To begin with: we are in the best time in football. Never in history has it been played like we have seen in this Champions League. We know it, the soccer fan, in general, is irredeemably nostalgic, lives clinging to the Stone Age, embracing the ball of 1930. He lives in the technological age, but adores the past and insists on believing that in the forties, sixties or eighties played better, with more enthusiasm and greater preciousness. Not even remotely. That is light years away from this present.
I remember my father protesting in front of the television: “They don’t sweat their shirts”, “They move like carts”, “They don’t give a good pass”… None of that happens today. You score much more than before, you press, you run, you fight non-stop for 97 or 98 minutes, you play at high speed – which in itself is a stumbling block for precision – and the degree of obstacle is infinitely higher than in the past , but, even so, we see many goals, fantastic shows, vibrant like most that took place from the round of 16 onwards. And technical feats are seen, accomplished at an ostensible speed. All at a sustained breakneck pace. The teams go out to win and there are heart-stopping round-trip matches. Especially if Real Madrid plays…
I grew up listening to the famous phrase “Football is dying”, however, it never enjoyed such health.
Manchester City and Madrid made up two sensational, volcanic semifinals, with 11 goals between them, dozens of risky plays and extreme emotion. City plays better, it was much more in Manchester and slightly superior in Madrid, however, the white shield still weighs more than the light blue one. Guardiola’s team does not possess the winning mystique of the Madridistas, the one imposed by the competitive ferocity of Alfredo Di Stéfano. “The word draw did not fit into his vocabulary”, defined José Santamaría, defender of that Madrid of the five European Cups. And Pachín, another brother of that litter, explained it as an anecdote: “Alfredo was a tremendous winner, I never saw anyone like him. Put on that we were going to play Santander for the Copa del Rey and we won 5 to 0; on the way back, on the train, he sat with each of them for five minutes; He came and told you: ‘Look, the series is not closed, eh…’ And we all answered the same: Alfredo, relax, we won 5-0 away… But he insisted: ‘Look, the series is not closed’. He didn’t want anyone to slack off, he didn’t admit defeat.” That spirit continues to hover over the Bernabéu and is the explanation for its magical nights. Everyone seems to have him dead and buried, but Madrid resurfaces and strikes down its rivals, although the clock says no, no more.
Football-wise, it is inexplicable, almost always dominated and surpassed by rivals -PSG, Chelsea, City- but being on the canvas he gets up and kills. It is a mixture of greatness, mystique, audacity, luck and determination. There are a lot of shirts, a lot of history and the legend of the epic is believed by those who wear the white and also the opponents, who, when they receive a Madrid goal, are paralyzed. And Madrid has the easy goal, he arrives four times and scores three. That is devastating, for example, for a Manchester City that must generate six to score one.
And there is the historic merengue vision for the signings, from Di Stéfano to Benzema passing through Gento, Puskas, Amancio, Juanito, Hugo Sánchez, Zidane, Hierro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Sergio Ramos, Roberto Carlos, Modric, Courtois, now Vinicius… An endless hit list. In the meantime, a Hazard can happen to him, it’s not serious.
Guardiola doesn’t like to have a reference 9, he doesn’t want one that is in the area but several that reach the area. But they are wrong a lot. Besides, there is a certain responsibility of Guardiola. The day before, at the press conference, he said that with Madrid the game is never over until it actually ends. Already on the court, he took out De Bruyne early and then Gabriel Jesús and Mahrez, three of his best four, the other being Bernardo Silva. It was the game of the year for City, the one that gave them the final. Why take them out…? Today’s footballers can run for three hours straight. The good ones never come out until the result is assured.
There is Luis Diaz…
Liverpool does not know of miracles, it is a homogeneous machinery that works as a whole. Coach, players, fans, character, lineage and pride make up that whole. It is the most successful English club at the international level. In the rectangle, he puts suffocating pressure on the rival field, attacks without pauses and has a mobility that generates spaces for him to create goals. But his strength does not come from a tactical question, but from the fabulous commitment that Jürgen Klopp achieves from all his players. The degree of concentration, ambition and effort of the eleven that are on the field makes it an unbearable team. They play sixty games a season and in the sixties they come out with the same aggressiveness and play every minute of the game with the same intensity, a phenomenal case.
Guessing who can be the champion with these two giants in between is like trying to guess the winning number of the Christmas lottery. And to say that Liverpool is the favorite because it works better is to disregard the Real Madrid legend. You are never a favorite over Real Madrid.
For dessert there is Luis Díaz… A long time ago a South American soccer player has not had a landing as bright as his in Europe. He shone from the day he set foot in Liverpool. First with his diaphanous smile, then with his game, the type of player for whom one forces himself to beat the defender, so that his shot enters the goal, so that he does well. His irruption in the second half against Villarreal was stellar. The break and ball pass he makes to Foyth at minute 45 and his subsequent shot inches from the post is memorable, pure quality. Second later came his headed goal with the invaluable help of goalkeeper Rulli (too invaluable in the three goals). In a month in England he showed that he is almost at the level of Salah and Mané, he went over the other strikers and is clearly more than Diogo Jota (good player).
It is a different. Beyond his frontal dribbling, his ability, what I love about Luis is his simplicity. He is a lovable player. And with zero advertising, zero press and zero social networks. It is all genuine merit. It is not a production of a representative and a team of image executives, it is an authentic crack. Wonder at what he offers on the pitch. A huge shame that you have to watch the World Cup on television. Although the football planet looks at the Premier and the Champions League, Qatar 2022 was another perfect showcase for its universal consecration. Hopefully I can replace it with the final in Paris on May 28.
last tango
JORGE BARRAZA
For the time
@JorgeBarrazaOK
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