True futbol fanatics do not hesitate to watch a game between two great teams even if the score is known beforehand. That is how I found myself watching a replay of the second leg between the Rosinneri and Barca shown by Fox Sports Channel the day after the game was actually played at the Nou Camp.
And I am glad I watched. This was an extraordinary football match, the kind that gets your blood boiling, the kind that never stops to amaze you, and up and down scintillating display of total team football displayed by both sides. One minute it was Barcelona attacking through Ronaldinho, Deco, and Eto’o. The next, it was Milan coming back through Kaka, Seedord, Shevchenko, and Inzaghi.
This was a soccer game masquerading as a run and gun basketball game, with players going, to borrow another term from the basketball vernacular, “coast to coast” . The game reminded me of some of the great games the “showtime” Lakers were famous for back in the 80’s.
The comparisons to the Lakers do not end there. Ronaldinho is the Magic Johnson of the soccer world. He has flair, he has intelligence, he has great vision, he even has “no-look” passes. Even for Brazilians, noted for the most elegant style of play, he is far the best of his generation. Ronaldo and Rivaldo were great strikers, but Ronaldinho is a great midfielder player, which makes him capable of influencing a game in many more ways than just by scoring goals. He has the ability to take over a game, a feat much harder in soccer than in basketball. If Ronaldinho played basketball, I have no doubt he would be pretty good at it.
Univision’s old announcing team were Andres Cantor and Norberto Longo. Longo used to say that “great players made great teams, and that great teams made great games” . This was in clear display tonight and should be again when my two favourite players, Ronaldinho and Henri, square up in what should be a great final.
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As for the game itself, it started out with a bang, with Kaka streaking down the right hand side and shooting just wide with the match a scant 45 seconds old. Dida, Milan’s great Brazlian keeper kept the Rosinneri in the game with two stupendous saves on Samuel Eto’o. And Ronaldinho was just barely high on a shot of his own. In the second half, Milan caught Barcelona napping on a free kick and Andriy Shevchenko buried in the back of the net in the 69th minute. The goal was annulled on a foul called by referee Markus Merk for a push on Puyol, but replays showed that Puyol was not pushed but tripped over his own feet. Towards the end Milan brought in Rui Costa and Cafu but could not break through the Catalan defense.
With the victory, Barcelona gained their fourth club championship game. They avenged the 4-nil drubbing administered to them back in the 1994 final.
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