It's not working, Nando

Liverpool’s season seems to get worse by the day – every misplaced back pass, every scuffed shot, every yellow card borne out of a frustrated tackle – it all contributes to what is turning out to be a spectacularly average year for the Red half of Merseyside.

A 1-0 defeat at the DW Stadium last night left Rafa Benitez’s team struggling to cement 6th place, leave alone 4th, as their hopes of getting into the Champions League were dealt a huge blow by Hugo Rodellega’s first half goal. The strike itself was fairly scrappy, with the Wigan front man somehow contriving to squeeze a cross in after Dirk Kuyt managed to pass the ball straight to the opposition 18 yards from his own goal. Without resorting to panic, it’s safe to say that the consequences of this result could unhinge everything Benitez has been striving to build at Anfield for the past six years.

Not qualifying for the Europe’s top competition would result in, apart from significantly less revenue, Javier Mascherano packing his bags and upping sticks for Barcelona. The Argentina captain has been one of the few bright points of the season so far – his long passing has improved immeasurably, and his drive and work rate carry the team a lot of the time. Frankly speaking, he deserves to play in the Champions League, and with contract talks dragging on, there’s a very real possibility of him leaving. Alberto Aquilani, who has struggled to make an impact in part due to Rafa’s unwillingness to play him, would also probably be on a flight back to Serie A, with the old lady of Juventus showing a bit of leg to tempt the former Roma player.

Apart from this, there’s always a worry that the owners might, in their frantic need to pay off the ever growing debt, sell Fernando Torres. Anathema to any Liverpool supporter, but the possibility must be considered. I know I have. Of course, the debt itself could turn into an uncontrollable monster – no 4th place -> no CL TV revenue -> minimal investment in new players -> probability of selling off one or two big names to help balance the books. Tom Hicks and George Gillett – take a bow. An almost complete lack of investment in players has led to stagnation and apathy setting in at all levels of the club. Apart from the unfulfilled promise of a new stadium, which my grandchildren would probably be lucky to see built.

Before you accuse of me of leaving Benitez out of this, I’d like to say that a lot of blame lies with him as well. Regardless of all the talent in the squad, the players (Mascherano and Lucas aside) have appeared to lack motivation and direction, particularly against the so-called smaller teams in the league. The players always seem to be up for the marquee matches against Chelsea, United and Everton, but just can’t seem to bother showing up for games like the one at the Dave Whelan stadium last night. Yeah, the Wigan chairman did name it after himself. Yes, it does sound a little ridiculous and self-aggrandizing. Poor sod.

The fact of the matter is, things are out of Liverpool’s hands now. They need Tottenham and City to self destruct, and at the same time win most, if not all their remaining games – two of which are against United and Chelsea. I’m very, very worried as I write this. And if you’re a Liverpool fan, you should be too.

In the end, it was Lionel Messi who put the finishing touch on Barcelona’s incredible season by heading in Xavi’s pin point cross into the goal – a goal that would effectively finish off Manchester United’s own hopes of winning the Champions League. And as Barcelona passed the ball around in their usual unparalleled style leaving United players chasing shadows – it just seemed like the team from Catalunya was playing football from a different planet. The fact that Barcelona were missing their first choice wing backs, had two 35 year olds as their replacements and had a central defender who had played in midfield all season absolutely didn’t matter because quite simply their midfield didn’t give United the ball. And let’s not forget that the team they were outclassing had just won the league title and had the best defensive record in the Champions league.

 It had all started so differently for Manchester United – with a flurry of chances and almost 80% complete posession in the first ten minutes of the game. Things started to go awry when Samuel Etoo scored in what was Barcelona’s first shot on goal in the tenth minute. United almost certainly never recovered from that shock and if it wasn’t for Van der Saar’s heroics and the goal post, they could have very well ended up losing the match 4-0.

Following Etoo’s goal, Barcelona just seemed to find the same composure and rhythm that has seen them score over 150 goals this season and with every passing minute a United comeback seemed less likely. On a night when Barcelona had atleast six players stepping up to the big ocassion, it was a sad indictment of United’s performance that the images that will be most remembered were there of Ronaldo losing his composure repeatedly on the left flank towards the end of the game. United quite simply missed both Darren Fletcher and Owen Hargreaves – Anderson and Carrick simply not having enough quality to put brakes on Iniesta and Xavi’s relentless passing. 

  There is no doubt that Barcelona absolutely deserved this victory, their third in European history and their first since that famous victory in Paris in 2005. Pep Guardiola’s amazing transformation of this team which had previously gone three years without winning a title will become the stuff of legend.

Clipping of the wings:

The bad news doesn’t end there for the Spanish champions elect – French left-back Eric Abidal received what was perhaps a harsh red-card for a foul on fellow Frenchman Nicolas Anelka in the second leg and he too will miss the final. The loss of Abidal will be another bitter blow for Barca with the former Lyon man one of their most experienced defenders.  If losing Marquez and Abidal wasn’t enough Barca are also going to have to line-up without the influential and brilliant right-back Dani Alves. The Brazilian schemer is one of Barca’s best players causing all kinds of problems for defenders down the right-flank. Interestingly, losing the two wing backs will also mean that United manager Alex Ferguson will not have to deploy Rooney or Park down the wings in order to negate the full backs going forward.

A makeshift defence

So Barca’s defence is going to be somewhat of a makeshift one with  Puyol and Gerard Pique in the middle with maybe midfielders filling in the left and right-back positions.  Sylvinho might probably slot in for Abidal at left back- but he has hardly featured in a big game for a long time. For a Champions League final this is not an ideal situation by any stretch of the imagination and it will be a huge task for coach Josep Guardiola to form a decent defensive unit out of what he has available.  I’m still fairly confident of a Barca victory myself, though I wouldn’t use my Champions League bet to back them with mega-money given the defensive crisis. They will probably spend most of the game attacking but midfielders like Xavi and Iniesta will have to track back more than usual to help out the defence.

With a seven point lead at the top of the table Guardiola may risk putting out the defence that will line-up against Manchester United in one of their three La Liga fixtures before the final. If he does that it should give us some indication of how they’ll cope against United. Whatever the circumstances leading up to the game I can’t wait for the final. Both teams play exciting football – Barcelona love to hog all the possession and United are probably the best in Europe at counter- attacking and we should be in for a high-tempo game full of quality, let’s hope so anyway.

Raul,Uno,Dos,Tres

Madrid took on the Andalusians Sevilla at the Sanchez Pizjuan looking to score a win and cut down Barca’s lead to 4 points. Sevilla started using their wings pretty well and with a packed up 4-5-1 with Kanoute leading the attack. Perotti constantly troubled Sergio Ramos and Sevilla took the lead in the 16th minute through a fine header by Renato. Real Madrid sat back allowing Sevilla to attack and looking for the elusive counter attack. They managed to equalise just before HT through Raul who latched onto a Metzelder pass into the box with a characteristic poacher’s finish. Raul continued to show his maturity and talent and scored twice and thrice in the 2nd half to give Real Madrid an unassailable 3-1 lead within 65 minutes. Sevilla kept attacking and managed to pull one goal back through 2nd half substitute Diego Capel but that wasn’t enough to win them any points as Marcelo scored a late 4th goal to seal a win for Madrid.

This makes next week’s El Clasico a great match up with Real Madrid looking to win to cut Barca’s lead down to one point. Barca on the other hand will have one eye on the midweek CL semis against Chelsea in what seems to be a heart attack week for the Catalans and a mouth watering one for the neutrals.

First of, let us get to the game at the Santiago Bernabaeu, a heated encounter between the bourgeouis darling Real Madrid CF and the blue collar suburbs,Getafe. Getafe being almost a feeder club of Real as Valladolid used to be in the past played with all the valour and physical effort. Higuain opened the scoring for the Merengues just before half time. Getafe played with a lot of heart after the break and managed to put two goals and take the lead in the Tie. Then started the great show.

In the 84th minute Pepe the tall Madrid defender of Brazilian roots lashed out at Getafe Skipper Casquero after the latter won a penalty after a push by Pepe. Pepe lost his head big time and started a fight with the players which included kicking Casquero twice and punching Albin in the face and also swearing at the assistant referee while being sent off.Then amidst all the chaos Iker Casillas stopped the penalty which was a stupid lob and Real Madrid scored twice in 10 mins to take home a great win which put them -3 with the league leaders Barcelona. Pepe meanwhile lost his head again after being sent off by running back onto the pitch to celebrate Higuain’s winner.In one of the biggest abuse of professional standards, Pepe Le Phew landed himself in hot soup and got himself a 10 match ban,which i find to be very minimal considering the history of punishments accorded for such violent incidents in the past. Even that fight between Diogo and Fabiano got a 6 match ban. Real Madrid get to pull some strings as always and get away with it.

Barcelona hammer Sevilla

Then Barcelona took on Sevilla at the Nou Camp and what followed was a total demolishment of a very good Sevilla side missing Palop and left winger Adriano.INiesta was the star of the show as he opened the scoring for Barca with a neat long range shot and followed it up with assists for the other three goals.The little man from Albacete ran the show running circles around the Sevilla defence and Barca quelled the Sevilla challenge running winners with a 4-0. Etoo,Xavi and Henry being the other scorers.

When these two English juggernauts were drawn together in the Champions League quarter-final you could almost hear the collective groan of the football world. It was the fifth time in a row the two had met in the knockout stages and I for one was thinking ‘not again.’ But oh how wrong I was! Like a fool I opted against watching the first leg but I’ve watched the extended highlights since. Now I wish I’d bothered to get up, go out and watch it but thankfully the second leg was even more eventful.An eight goal thriller ensued and it was perhaps the best game of the season, at least so far. So many times when the top sides meet the promise is so much greater than the spectacle but no one could have written the script for the game on Tuesday night.

The incredible first 30 minutes 

Liverpool faced the massive task of having to score at least three goals if they were to stand a chance of progressing. It seemed like an almost impossible feat to achieve but they made the best of starts. Fernando Torres missed a brilliant chance to open the scoring before Fabio Aurelio got the ball rolling with an outstanding free kick. The Spaniard anticipated the fact Chelsea keeper Peter Cech would rush out for the cross and slipped the ball cleverly into the bottom corner to give Liverpool the start they needed, game on. Xabi Alonso doubled Liverpool’s advantage from the penalty spot just before the half hour mark and it seemed as if Liverpool were going to seal the most unlikely of comebacks and turn the world of football betting on its head.

Chelsea come back in the second half 

Chelsea were rocking but the introduction of Frenchman Nicolas Anelka just before half time lifted the home side. Anelka, who missed a penalty in last year’s final, made an impact in the second half when Didier Drogba got the faintest touch on his cross to make the score 2-1 to Liverpool. The Reds’ task hadn’t changed much, they were still chasing that elusive third goal. Centre-half Alex seemed to have ended Liverpool’s hopes when he levelled the tie with an unreal free-kick and Liverpool needed to start all over again and get another two goals.Then Frank Lampard stepped up to give Chelsea a 3-2 lead after latching on to the end of Drogba’s cross to score with a simple tap-in. Liverpool just didn’t realise their hopes had faded though and evened the score again thanks to a goal from youngster Lucas Leiva. A remarkable comeback was on the cards yet again and Dirk Kuyt gave the Reds more hope when he popped up to score a great header and give Liverpool a 4-3 lead. Lampard dashed any hopes of a Liverpool winner when he netted in the 89th minute to end the scoring in a remarkable tie. The game was a showpiece for English and European football and will go down as one of the greatest European ties of all time.

Newcastle’s appointment of Alan Shearer as manager came as a massive surprise to most, so much so that people thought it might be an April Fool’s Day wind-up at first. ( in fact a couple of Football websites had to assure their readers that it wasn’t an April Fool’s stunt). The Geordie legend has no experience as a manager so they’ve brought in Iain Dowie to act as assistant to Shearer in what was probably a wise move.Shearer has said he is at Newcastle ‘just for eight games’ and has ruled himself out of stepping into the hot-seat on a permanent basis next season. 

I’m not convinced he’s telling the truth to be honest and if Newcastle do defy the current football odds and stay up this season I think he might stay on.I liked Shearer as a player, how could you not really (unless you supported Sunderland) but I think his years at Newcastle altered him. All this talk of the ‘messiah’ has to go to your head and you’ve got to ask – does Alan Shearer believe his own hype? I think that question was answered when he decided to take over the reigns at Newcastle with an emphatic ‘yes.’

He has no experience as a manager yet he still thinks he is the man to keep Newcastle United in the Premier League. It could have been an astute move from the former Newcastle, Blackburn and England legend. He will be fully aware of the impact he will have at the club and the fans will be behind him from the word go, whatever his first results are. Make no mistake, despite the current predicament the club find themselves in the atmosphere at St James’ Park will be electric for at least his first few games in charge.

If Shearer does manage to keep Newcastle in the top-flight it will be a massive achievement, especially in his debut appearance as a manager. If Newcastle keep their Premier League status Shearer might be promoted from ‘messiah’ to ‘God’ by the Toon army and I believe he will stay on and take charge permanently next season. Whether it will be in a joint role with a more experienced head remains to be seen but I wouldn’t waste my money by betting against Shearer sitting in the dug-out for Newcastle’s opening fixture at the start of the next campaign.

Picture Source: BBC

As far as sports businesses go, they don’t get any bigger currently than a leading European football club. The reach and support of teams such as Manchester United, Real Madrid, Liverpool, Arsenal, Barcelona, and AC Milan spread far and wide and easily trump any American Baseball or Basketball team. And any company that is looking to establish its name globally could do well in sponsoring one of these clubs. And it looks like in 2011 we might just find the Manchester United team taking the pitch with a Tata logo on their jerseys.Over the past few days Indian websites have been abuzz with details of how the Red Devils have approached the Indian conglomerate with different sponsorship opportunities. And judging by the comments coming from the Tata offices, it looks like the company is seriously considering these proposals. Tata already has its logo on the Ferrari F1 car as a result of Tata Consultance Services (TCS) being Ferrari’s technology partner. 

AIG’ s Financial Problems:

In recent months, current Manchester United shirt sponsor American insurance giant AIG’s financial problems have escalated resulting in the company’s decision not to extend the shirt sponsorship beyond 2010. The U.S. government (or the American tax payer) now owns 80 percent of AIG and many see the AIG – United deal as another way of U.S. tax payer money going abroad unnecessarily. All this has resulted in senators calling for AIG to cancel the 14M Euro payment due towards sponsorship for 2009.

Over the past few months, the marketing department at Old Trafford has been working furiously to court new sponsors- a lot many of them being Asian companies. Companies include Saudi Telecom, China Telecom, Sahara Group (who of course sponsor the Indian Cricket Team as well), the Malaysian budget airline Air Asia. Other companies that are in the running include British insurance giant- Prudential, Pepsi and McDonalds

The Muscle of Manchester United

Tata has just got so much free publicity from the Nano (mostly positive) that people might wonder if Tata really need to spend another Rupees 50 Crores on this deal. But considering that United nearly have 75 million fans all over the world (with at least half of them in Asia) and their matches consistently get audiences that go into the hundreds of millions this could be a fabulous move for Tata. Tata of course has recently acquired prominent global brands like Tetley (beverage), Jaguar, Land Rover (Automobiles) and Corus (steel). 

A win- win deal?

Personally, it almost always amazes me just how many Indians with absolutely no interest in football  know about Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo and about the top four English clubs. And surprisingly, in India football (or atleast European Football) is more of a upper class sport with many young members of the middle class watching a lot of football on television. And Manchester United probably recognize that a deal with an Indian corporate could well open to new football and business avenues of growth in the country. And with Tata doing its best to improve its brand presence globally – this could be a win-win situation for both the parties.

  On Tuesday night, Liverpool smacked seven shades of shit out of Real Madrid. Yep, Real Madrid. The 4-0 result (5-0 on aggregate) will reverberate around Europe, possibly even more so than Bayern Munich’s 7-1 massacre of a hapless Sporting Lisbon. Fernando Torres scored his first goal of the Champions League this season with a close range finish from Dirk Kuyt’s dragback, making sure that the visiting Madrelinos were well aware of who had drawn first blood in the second leg of this Last 16 tie. Steven Gerrard, appearing in his 100th Champions League game for Liverpool, scored the second from the penatly spot, after the referee and his assistant had wrongly adjudged Gabriel Heinze to have handled the ball in his own box. The third goal also came from Gerrard’s boot – a superlative finish to round off a move which he had started near the penalty spot. His first-time half-volley from Ryan Babel’s cross crashed into the back of the net, leaving iker Casillas with no chance at all. When Andrea Dossena side-footed into the net in the 88th minute to make it four (read that: four!) nil, the Spanish number one was reduced to tears of frustration.

This was Madrid’s heaviest defeat in European competition since 1989, when the Milan side of Arrigo Sacchi thwacked them 5-0. Tonight could have been far, far worse had it not been for Casillas’ heroics. Rafael Benitez must take much of the credit, showing his former employers exactly what they were missing. Whether Liverpool can go all the way to European glory under this much-maligned genius remains to be seen, but for now Liverpool fans all over the world will be basking in the warm afterglow of a superlative performance.

Man of the Match: Javier Macherano – Provided the assist for Dossena’s goal. His relentless running ensured that Madrid never had time to pause and catch their breath, while his tackling was exceptional