I’m glad that two teams from the same country won’t be playing each other in Europe, becuase it will be boring. Moscow was boring last year - no matter how much everybody tried to pretend it wasn’t . The prospect of an all-English final is even more boring because they play each other interminably domestically. Liverpool and Chelsea have met 23 times in five years. That’s more than four times a season!
On Wednesday night, I was delighted to see Andres Iniesta swing his right boot and ruin Chelsea’s chances. No, I wasn’t just being pathetic, or selfish. I had right on my side. If Iniesta hadn’t scored, or if Ovrebo had given one of the 17 (the number keeps on rising with every mention, doesn’t it?) clear cut penalties Chelsea earned on the handful of occasions they got the ball from Barcelona, then football would have slowly, but surely, been ruined.
This isn’t because it’s Chelsea, some sort of anachronistic rant about Johnny-come-Latelys ruining the game. If it had been any other English side (apart form Liverpool as I am a Liverpool fan) , my own apart, I would have felt the same. Nor is it a passionate defence of how Barcelona are football’s great artists and deserve to be in the final (which is true). No, football would have been ruined because Europe is slowly, but surely, getting bored with the English.
The Champions League TV revenues which have revolutionised our top four into sporting behemoths do not just come from Sky and ITV. They come from all over Europe, funnelled into UEFA’s coffers and distributed from there. But European broadcasters only pay so much because they think they’ll get a bumper audience if one of their teams reaches the latter stages. But, all over the continent, the Premier League’s giants are buying their best players, knocking them out of Europe and getting stronger every year. Sky might like it, ITV might like it, we might like it, but nobody else does. The French press praises Barcelona’s resilience. It doesn’t criticise the referee.
It’s hardly a scientific test, but judging by my inbox today (sample text: “hahahaha”) and the names of the teams on St George’s crosses at England games (Curzon St. Annes FC, that sort of thing), most people who want English teams to do well support smaller clubs. So for all of you who won’t admit you wanted Chelsea to lose, who cling on to some misguided notion that Michael Ballack attacked the referee because he thought England had been cheated, remember this: Andres Iniesta’s goal saved your club. Why don’t you write to him and thank him?
