Inter-cettati fans are extatic. They are at the top European echelon and boy have they worked hard to get there. Pity that footballing spirit has little to do with the work involved. For the inter-cettati to even get a whiff of victory they had to lie low while others around them were being crucified for the ills of italian football. Their phone calls and tampering with referee lists would pass unnoticed with the connivance of the investigating officers and a very sympathetic press. They would have the main obstacles to their victories eliminated in order to win alone – much in the fashion of the playground spoilsport.
The vulture team would then live off the falsely manufactured twisted image of victim of football and nurture and develop one of the most boring teams ever to be at the pinnacle of European football.- Forget Gullit, Rijkaard and Van Basten, forger Cruyff and Di Stefano, forget Platini, Bettega and Boniek – 45 years on and they can still only produce one type of football : the catenaccio. Watching the game for my sins I could only be reminded of the hundreds of matches Juventus played against minnows who locked 10 of their players in the defending quarter of their pitch and then lobbed the ball up in counterattack. We have seen thefts of the footballing kind before – the mind harks back to the 1990 elimination of Brasil by cocainomani and co in the world cup. Milito’s role has been played by dozens of stalwarts for the minnow teams before with the only difference being that the back five in most minnow teams is not made up of potential world champs. So yes, they built a machine – might as well have built a wall of bricks – it would probably have been just as entertaining.
For this is a complaint from the corners of entertaining football. From those who will not mind being defeated if defeated means outclassed. From those who can admire a fighting Fulham as much as they can admire a creative Barcelona and a triumphant AC Milan in the 90s. It is not a complaint out of jealousy for simply one reason – there is nothing to be jealous about. You will find it hard to remember the name of the team that won the 2010 Champions’ League in the future. Most people will think a team called Mourinho won it. That says much about the personality of the team that won on the pitch. Funny. 45 years ago it was il Mago wot did it. Now it seems to be Mourinho (the press just love him – they had more cameras for him than for Inter-cettati’s motley crew last night). Willl Inter-cettati ever win a Champions League I ask? I’m not holding my breath for another 45 years to find out.
The poetry of the figures involved speaks volumes. 39% possession and 2 shots at goal. Do you see the irony behind the name “European Champions” yet? No? let me help you further. Here is the list of European champions by nationality:
Argentine: 4
Brasilian: 3
Cameroons: 1
Macedonian: 1
Romanian :1
Dutch:1
7/11 starting were non-european
Subs
Ghana: 1
Serbia: 1
Italy (and what a fine example of Italian football) : 1
1/3 was non-european
That makes it 8 out of the 14 players who went on the pitch from outside Europe. And 1 Italian of dubious footballing quality.
Which brings us to the return with the footballing elite. In economic terms the match to watch yesterday was at Wembley. The play-off for the last place in the Premier League was worth 90 million pounds sterling. Twice the worth of the Champions League final. In an exhilarating match Balckpool ousted Cardiff with the odd goal in five. Real football with real emotions still exists somewhere. Ironically the Pool also had a four decade wait to reach their goal. At least one team yesterday can proudly say that it has returned among the elite of european football.
Well done Blackpool.
