I LOVE Barcelona and watch them all the time and think they are a classy outfit, compared to most big clubs. They’re not perfect, far from it, but I like their motto : More than a club.
But Arsenal is a very special club as well.
In the first ten minutes it looked as if Arsenal would beat Barcelona 3-1.But the red card changed everything.
Before Lehmann was sent off, Barcelona could not cope with Arsenal’s fast tempo. As I figured, Arsene had used his ten days well. With proper rest and preparation, Arsenal came out of the blocks at 100 mph and shocked their opponents with their energy and fast passing.
FRANK RIJKAARD had shown his respect by putting Van Bommel on to kick them, rather than starting the more creative Iniesta, and by not trusting Ronaldinho to mark Eboue. He put Eto’s on the left wing to create a duel between competitive Africans.
That switch did not really work, but it created the 18th-minute move that decided the game, when Ronaldinho’s pass released Eto’o.
After the red card, Arsenal’s pace was reduced to the same as Barcelona’s, and the extra man allowed Barca to keep possession and dominate.
Thierry’s two chances? On the first one, in two minutes, there was so much backspin on the ball that he had to let it bounce twice, and I don’t think he could have reached the ball before the second bounce anyway.
On the second one, in 70 minutes, he was coming in from the right. Coming in from the left, he would have scored.
THE REFEREE ?
Uefa had used Collina for the Manchester United-Bayern final in 1999, Urs Meier for Real Madrid-Leverkusen in 2002, Markus Merk of Milan -Juventus in 2003, Kim Milton Nielsen for Porto- Monaco in 2004, and Gonzalez of Spain for the Istanbul thrilller last year, Liverpool-Milan.
With Collina and Anders Frisk having retired, the latter after disgraceful behaviour by Mourinho and his henchmen in the Nou Camp, I thought Uefa might give it to Lubos Michel.But the Slovak is still young and allowed far too much play-acting in the Uefa Cup Final in 2003 when Porto beat Celtic 3-2.
Norway’s Terje Hauge was not chosen by FIFA for the World Cup, so Uefa gave him their big game as a consolation prize.
FACT : In 49 previous European Cup Finals, no footballer had been sent off. Was every player a saint in those games? By sending off Lehmann, Hauge punished both sides. Barcelona had a good goal disallowed, Arsenal lost Lehmann and Pires, and the world’s football fans lost the chance to see a Barcelona-Arsenal final, which will never happen again.
Before the game, I backed Under 2.5 goals. After the game, having watched the first 18 minutes four times, I think Arsenal would have won 3-1.
IF YOU LOSE the last game of the season and it’s the biggest game of the season, you brood on it. Last year, after losing in Istanbul, Maldini, Nesta and Ambrosini went on holiday in Florida and with their wives and kids and talked about it. How could they not talk about it? We were leading 3-0 and lost the game? How did we do that? Why did we do that?
This year it’s different for the losers because there is a World Cup and they’re in training camps.
Training camps must be great fun. I’d love to be in a training camp in the Algarve, like Beckham, Rio, Frank, JT and Crouchy were last week. A few five-a-sides, a jog round the perimeter at Sammy Lee’s pace, a nice massage, a game of table tennis by the pool, using the light breeze to give you a bit more top-spin, dinner overlooking the ocean as the sun goes down, fresh fish, salad and a jug of sangria.
What could be better? That would tune me up sweetly to write about this World Cup.
Unfortunately, I won’t be there till late July.