Congratulating the rival: Is it worth it?

So here’s the big question: Should you or should you not pass a message of congratulations to your rivals? Manchester United congratulated Manchester City on winning the title, though they still would openly argue that it was on goal difference. As a matter of fact, one Patrice Evra pointed out that they played their best football while we (United) did not always play our best football, yet we still managed to share the spoils in terms of points.

Bottom Line: City won, United lost!

Cast your sights to the other side of the country, illustrious London! Redknapp openly admitted, for obvious reasons, that he was supporting Bayern Munich for the Champions League final. Well, for 83 minutes, his dream almost came true, then it did come true, albeit for 5 minutes. When Robben had to take the penalty, he must have jumped in his seat, and then sunk deep in it again as Petr Cech pulled a heroic save. Would he congratulate Chelsea after the win?

Winning the Champions League means that Tottenham have lost the coveted spot, and will now have to ply their trade at the rather less illustrious Europa League, talk about the allure of Thursday night football. One thing that we learnt this season was that it is not as less glamorous as people make it out to be. The quality of football that knocked out the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City is impressive, and laudable by all means. The quality of players who grace the Europa League, if anything to go by, make it a competition worth recognition, save for the reduced revenue earnings. Whichever way, Spurs should look to this as a chance to conquer Europe on another front, that is of course if they can keep their manager, Gareth Bale and Luka Modric.

So, in the spirit of a football fan, would/should you congratulate the rival on their success? This is especially if their success was your ruin? Steven Pienaar and Louis Saha did the most honourable thing and congratulated Chelsea on their win, regardless of the fact that it knocked them out of the Champions League for next season. In my opinion, a true sportsman knows when he is beaten, and does not remain bitter about it. For this reason, I laud Saha and Pienaar for the sportsman spirit and for openly congratulating Chelsea on their win. Congratulating Chelsea or not will still not bring back Tottenham to the Champions League, neither will shutting up on Manchester City give the 20th title to Manchester United for the season 2011-2012. A number of Spurs fans have castigated Saha and Pienaar for this, and it is understandable, especially as die hard fans, but is it really worth it?

Congratulations have to be in order to Chelsea, who won the most coveted prize in Europe against all odds.

1. No full fledged manager (Di Matteo was more or less a coach)

2. Beat Barcelona home and away

3. Ryan Bertrand made history as the first player to debut in a CL final and was impressive by all means

4. And what do you think about Gary Cahill? Abandoning ship at the perfect time, maybe? Former club Bolton went down the league, while his new team conquered Europe, in the process bagging him 2 trophies

Congratulations to Chelsea FC, you believed, you beat the odds, and most importantly, you conquered. You live to bask in your glory and come strong, to again fight another day.