Thursday, May 02, 2013

Bayern Munich's beating of Barcelona will send shockwaves around Europe...

There was a moment in the second half when the Bayern players, 2-0 up on the night and on their way to a truly staggering 7-0 aggregate victory, started to pass the ball around to shouts of "Olé, Olé, Olé" from the travelling fans. They were, basically, taking the mickey. At Camp Nou. Against the team that has dominated world club football for the past five years.

It was as if Bastian Schweinsteiger, Javi Martínez, Franck Ribéry et al were looking the Barcelona players in the eyes, saying "now you know what it feels like, to chase and chase and chase, without ever getting close to the ball. Not that nice, is it?" Bayern were like Barcelona at their best, only better. After the first goal, Xavi Hernández was taken off and, nine minutes later, so too was his midfield colleague Andrés Iniesta. Both looked stunned by the footballing lesson they had just been given.

At the final whistle there were crestfallen Barcelona players slumped all over the pitch, yet this result will be felt way beyond Catalonia. All over Europe managers and players will have been watching; realising that a new chapter in European football was being written, thinking: "How can we possibly compete with this?" In some ways Bayern's display was both exhilarating and demoralising.

In the north west of England Sir Alex Ferguson, if he was watching, must have done so with a sinking feeling. Manchester United have been utterly dominant domestically this season and lead the league by 14 points, yet not even Ferguson, surely, can look at his squad and think they are capable of beating this Bayern side. The United manager is likely to invest in the summer but how many world-class players would he need to sign to catch up with Bayern? Three? Four? Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Why are Bayern Munich having so much fun in the Bundesliga?
  2. Sir Alex Ferguson is a magician, says England boss Roy Hodgson...
  3. Lionel Messi never dives...
  4. La Roja: the roots of soccer's Spanish fury...
  5. Why Chelsea's victory over Bayern Munich is not every English fan's cup of...

No comments:

Post a Comment