this May 22^nd when the champions league final is held at the Bernabeu, Madrid it won’t witness any of these players playing nor their beloved club. It just reinforces that wise thought money can’t buy everything. Football is team sport and to win and play consistently you need team effort.

So how has the CL draw been, rather interesting? Well to start off I felt before the draw is being made that this season the champions league has been full of history, I mean United meeting AC Milan and the Beckham return to his boyhood club, the return of the self appointed special one Jose Mourinho to his old club – Chelsea and what a match that turned out to be, the blues well beaten in the end, Lyon ousting Madrid..

I was telling myself there’s got to be more and that’s exactly what we got – Man United visit Bayern Munich after their treble winning success in 99 when they beat Bayern in stoppage time and went home with all 3 cups, a mouth watering match between Arsenal and Barcelona, when Barca got the better out of Arsenal, highlight would be an emotional return of the gunners No.14 legend Henry who plied his trade to the summit at Arsenal. The other 2 matches being Inter travelling to CSKA Moscow and the all French Quarter finals between Lyon and Bordeaux.

Both United and Arsenal have tough draws, Barcelona and Bayern are tough opponents. But at this stage of the season if you got to be the best then one must beat the best. Arsenal and Barcelona will be a great spectacle the brand of football these teams play with Total Football ethos. The Germans are efficient teams and they play good compact style, United plays with possession and blistering counter, Inter is a reflection of their manager and that’s tactical, strong at the back and physical game, Lyon plays with a lot of energy with a fluid passing system and the surprise package this year has been CSKA Moscow and Bordeaux.

CSKA has been fuelled by their mercurial winger Milos Krasic who plays on either flanks and will be summers hottest property for all major clubs, the Russians are tough as nails and play with good movement and have terrific stopper in Igor Akinfeev. Bordeaux has done really well under former United player Laurent Blanc, the Girondins have toppled Lyon for the first time in 7 years when Lyon went unchallenged. Last season Blanc forged a winning team under the creative inspiration of Yoanne Gourcuff who is simply special. They play a very compact style, defensively good and yet strong going forward too.

Overall I feel it’s a great draw and next week we will witness which one of these teams will draw first blood and prove themselves.

I think we ought to celebrate the fact that the CL has teams like Bordeaux and CSKA who have made it this far in the knockout stage. Watching special players like Messi (Barcelona), Fabregas (Arsenal), Rooney (Man United), Ribery (Bayern Munich), Milito (Inter), Dzagoev (CSKA Moscow), Pjanic (Lyon) and Gourcuff (Bordeaux) will be a celebration indeed.

Darel Luiz

Title HUSH / PUSH

In a pro footballers season this time of the year is the most crucial in what may appear sluggish, hard and to reach the summit top, they need to put in performances week in week out. They would probably make their clubs push closer to another title, a champion’s league spot or even make the plane to the world cup in South Africa.

I have had quite a bit of excitement when I look at the premier league table and it’s such an open one. The turnaround has been Arsenal, what dark horses they have been all season. They have a relatively easy run in to remainder games at hand than Chelsea and Man United and with the resurgent form they are on I’d place a healthy bet for a top finish this season. What worries me is that they somehow manage to lose games when they would ideally have their noses upfront. That has been the problem for them for a while now isn’t it?

Crikey! Me what a thumping Milan got from Man United. Their chief tormentor in head boy Wayne Rooney has been phenomenal. Rooney has stood out this season, with 30 goals and counting he has lead the pack by stepping from the shadows of his former partner C. Ronaldo. Milan looks old, they have an ageing squad who couldn’t match up to United’s tempo and make no mistake I watched 2 legs which was dominated by the current English Champions.

Ronaldo on the other hand cut a despondent face with Real Madrid failing to win against Lyon at Santiago Bernabeu. The stadium where they play this year’s CL final. It is just plain disappointing to see that a club that has invested over 250 million dollars in the summer buying big name stars has not been able to qualify to the quarters. As a matter of fact Real has not qualified to the quarters in the past 6 years. What a shame!!

Nonetheless they stand atop in the Primera Liga at the expense of Barca who has lost a bit of fluency, due to their injuries. Yet they are title contenders and I wholly expect them to finish the race on top.  This weekend comes away specialists Valencia at Nou Camp. I think the title push will be brilliant this year around and I hope the matches to the run in will give us enough entertainment.

Fancy Beckham back in OT a well deserved reception by the United faithful, the team with whom he brought his career to glorious heights, a really shocking injury for young Aaron Ramsey, the boy was just too quick for Ryan Shawcross and I hope he gets back stronger. A struggling Pompey side who are battling every match to exit the league with a bang, the frustrated gaffer at Merseyside- Rafa knows Liverpool blew their best chance to make a top four finish with a loss at Wigan and many such more events that can decide if a team will stay put on course a title or a European spot or even history. Better or worse, make or break the HUSH / PUSH period is here.

Darel Luiz