It’s Christmas time again in the soccer world. Every year we expect the Uefa Champion’s League final to be the summit of European club soccer and rightly so. With Messi’s winning header against Van Der Sar last year or Manchester United’s Rocky-like comeback ten years back as examples, we all awaits Bayern’s confrontation to Inter tomorrow, in search for a bit of History, once again. The Fourth Official offers you a preview of the game to come, hoping Inter will win to offer its fans a much-deserved revenge on all their long-time nagging friends. So that when the three whistles are blown we can all impatiently wait for next year’s final, just like Christmas.
I admit (or you probably figured out), it is hard to remain objective in the wake of such an event. As a heads up, it will not be uncommon to (finally) see me walking around with all my 1000 different Inter jerseys on for the next week if Mourinho pulls it off, and it won’t be uncommon to hear me bash club soccer and praise the World Cup if Bayern win. So let’s start this preview with a somewhat unifying statement: in the year of the underdogs, what better confrontation than Bayern-Inter? Forget Madrid’s mega-millions, Barcelona’s cheesy superhero team, Manchester’s Rooney or even Chelsea’s muscles, Inter and Bayern are examples of continuity (not that any of the above mentioned were not). Both have had a stable group for the past couple of seasons, with a few precious additions as we shall see and both were underestimated (or have they overperformed?) in Europe at the beginning of the season. So let us Bayern and Inter fans first rejoice about this fact early on, in saying that this final is already a slight victory over all the big engines of European football. Let us also rejoice at the resurgence of ex-unwanted players such as Robben and Snejder, who both [boldly decided to leave] or [were forced out of] this year’s Real Madrid. Now they’re in the final, in the Bernabeu, take that [Van Der Vaart] or [Florentino Perez]. That’s about it for the unifying aspects, as this remains a confrontation.
And within every good confrontation, like the ones Hollywood makes, lie duels. In the role of the master, Van Gaal, strong with his old school credits (Davids, Van der Sar, Kluivert, Bergkamp, De Boer brothers, Overmars, that’s all him) and past experience, one Champion’s League in the suitcase. In the role of the apprentice, Jose Mourinho, Van Gaal’s student at Barcelona, prototype of the new kind of coach, loaded and provocative, a kind of total-football on the bench, with his very own Champion’s League in the suitcase. Needless to say the pre-game conferences are delectable pieces of strategies. On the field, the starting line-ups already more or less known, a surprise or bluff could be the winning move. Van Gaal likes his 4-4-2 where the flanks dictate the game, whereas Mourinho displayed his polyvalence from an ultra defensive side* against Barcelona to an efficient ‘rombo’ with Snejder at the wheel. Many say that we are unlucky to see such a match-up in this year’s final. Again, my team being in it, I am undoubtedly biased, but just to sound like I know a whole lot about soccer, one has to appreciate the tactical aspect of the game just as much as the beautiful goals and step-overs. Plus who says we won’t see any? Furthermore, both Inter and Bayern have already won their respective domestic league and cup. No matter the outcome, one team will have made the treble this year in Europe, and even though we’ve (and by we, I mean you) been used to Barcelona six-title-season, a treble doesn’t come around ever so often. So who’s disappointed now?
The other duels appear on the field although not as obvious as they might seem. In the midfield, the confrontation between Van-Boomboom-Bommel and No-World-Cup-Cambiasso promises to of epic standards between two relayers. The Dutchman will have a reborn Schweinsteiger by his side, whereas the Argentinean will be missing his biggest asset this season, Thiago Motta, being suspended thanks to an Oscar-winning performance by Busquets. Stankovic, Muntari and Zanetti can all claim his spot. And that’s just one of them: Van Buyten vs. Milito, Lucio vs Vladimir Putin… sorry Olic, Maicon vs Altintop (not as good as Maicon vs Ribery but still), Eto’o vs Lahm, Snejder vs Schweinsteiger, the material is there.
Every time I have written about Inter in this year’s UCL, I have always mentioned that, if Mourinho couldn’t have brought Inter this far into the competition, then not many other coaches could have. Once again, Jose the Mou reveals himself as the real stronghold of this team. From revealing an underestimated Milito to revalorising Samuel, the Special ‘Uan’ has worked miracles, putting even Eto’o on the working side of the team. The firepower is there for Inter, the defence is stable and if Mourinho can’t win this Champion’s League with Inter, then not many other coaches will. It’s the same sentence every time, and everytime we win, so I won’t change it. On the Bayern side, other than Van Gaal’s magic of turning a team on the brink of mental breakdown in October into a UCL finalist, the real jackpot winner is Robben. The “Million Treffer” Arjen has scored all the decisive goals, whether against Lyon, Manchester United and even Fiorentina. Leaves me speechless and scared. With Ribery suspended, the other hitman could well be named Olic, the same who scored the oh-so-necessary survival goals against Manchester and Fiorentina.
No predictions this time my friends, the stakes are too high and the heartache would be too big if I ever felt I had jinxed it.
*It is no secret that Steve Nash is a great soccer fan (those of you who play at pier40 in NYC know all about it) and when he saw Inter’s performance at the Camp Nou, he tweeted “The eleven to reach the final for Inter are: Butt, Yashin, Banks, Zoff, Maier, Tomaszewski, Zubizarreta, Schmeichel Clemens, Higuita, Chilavert.’’
TFO
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