El clásico… de la humillación

 Miscellaneous  No Responses »
May 022009
 

El clásico, the Real Madrid – Barcelona derby turned out to be a total humiliation for Real Madrid today, as the hosts were blanked out 6 – 2 by a rampaging Barcelona side that moved ever closer to regaining the Primera Liga. To be honest, I think I’ve used the word rampaging incorrectly, because it didn’t seem like the Blaugranas needed to produce an inspired performance to beat Real, who were poor through and through. So while one must not deny Barca the plaudits, one should also not hold back criticism of a spineless Real side, whose obvious shortcomings were exposed by their Catalan rivals, just as Liverpool had a few weeks ago. Real Madrid conceded six goals, their worst defensive performance at home in the history of the derby, but they could well have conceded 16 – yes, they were that bad.

The result puts Barcelona seven points ahead of Real. With just four games left in the Liga, Barca have well and truly wrapped up the league. Given the substantial goal advantage they possess (+72 for Barca against +38 for Real), a win and two draws will guarantee glory for Guardiola’s men. And so they will turn their attention to Wednesday night’s Champions League semifinal second leg at Stamford Bridge.

While I like Barcelona better than Chelsea (who I don’t like), I would consider the home side favorites to progress. Chelsea, having worked their socks off to bring home a creditable 0-0 draw away at the Nou Camp, will offer more of the same but will be a bit more adventurous and try to exploit Barcelona’s defensive fragility – an aspect of their game that Guardiola must work on. Barcelona are without their overrated first choice central defensive pairing (Puyol and Marquez), and Drogba might relish taking on young Pique.

I thought Chelsea would rest many of their big names and field a less potent line-up today. But I was surprised by Hiddink’s decision to play Chelsea’s first team against Fulham. Barca could not have afforded the same luxury as defeat would have meant that Real would be breathing down their necks.

Talking of resting players, Arsenal sent out a virtual B-team against Pompey, and still ran out 3-1 winners. To be fair, United rested Cristiano Ronaldo, Edwin van der Sar and their entire starting midfield from midweek, but that is about as much tinkering that Sir Alex Ferguson could afford.

I predict that the 2009 Champions League final would be a repeat of 2008′s, with Chelsea challenging United in Rome for the crown. Chelsea to win at home against Barcelona, and United to pick up an away win at the Emirates.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 5:38 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,

How Barcelona were beaten

 Football  No Responses »
Apr 292009
 

Manchester United beat Arsenal 1-0 at home tonight in the first leg of their Champions League semifinal courtesy of a strike from John O’Shea (who would have guessed!). But this isn’t about this year’s Champions League semifinals. It is about an event of event greater signifiance that happened 365 days ago. It was the night when a team of superstars — Messi, Eto’o, Deco, Iniesta, Xavi, Henry, Rijkaard* — were left reeling as if they knew not what hit them. Well, here is what hit them.

A year ago, this same day, slightly before 8 PM in Manchester, Paul Scholes unleashed a trademark powerful drive from his right foot from about 25 yards out towards the East Stand goal at Old Trafford. This fantabulous strike past a despairing Victor Valdes and into the top right corner was that one moment of magic that the champions of England needed to propel them one step closer to (eventual) European glory – a place in the final at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow.

I have watched the video of this goal many hundred times, and each time, Paul Scholes climbs a notch higher in my estimation. The commentary was very good, and probably as a consequence of having watched this so many times, I’ve almost internalized it. Here are those “golden” words, describing that once-in-a-lifetime moment:

“Carrick… Ferdinand… first touch a little heavy… it will run though to Cristiano Ronaldo, and he will run at Barcelona… steps past Toure, but not past Zambrotta (and here, as Zambrotta’s half-clearance is being closed in upon by a galloping Paul Scholes, you can hear Old Trafford buzz increasingly in anticipation as Scholes readies to connect)… given straight to Paul SchOLESSSSSSSSSS! (here, the crowd crescendoes) WHAT ABOUT THAT! W-H-A-T ABOUT THAT! Fourteen minutes gone… breakthrough for Manchester United… an U-N-S-T-O-P-P-A-B-L-E shot from P-A-U-L Scholes!”

Here is the video. A great night. A great player.

* It is a measure of how desperate Rijkaard and Barcelona were to win / score that night that all three of Barcelona’s substitutions were strikers — Thierry Henry, Eidur Gudjohnsen and Bojan Krkic.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 9:09 pm  Tagged with: , , ,

Primera Liga

 Football  3 Responses »
Feb 092009
 

A rough measure one can use to compare clubs playing in the same league is to see how many points separate two clubs. If the points difference between two clubs that have played the same number of games is six points or more, one can claim that the two clubs are involved in different mini-leagues. So even though the team that is ranked seventh is only one place ahead of the one in eighth, the latter might not catch the former for quite some time if they are two wins behind.

One can easily notice two mini-leagues in any league table, oftentimes three. The top three or four clubs race away from the pack; there won’t be much that separates the next six or eight teams, and the rest are fighting to avoid relegation.

This season’s Premier League is remarkable in that when divided broadly, the first six teams, as against the usual Big Four, can be taken as one mini-league. Of course, Man United, potentially on 59 points, are almost 20 points ahead of Everton at sixth. Clearly though, United are battling in a two-team league involving themselves and Liverpool, but there isn’t much daylight between Liverpool and Aston Villa, and Villa and Chelsea. The bottom 14 teams are only separated by 12 points, which makes the dogfight to avoid the drop even more interesting. A couple of wins for West Brom, combined with favorable results, can propel them into the zone of assumed safety.

The Primera Liga though is fascinating in a peculiar way. If one used the metric defined above, one will find three mini-leagues, but then they are: Barcelona (with 59 points) in a league of one, second-placed Real Madrid (with 48 points) in a league of one, and the other 18 teams playing in their own league. Stats don’t lie. Barca’s goal difference of 52 (68F; 16A) is just short of that of the next 5 teams put together, or three times Real’s.

In a way the gulf in class between the teams competing in a league is an indicator of how entertaining it is. Apologists for the Liga do not have much to offer other than the sublime skills of Leo Messi or the occasional great save that Casillas pulls off. While the  best of the Premier League compares about the same with the best of the Liga, beyond the top two, the Liga cannot be claimed as engaging when the top two are not playing, and not as competitive even when they are playing one of the bottom-half sides. The same however cannot be said of the Premier League. Which closes shut the argument about the best football league in the world.

(The apologists don’t stop there. They claim that Everton cannot match Sevilla or Valencia in Europe, so the Liga is better. Wake up. You are lumping the top four teams in England together, and your answer for that is only the top two teams in Spain. And given Real’s dismal European exits over the past so many seasons, Spain’s adventures in Europe are limited to those of one club from Catalonia.)

However, one cannot fault Barcelona for the incompetence of the rest. Not even a fool can gainsay that a club that averages three goals every game is ordinary. A couple of years ago, when Roger Federer was the master of all he surveyed, the familiar argument was to decide if he was indeed the greatest tennis player ever. Inconclusive as such arguments always turn out to be, they also generated an important takeaway, namely other comparable greats — Pete Sampras, for example —  had to overcome much more formidable opponents.

And so it is, the truth of whether Barcelona are indeed the best team in Europe will only be known when they clash with the Premier League’s heavyweights in the Champions League. Whatever the result of those titanic tussles might be, Barca’s prowess alone does not make the Primera Liga the best. The more competitive English Premier League remains the greatest show on earth.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 12:01 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

2008-09 Champions League draws

 Football  2 Responses »
Dec 192008
 

Though already a UEFA Cup winner, Jose Mourinho came to be taken seriously across Europe after his FC Porto side knocked Manchester United out of the 2003-04 Champions League. We know the rest of the story. Porto won the Champions League, Mourinho went to Chelsea, won two consecutive league titles and had a solid record against the Red Devils. The man now renews his rivalry against the current European champions as Inter Milan have been drawn against United in this year’s Champions League Round 2. Heart says United.

The fireworks do not end there.

Liverpool have drawn Real Madrid. Given Pool’s formidable record in the Champions League under Rafael Benitez, and Real’s dismal performances in the same period, I would put my money on the English team. Can Ramos work juanders?

There are two other Anglo-Italian clashes. Arsenal v/s Roma; and Chelsea v/s Juventus. It seems like a million years since AS Roma drew a team other than United. In any case, I don’t see them progressing past the Gunners. The Chelsea-Juve tie should be a fascinating contest. The team from Turin have been absent from Europe’s top club competition for some years, while Chelsea have made it to (or past) the semis in 3 of the past 4 seasons. Tough one, but I think Chelsea might prevail.

Barcelona take on Lyon. Barca under Guardiola are seem the best team in Europe at the moment, so they should make light work of the French champions. I expect Villareal, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid to reach the quarterfinals, edging out Panathinaikos, Sporting and Porto in their respective ties.

What are your picks? Who do you think will progress?

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 3:57 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

IPL, EPL, UCL

 Cricket, Football  No Responses »
Apr 292008
 

The Super Kings beat the Deccan Chargers to extend their run to 4 games! Rock on, Chennai!

Lefties & T20

Selva has an interesting observation about whether left-handed batsmen have an advantage in Twenty20 cricket. One possible explanation, if this hypothesis were found true, is that most bowlers are naturally suited to bowl to right handers. In longer versions of the game, bowlers have more time to settle down into a rhythm as well as size up the pitch with respect to line and length; so the advantage that left handers have can be negated. T20 offers no such cushion; plus batsmen are looking to attack from the first delivery. Maybe, this is why lefties do better.

The English Premier League

A few weeks ago, someone from India posted a comment on the Teamtalk forums, and referred to the English Premier League as EPL. A Briton took exception to this and sought to correct the Indian thus, “Don’t refer to it as the EPL! It is simply the Premier League, and that’s how we would like it to be.”When I read it, I did not find it patronizing. But back then, there was no Indian Premier League. Now we do have something to boast about. If the IPL does sustains itself and become a huge popular and monetary success, maybe we could fight back such condescending, and if I may add, imperialist attitudes.

United v/s Barcelona

Later today, Manchester United take on Barcelona in a must-win Champions League semi-final second leg. News is that Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic could miss out. Games like this are a test of character – the line that divides the great from the legendary. Cristiano Ronaldo is already spoken of as an Old Trafford legend, but tonight he should step up to the plate. Another year, and we might not know if form and circumstances would be similar or kinder. This is the night. Arise, thou champion! C’mon, ye Reds!

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 8:35 am  Tagged with: , , ,

United draw Roma again

 Football  No Responses »
Mar 142008
 

Last week, I had ended a post looking forward to the Champions League draws by predicting that United could draw Roma again in the quarterfinals of the Champions League this year. And that this would settle all doubts about whether the draws are doctored. Surely now, this confirms everything.

The pick of the draw though is the Arsenal-Liverpool tie. That should be enthralling! The Gunners, who have done so well this season in the Premier League with their young squad, knocked holders AC Milan out of the competition in the previous round. Liverpool’s all-but-dead season relies on winning the Champions League. I am torn between picking which of these would come good – Benitez’s tactical nous, or Wenger’s philosophy of flowing football. The return leg is at Anfield; so if I had to pick a winner, I would say Liverpool. (Come to think of it, had the Milanese teams knocked out their English opponents, this tie would have been the Milan derby.)

Chelsea, I had written, might get an easy tie. Fenerbahce, good luck to them, is as easy as it gets. So there is the mouthwatering prospect of an all-English semifinal tie. It could be a Liverpool-Chelsea semifinal, which is now almost a routine annual affair. Or a London derby involving the Gunners.

Barcelona have drawn Schalke, and should be pleased. If the ties turn out as I think, we could have a situation similar to last year, with Barcelona replacing Milan in the semis. I’m already looking forward to the Barca-United clash!

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 10:47 am  Tagged with: , , , , , ,

Champions League 2007-08

 Football  1 Response »
Mar 052008
 

For the second successive year, English teams are meeting with increased success in the UEFA Champions League. United, Arsenal and Chelsea are through already to the quarterfinals, and Liverpool look set to join them in a week’s time.

While English football, in general, is moving from one crisis to another (the national side’s poor form, a growing dearth of quality footballing talent, foreign ownership of clubs, an increasing percentage of foreign players), English clubs, and the Big Four in particular, seem to be doing rather well. The past three Champions League finals have featured an English club – Liverpool in 2005 and 2007, and Arsenal in 2006. Except for 2006, every Champions League quarterfinal fixture list has featured at least two English clubs; three clubs reached the semifinals last year.

Assuming Liverpool go through, the other clubs in the running are Barcelona, Schalke, Fenerbahce and Roma, who knocked out a Real Madrid team that I had expected would go farther. With due respect to all the clubs mentioned above, I think only Barcelona are in the same league as the Big Four. So if none of the English clubs were drawn against each other, we can expect a second season in which three English clubs make it to the last four.

Having seen how the ties have come out in the past, I have my own doubts if they are not doctored. Chelsea faced Barcelona in three successive seasons, and Liverpool in the semis twice in three years. My guess is Arsenal would draw Barca, as the Gunners have some grudge left over since the two met in the final two years ago. And United would draw Liverpool, so the Battle of the Reds would spill over to Europe. That gives Chelsea a relatively easy tie, and would also ensure that at least two English teams make it to the semis.

Of course, anything can happen. A dream tie would be to pit Manchester United against Barcelona. Or Liverpool against Barcelona, another grudge tie from the past. Or Roma against Man U once more in the quarters, that would prove beyond all doubt that the draw is definitely doctored.

 Posted by Vijay Narayanan at 10:38 pm  Tagged with: , , , , , , ,
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