Lionel Messi – Page 2 – BRITISH SOCCER {DIVA}

Miracle at the Camp Nou…

Last week on World Football Daily, a listener asked the question, “if Chelsea beat Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final, would it be on the same scale as the Miracle on Ice?”

At the time, the entire crew answered with a resounding “no.” But after tonight’s performance by Chelsea against Barcelona, should the World Football Daily crew re-think the listener’s question?

Was it a miracle? Or was it just a monumental defensive display with a counter attacking twist?

It was a fascinating evening of European football. Everything was going according to plan for the West London club. Thirty minutes gone in the first half, no goals conceded and defensively, they picked up exactly where they left off at Stamford Bridge last week.

But after a tornado of attacks from Barcelona, the Chelsea defense finally succumbed. They failed to pick up Sergio Busquets in the box and in turn, he easily slotted home the first goal of the night. Eight minutes later, Iniesta hit a sweet strike to make it 2-0. Advantage Barcelona and at this point, everybody expected the flood gates to open. Instead…a moment of madness!

John Terry decided to knee Alexis Sanchez from behind, right between the legs and the linesman informs the referee who then shows the former England captain a straight red card. An idiotic and unnecessary act from Chelsea’s leader and with each step he shamelessly took towards the dressing room, it felt like a stamp in the heart for Chelsea fans. Surely Barcelona’s dominance would payoff with lots of goals now. Surely Terry’s stupidity would be punished. Or would it?

Just before half-time and moments after Terry’s sending off, Frank Lampard delivered a delicious signature pass that split Barcelona’s phantom defense and Ramires capped it off with a delightful chip Xavi, Iniesta or Messi would be proud of. It was exquisite and deserving of the run Ramires made to get into that position. The goal stunned the Camp Nou. Stunned the players. And stunned Guardiola. How many Barcelona fans said a little prayer before the second half? How many fans believed Lionel Messi would bail them out of trouble?

It was a night however where the world’s best player lost his magical touch. Messi has scored more than 60 goals this season but he couldn’t find the back of the net against Chelsea. And the most glaring of all misses was his penalty effort that hit the woodwork. Barcelona needed another hero to step forward but nobody had that killer finish. As the minutes painfully passed and with every kick of the ball, you felt more and more like the script was never going to veer in the direction of Barcelona. Not on this night. Not against this Chelsea team.

This is the same team that capitulated under Andre Villas Boas on a weekly basis. This is the same set of players who lacked confidence and any type of spirit for the majority of the Premier League season. I’ve said the same thing repeatedly since Andre Villas Boas was fired. This team will win to spite him. They now believe in themselves. It’s evident throughout the entire club. They had an obvious swagger even when they were losing 2-0. And after they made it 2-1, you felt like there was still another headline waiting to be written.

The final say came from the one player who suffered under Andre Villas Boas dictatorship the most. Fernando Torres returned to Spain with Chelsea as a 50 million pound flop and left Spain with Chelsea a 50 million pound hero. He ran his heart out and dodged the challenge of Victor Valdes to bury the goal that could deliver Roman Abramovich the Holy Grail!

But it’s not just a win against Barcelona that is driving Chelsea towards unexpected glory. Roberto Di Matteo and Eddie Newton have added a certain magic to this once woeful team. Call it belief. Call it confidence. Call it men leading men. Something is swinging down the Kings Road again and this time it’s not Lionel Messi’s shorts.

Al Michaels, a famous U.S. sports announcer once asked if we believed in miracles. In modern day football, against this particular Barcelona team and with only 10-men at the Camp Nou on a Champions League semi-final night, I would say a smidgen of me believes a miracle did happen tonight…

Best of the Best…

After a weekend of football, there is always major reaction or should we say overreaction to the events we have witnessed. But that’s football isn’t it? We react to what we see. And how we react as individuals is what makes the debate and dialogue that much more interesting.

This is not about who is the greatest ever footballer. Our Top 10 Best Players in Europe list is about who we think is great right now. The criteria for making the list is based on recent form, goals scored, assists provided and overall performances and general brilliance of each player.

So get mad, get riled up or simply agree with who we think is lighting up Europe from a football perspective.

1. Cristiano Ronaldo = Real Madrid

2. Lionel Messi = Barcelona

3. Robin Van Persie = Arsenal

4. Zlatan Ibrahimovic = AC Milan

5. Xavi = Barcelona

6. David Silva = Manchester City

7. Thiago Silva = AC Milan

8. Wayne Rooney = Manchester United

9. Sergio Aguero = Manchester City

10. Robert Lewandowski = Borussia Dortmund

Money, money, money…

Forbes magazine announced the top 10 richest clubs on the planet yesterday and Manchester United still rule the school when it comes to money.

Biggest surprise is Barcelona dropping from 4th to 5th place, even after their treble winning season. You would expect them to be in the top 3.

1. Manchester United {$1.86 billion} 2. Real Madrid {$1.45 billion} 3. Arsenal {$1.19 billion) 4. Bayern Munich {$1.1 billion} 5. Barcelona {$975 million} 6. AC Milan {$838 million} 7. Chelsea {$658 million} 8. Juventus {$628 million} 9. Liverpool {$552 million} 10. Inter Milan {$441 million}.

The richest players list was also revealed by Forbes yesterday. The one surprise here is that Ronaldinho is still bringing in some large coin. And John Terry must be a bit peeved that Lamps made the top 10 and he didn’t!

1. David Beckham {$40 million} 2. Cristiano Ronaldo {$38 million} 3. Lionel Messi {$32 million} 4. Ricardo Kaka {$25 million} 5. Ronaldinho {$24 million} 6. Thierry Henry {$21 million} 7. Wayne Rooney {$20 million} 8. Frank Lampard {$18 million} 8. Zlatan Ibrahimovic {$18 million} 10. Samuel Eto’o {$17 million}.

Cristiano Ronaldo once said “footballer’s are like slaves.” What do you think?

One thing is for sure, the next round is on one of these guys. And if they were getting in the drinks, who would you like to be buying yours?

Did Inter Milan park the bus..?

Football really is a funny old game. Whether you win, lose or draw, as an owner, manager or player, at some point, what you say or how you play can always come back to haunt you. Always!

Just a few seasons back when Jose Mourinho was manager of Chelsea, he made this comment following a Premier League game against London rivals Tottenham. “As we say in Portugal, they brought the bus and they left the bus in front of the goal. I would have been frustrated if I had been a supporter who paid £50 to watch this game because Spurs came to defend. There was only one team looking to win, they only came not to concede – it’s not fair for the football we played.”

With Inter Milan’s heroic victory over Barcelona in the semi-final of the Champions League this week, you could easily point the finger at Mourinho and his Inter team for parking their bus in front of the Catalan goal at the Nou Camp. You could also say that fans were upset his team was so defensive and that they didn’t come to play real football against the world’s prettiest team. You could say Mourinho did to Barcelona what Tottenham did to him. But would you? Was this really a case of parking the bus, or was it purely a defensive master class planned by the Special One and executed by his loyal army of men?

If you read the media reports in Italy, Mourinho’s team played like heroic gladiators on the night. If you read the media reports in England, it’s evident how the British game misses Jose since his departure from the Premier League. And if you read the media reports in Spain, Inter’s play was negative and “park the bus like” and Barca were the unlucky heroes after dominating on the night. Isn’t it great how we can all see things so differently? But don’t you think that even as rival football fans we should give credit to the opposing team when we witness something truly amazing?

For me, it wasn’t a case of parking the bus, it was truly a case of tactical mastery. And as we said in a post earlier this month when Inter Milan beat Chelsea, Jose Mourinho is still very much the Special One. Perhaps we would have viewed Inter Milan’s approach differently if they had kept 11 players on the pitch. But when you go a player down and you are winning the tie by 2 goals, there’s no need to gamble. There’s no need to chase the game. You just defend. And that’s what Inter Milan did. And their organization, their timing, their positioning…it was all just so impressive. It wasn’t a case of parking the bus and hoping for the best. They wore Barcelona down. They had the tactics and the will to win. The red card changed the game.

Busquet’s beahviour was disgusting. The way he had one eye on the referee while rolling around like a girl was grotesque. Motta should definitely know that in the modern game if you touch a player’s face like that you could be sent off. But the manner in which Busquet reacted was truly unsportsmanlike. As talented as Barcelona are, it’s this part of their game that makes them unattractive. They get away with it and the media doesn’t give them a tough time about it. Lots of acting, rolling around and poor behaviour overall. Following that incident, I found myself rooting for Inter Milan even more. And I think the sending-off gave the Inter team even more determination to win.

Even Lionel Messi couldn’t do anything in that game and despite Barca’s dominance of possession, they couldn’t break down the Inter defense because of the incredible organization and discipline. Pique finally got the goal that gave Barca hope, but the game was already lost in the second half in Milan. And all Mourinho had to do at the Nou Camp was not give anything cheap away by gambling unnecessarily. They played their game to perfection and shockingly, for a defensive performance by one team, it was still compelling and thrilling to watch.

When the final whistle reverberated around the Nou Camp, Mourinho exploded into a celebration like we’ve never seen before. It was even crazier than his leg slide across the pitch and his running down the touch line. This time around he ran onto the pitch with his finger firmly pointing in the air. You could see how much this all meant to him. How much he wanted to win this game. In fact, he wanted more than just a victory. He wanted to dot the “I” and cross the “T.” He wanted to show Barcelona they made a mistake about him. He wanted to prove he could beat the best in their own back yard. And he did. And Victor Valdes could do nothing about it!

Mourinho will continue to beat the best in their own back yard. Why? Because he is the best. He’s special. And when his career is over and he’s sitting in his favourite chair looking back, he will have an abundance of trophies from each of the major footballing countries. And he will probably have a World Cup winners medal with Portugal too. Only one question remains and we asked it a few months ago. Where will he go next? Wherever he goes, fasten your seat belts and get your popcorn ready, because as T.O. says “it’s going to be a show.”

Do you think Mourinho’s celebration was over-the-top? Did Inter Milan park the bus…?