FC Barcelona: Wembley Beckons

Battlelines drawn

In the world of sports the final encounter is always the mouth watering clash which invokes that heightened sense of anticipation amongst loyalists and laymen alike and brings to life all the cocoons that end up becoming butterflies in our stomach. But like most things in life, reality almost always never exceeds expectations. Who can forget all the three cricket world cup finals from 1999 to 2007 when the Aussies made mincemeat of their opponents and the finals wore the appearance of mediocre qualifiers. Pete Sampras and Roger Federer have quashed their opponents in straight sets as though their challengers were wild card entrants into the tourneys. This list can be quite long and before I get punished by you readers for digressing away from the topic, let me tell you that whatever happens into the early morning hours of 29^th May we can all rest assure that the Battle of Wembley would bring to display a hard-fought tussle between two teams possessing the strongest character and the most superlative quality of football on the planet.

Round Robin & Rubin:

The early stages of the UCL are more or less run-of-the-mill sort of action and outcomes at-least for the top rated teams in Europe and this year was no different. Barcelona had been drawn up with this Russian side called Rubin Kazan and they did defeat the mighty Catalonians in their own den in the previous edition of the UCL and this was the one round robin match which incited some tangible expectations before the beginning of the tournament. However on the opening match-day FCB were startled by a lead with a strike from the French striker Govou playing for Panathinaikos. At this very moment I started having an unpalatable feeling that Barcelona are not going to achieve glory in 2010-11 especially after this match was just preceded by a 2-0 loss to a serious misnomer of a side called Hercules at the Nou camp. Luckily we were blessed with a visionary like Xavi and a merciless marauder called Messi who through one clean finish and another sublime display of tiki-taka style football with his team-mates took us home. A brief scare did present itself in the form of a leg injury to Messi during a weekend fixture against Athletico Madrid but like a schoolboy, the magical flea returned to the pitch within 7 days. A routine training like performance against the Danes and the Russians and Barca were through to the knockout stage of this prestigious competition with considerable ease.

The English Patience – Gone with the wind

Arsene Wenger must have been cursing his stars and those balls at the UCL draws which somehow pit him against the

What just happened!!!

Blaugrana every year. In fact the gunners have themselves to blame as they would have avoided this predicament if they had topped their group in the round robin stage. Anyway the delectable tie was eagerly awaited and this time around Arsenal talked quite a lot before D-Day as to how they were a much stronger side and were ready to beat FCB at their own game. Generally I have been a huge fan of the footballing prowess of this English side, but year after year the display of character is starting to make me think that probably even the Dutch pop group called Vengaboys would end up performing better than these Wenger-boys. The match at the Emirates was a complete demonstration of possession football and I was surprised by the will power of the Arsenal players to keep themselves focused after almost being denied holding of the ball for more than 75 % of the game. Robin Van Persie and Arshavin capitalized on a couple of rookie errors from their opponents and ended up on the winning side at the end of regulation time. Jack Wilshere was quite impressive and the English side did surprise many football analysts, but the slender lead of one goal was never going to be enough when the reverse leg transpired. Everything was going according to plan for Mr. Arsene until a horrendous error emanating from combination of lapse of concentration and a needless display of style from the Spaniard Fabregas gave away the ball to Iniesta and through some divine intervention (referring to Messi’s split-second control of the ball and then gentle loop over the goalie and finally the volleyed drive into the net) Barcelona earned the lead and were all set to move into the quarter-finals stage. The own goal from Busquets did make things a little interesting but Xavi and Messi ensured that the English patience to see their club progress had been uprooted for good. However I must admit that the Gunners came the closest to sending Barcelona packing in this competition and Mr. Nikolas Bendtner just for that regulation miss, should relegate himself to the Danish Second Division League.

El Clasico – Hell no!!

When opposites repel

I wish to confirm to all the Real Madrid fans at the outset that Barcelona have won all the bragging rights and hence I have inmy possession all the trash-talking rights. The classic encounters at the semi finals stage of the UCL that were at least made out to be by the media turned out to be an utter anti-climax with José Mourinho’s side almost satiated and satisfied when they got their hands on the King’s Cup ( and that too only for a brief while thanks to Sergio Ramos). Barcelona were evidently quite dominant at Santiago Bernabeu and enough has already been said about the sneakalicious goal that Messi scored and the ‘Ghosts of defenders past’ sort of goal which has rekindled all the water-cooler talks about the comparisons with the great Maradona. The point remains that the better side cruised through and Mr. Mourinho can gripe all he wants, but I guess all the harsh accusations emerged from the agony of his inability to deliver this time around. This was the round where Barcelona showed strength both at a physical and mental level and if they have to draw any inspiration against the mighty red devils it has to be from the El-Clasico.

Here were are barely few days away from this epic battle and no one can deny the temerity and the talent that these two teams have in their proud possession. Man U is playing its 3^rd final in the last 4 years and FCB its 3^rd in the last 5 years and what more can we ask for as true followers of this beautiful game. If I were to find an analogy to this contest then it would be like trying to choose between the dreamy eyes of your lover and that tenacious heart of hers that saves your rear end every single day. We men need both and rather than trying to indulge in the futile act of picking a winner, let us thank God for these lovely creations, women and football, and just admire, enjoy and behold what is on offer.

P.S.

However the zany, impish child in me provokes me to wish for a result as follows,

I believe the match will be won by FCB in extra time with a strike from David Villa. The regulation time will witness goals from “Chicharito” in the first half and ‘la Pulga’ in the other half.