Ole Ole Ole- A Night to Remember


Comebacks, Champions League, Solskjear and Manchester United. After Nou Camp and Bayern Munich/1999, we have a version 2. Beating 2 goals in injury team to win the Champions League is difficult. But I think Paris 2019 does it. This was as close to impossible as it got. This was football’s version of chasing 500 on a wearing day 5 wicket.

2 nil down at home in the first leg( something which has never been overturned before in the tournament’s history). 10 players out with injury and the best player suspended. The matchups will put the “David vs Goliath” saying into shame. It was going to be Fred/McTominay/Perreira Vs Di Maria/Verrati( modern Pirlo anyone?)/Draxler. It was going to be Smalling vs Mbappe. This was men vs kids. The kids didn’t stand a chance. Or did they?

This was PSG. A team whose only legacy in Champions League is embarrassment. And this was United. Solskjear’s United. United of the fame, “Can Manchester United score? They always score”. So the belief was there that with a bit of luck and a lot of heart, progress can happen. That the odds to United progressing was 7:1 did not matter.

And as soon as the game began, the nerves began to show for PSG. Take out the 28 minutes between the 2 freak Lukaku goals when PSG had almost 85% possession and looked like they are playing an Indian College team, United were the better team. PSG made mistakes. Costly ones by Kehrer and Buffon. Lukaku punished them.

In the second half, United looked in control. The gameplan was clear. Take it deep and unleash everything in the last 10 minutes. Yes there were a few chances for PSG in between. But De Gea was at his reliable best. Smalling played out of his skin. And Fred finally showed why he wasn’t just a 50 million dollar pastor that United bought.

Yes, the penalty that won the tie was lucky and controversial. But the way the 21 year old Rashford walked up and smashed the penalty, was something that belied his age. This was the same 21 year old that Mourinho thought wasn’t good enough to play for elite teams in Europe. Oh, confidence is a beautiful thing, isn’t it?


Not just the players, but credit to the manager as well. For way too long, the results that he got were attributed to a feel-good effect. This wasn’t any feel-good thing. 9 away wins on the trot cannot be due to poor opposition or any feel good. This was a tactical masterclass with very limited resources. The substitutions were spot on and correctly timed. And the strategy to take the game deep and hope PSG panic worked wonders. Ole Gunner Solskjear, get ready for a multiyear contract. You deserve it sir.

For Indian fans, it was almost 4 AM in the morning when it got over. 4 AM on a weekday and here we were, wide awake and happy. This was a happiness which had ceased to exist with continuous negativity from the last 3 managers. This was a feeling that we thought was lost forever. Here were grown up men and women, who couldn’t stop smiling, who couldn’t stop checking their twitter and who couldn’t sleep, and who couldn’t care less about not sleeping. This is what football does. This is what Manchester United does. This is what a young team did in a night in Paris that will be remembered for ages.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The rise of Juventus- From Serie B to Champions League Final in 9 years

Image
In life in general and football in particular, miracles do happen. The latest episode of Football’s miracles will be played out when a few weeks from now, the Old Lady from Turin will turn up against the might of Barcelona in the final of the Champions League. Yes, the Champions League final. The same tournament which is supposed to be the playground of the Ronaldos and the Messis, the Mourinhos and the Ancelottis. Playing against the big boys of Europe, Juventus had no business being here. But, let alone only playing the Champions League final, they have also won the Italian league for the 4 th consecutive time and by also being in the final of the Italian Cup, they stand on the verge of a historic treble. From playing in the Serie B in 2006-07, Juventus have indeed come a long way. Against all odds, Juventus have made it to the final of the Champions League Before 2006, Juventus had always competed at the highest level in both Italy as well as Europe. In fact, even today,
Read more

How can Van Gaal stop Chelsea??

Image
Around 17 years back when he took charge of Barcelona, Louis Van Gaal had a “special” assistant. The assistant who joined Barcelona as a translator under Bobby Robson, made rapid progress and was soon giving match day team talks. Fast forward 17 years, and the assistant is one of the best managers of the modern era. And on Sunday, in a classic master vs apprentice match up, Van Gaal will be up against his most famous pupil, Jose Mourinho. Van Gaal with Mourinho in their Barcelona Days On paper, the result is a foregone conclusion. Old Trafford is no longer the fortress it used to be under Sir Alex. Having had a stuttering start to the season despite being one of the biggest spenders in Europe, United are under immense pressure. The defence looks schoolboyish at its worst. At best, amateurish. Worse still, Chelsea are in the form of their life. Only 8 matches into the season, the premier league title looks like a stroll in the park for Chelsea. But, there is one silver lin
Read more

The Professor- 18 years and counting

Image
From Sir Alex Ferguson to Jose Mourinho, the premier league has seen quite a few top class managers in the last 20 years. But, if there is one manager who changed the way the game is understood and played, it has to be Arsene Wenger. Be it transforming a misfiring winger to one of the most feared strikers of the world, or creating the “Invincibles”, the professor has done it all. They say that in today’s game, every manager comes with a shelf life. But Wenger has built all conquering sides, seen the stars leave, and rebuilt teams all over again. And all this while, Arsenal have never finished outside the top 4. And by any chance if you think that finishing in the top 4 is an easy task, you need to have a conversation with a guy named Mr David Moyes. The evolution of Wenger’s teams can be illustrated by the fact that during the “invincible” era, Wenger was accused by the British press of not having enough English players. Today, with players like Wilshere, Walcott, Welbeck and the Ox,
Read more