For months now, the World Cup has been the elephant in the room.
But not for Gareth Bale. He\’s not going.
This is his first season and Lisbon gives him an early chance to write his name in football history
The Bale goal that won the Copa Del Rey came from an awesome counter-attack in which the powerhouse winger was compared to an Olympic Champion : Usain Bale!
Now the Welshman is playing in his first Champions League Final and it\’s Real Madrid\’s biggest game for 12 years.
We know that Lisbon has a lot of football history.
But Real Madrid v Atletico Madrid in the Estadio Da Luz is really special history, something that might never happen again in this young century.
The 2014 Champions League Final is the whites against the red & whites, aristocrats versus working men.
It\’s Carlo and Diego, two rugged midfielders, Ancelotti of Milan and Italy against Simeone of Atletico and Argentina.
Real Madrid should beat Atletico tomorrow because they have big players.
Ancelotti is a superb 54-year old coach who has proved he can manage superstars, blend them, integrate them, motivate them, win trophies with them
But Saturday brings lot of pressure to deliver the long-awaited decima.
Ancelotti says: Yes, they love me at Real Madrid. But if I lose this final, they\’ll all want to kill me.
Last Saturday\’s big battle was Barcelona v Atletico in the Nou Camp and that was always going to be a tight, compelling game.
I said that Atletico could win by 1-0 or 2-0 but noted that Diego Costa wasn\’t fully fit.
And so it came to pass. The main man didn\’t last long. After 13 minutes and 11 seconds, Atletico tried to counter-attack on the left and Diego Costa made his first sprint and didn\’t even reach the half-way line. His hamstring went. You saw it straight away, even if you weren\’t looking for it, exactly what the Atletico fans had feared.
Their 27-goal poacher/target man was replaced by Raul Garcia.
That was a hammer blow.
Diego Simeone has grafted all season and lived every kick and now he has two finals on consecutive Saturdays and he\’s lost his best player for both.
Fabregas found Messi in the box and Messi chested to the ball to Alexis Sanchez, giving him a half-chance from a narrow angle. The chunky, combative Chilean, built like a boxer, is very agile and showed us what a truly great reflex player can do with a blinding right-foot volley that flew high past Courtois at his near post.
1-0 to Barcelona after 33 minutes.
I\’m one of Alexis\’s biggest fans but didn\’t expect such an astounding strike. Both feet off the ground as he smashed that half-chance unstoppably into the net.
If Barcelona win this 1-0, Alexis has scored a wonder-goal to clinch La Liga on the final day.
Immediately, I thought: Batistuta on his best day couldn\’t have done that because that goal can only be scored by someone who is about five foot nine. And I\’m not trying to be controversial when I say that the great Marco Van Basten couldn\’t have scored that goal either.
Now Atletico were really up against it. They were 1-0 down in Europe\’s biggest stadium with 99% of the 98,000 crowd against them.
Barca had played Atletico five times this season and this was the first time they\’d taken the lead in any of those matches.
My question at half-time was: “Where\’s Messi? Is he on the pitch?”
But Atletico came out like lions in the second half and after 44 seconds David Villa hit a left-foot thunderbolt against the base of the post.
Wow! That shot announced: “This isn\’t over!â€
Atletico won a corner on the right in 49 minutes and Uruguayan centreback Diego Godin headed in for 1-1.
When Thiago whacked Fabregas it was the worst foul I\’ve ever seen by the Portuguese midfielder. Xavi came on for Fabregas, Neymar came on for Pedro, the game became a siege that went into stoppage time.
But the final whistle gave Atletico Madrid their first title for 18 years, champions with 90 points.
Simeone\’s heroes had smashed the duopoly.
Tomorrow I\’ll do an updated preview of Lisbon, explaining what I mean by “big playersâ€.
Check here at noon for 2 or 3 key points.
In the meantime, have a very good Friday.
For me it’s time for a well-earned mug of tea and a heavy glazed shortbread biscuit.
The packet of 12 is so heavy it could be used as a weapon in a street riot.
Les Broyes du Poitou.
PRODUIT POITOU-CHARENTES
23rd May 2014