By Myles Palmer
ITV’s viewing figures will rocket tonight.
Real Madrid v Man United is the world’s biggest game.
Fergie said that – Juventus said nothing.
I’m sure Real Madrid will win the European Cup.
And I’m sure they will beat Man United tonight.
Why?
Because their finishing is different class.
The quality of their finishing is 200% better than the finishing of Milan or Barcelona or Inter.
The highlight of the season so far was the performance of Raul against AC Milan on March 12.
Milan had already qualified while Real needed to win.
RAUL was supermotivated and superskilful and awesomely aware and his work-rate would have made George Graham drool.
He was incredible.
OK, we all know Real Madrid equals glamour and legend and history and fabulous flair and spectacular goals.
And we know that a 7-3 final will never be repeated.
But what we have today is sporting capitalism at its most advanced : competition between superstars.
I reckon that the arrival of the globally branded Ronaldo has propelled Raul into another level.
Raul has raised his game.
Nobody complained about the level of his game before. It was phenomenal.
It didn’t need raising. And it didn’t occur to me that it could beraised or should be raised.
But he has raised his game.
Milan had maximum points from their first four games and they faced a Raul who was saying: Shevchenko,Rivaldo, watch this ! And this! And this !
Raul was unbelievable in that game. He was scary.
So you have Raul responding to Ronaldo, and Figo responding to Zidane, and Roberto Carlos saying : How about some attention for me as I bomb up and down this flank ?
The finishing by Raul,Ronaldo,Portillo and Guti is deadly.
As I said about the World Cup, Ronaldo has re-invented himself as a converter of crosses.
He is still able to turn on the turbo at times, but Ronaldo scores now by using his superhuman level of awareness: he can compute in an instant the angles and distances of players around him.
And Ronaldo is really, really two-footed, so he can place a shot through a cat-flap any time he wants to.
The goal is eight yards by eight feet-but Ronaldo makes it look bigger.
I think he can shoot earlier, more deceptively, more accurately than anybody else in football, including Raul.
If I was Sir Alex, I dunno what I would do.
But I wouldn’t infuriate UEFA by saying the draw was a fix.
And I would not motivate Roberto Carlos by saying he should be banned from the Champions League for shouldering that Israeli ref in Porto last week.
I might not play Wes Brown.
I might put Silvestre on Raul and O’Shea on Figo and Rio on Ronaldo and Butt on Zidane.
It’s worth noting that Madrid are more tenacious than ever in midfield.
Makelele is Remi Moses with far more skill.
And Flavio Conceicao is a very strong-tackling half-back, as I noted when Arsenal first played Deportivo.
Ruud Van Nistelrooy is a prolific scorer against bad teams.
He can look very clumsy.Will this will be one of his clumsy nights?
Ruud won’t dare dive in the Bernabeu.
Madrid’s Tony Adams figure is Hierro, who is back after being out for two months with injury.
An awesome player in his prime but over the hill now.
Has Hierro got five more great games left in him?
Four more? One more?
It’s impossible to say until we see him in a serious match against a hungry, fast, aggressive side like United.
Helguera has had a good season at centreback and I would play the younger man.
Right back Salgado was an eye-catching overlapper at Celta Vigo and has retained all his enterprise and seen off the powerful Geremi
Throughout the decades Real Madrid have had the backing of the banks and the government and after putting a huge escalationary pressure on the transfer market, and running up a £200m debt, they flogged off their training ground in the city centre and moved to a cheaper one in the suburbs.
For that ruthlessless, that abuse of privilege, I have always hated them.
But I have also loved them for their stylish football.
In a way, the sport of football has come to them.
Real Madrid has always signed the hottest superstars and as the game has become showbiz and more star-oriented, and the players have become all-powerful, the club has stayed in the same place, doing pretty much what it has always done,hoovering up the best kids in Spain and signing the finest foreigners.
In that sense, Real Madrid were prophets.
Ajax and Bayern did not copy them, but Milan did and others would like to copy them, if they could afford it.
I’m rambling, so I will stop now.
Tonight should have everything. Drama, goals, controversy.
I’ve got a feeling there will be controversy tonight, on the field.
Clearly, if Man United are good enough to win this game, they can go on and win the European Cup, which will give Fergie one more than Sir Matt and he will die happy.
But I don’t think they have the technique to do it.
I’m expecting Real Madrid to play matador football, strolling,posing, waiting, stabbing, strolling again, postponing the coup de grace for maximum dramatic effect.
RONALDO will remember that bone-shaking collision with Barthez early in the 1998 World Cup Final.
Last year Ronaldo said, “I want France in the final.”
France didn’t oblige in Japan but Barthez is back and that duel will be exciting.
Barthez will have work to do tonight. More work than usual.
Having said all that, a 1-0 win for Madrid will be a good result for Arsenal.
The longer United are involved in Europe, the less they will focus on the Premiership.
But if Real Madrid’s finishing is deadly, United could huff and puff all night and get stuffed 4-1.
I could be wrong.
I’ve been wrong before, many times.
But I fancy a bet on Raul Madrid.
8th April 2003.