The return of magical nights
Football is very easy to play and simple to explain. Almost all exceptions bear the signature of Madrid on the European night. The history of the Whites’ presence in the 33rd European Cup semi-final (11 more than their next opponent Bayern) has little to do with the game. “How do you explain Madrid’s victory?” – Guardiola was asked. “This is football.”
City were better, they shot more (34 to 8), had more possession (64 percent to 36), attacked much more (120 to 19), took more corners (18 to one), had better aim (11 shots on goal and two balls against a tree) … but history, tradition, the shield, the inexplicable, inexhaustible competition of whites, the spirit of Juanito, the “flower” of Zidane, the luck of Ancelotti (who always reached the semi-finals with Madrid) and any other unearthly factor that had nothing in common with the ball.
There was resistance, solidarity and unshakable faith. “There is only one way to win here,” the Italian proudly declared in the press room… the same coach who asked Kepa when Courtois was injured because he did not trust Lunin. While the smartest “football planet” continues to seek explanations for these nights of white magic, the average merengue enjoys what the comedian called “Real Madrid DNA”: “You come to the exam with 10 questions, answer five and get an eight.” . In Europe this DNA sweeps away everything.
Exported
In previous issues, the team was a corpse from which even positive news could not be extracted. Last Tuesday the culé came out sad, proud, outraged, humble, hopeful, furious and satisfied. All at the same time.
Araujo was wrong, but Rafinha was right; Cancelo was wrong, but Lewandowski was right; Javi was wrong, but he leaves at the end of the course; The referee was right in sending off – “small foul”, but if the whistle is red – he made a mistake in Gundogan’s penalty – if you whistle for Araujo’s contact, you whistle for Vitinny’s contact -; Mbappe was stopped well, but he scored two goals… how to analyze such chaos? Inferiority explains everything. There were two qualifying rounds. One of 120 minutes, 11 against 11, ending with a score of 4:2 in favor of a good Barça. There were another 60 minutes, 10 versus 11, in which PSG won 0–4.
Yes: in other years there were no green shoots anywhere to justify the demolition of the soulless block; This season, at least, there is something to hold on to so as not to fall into another (classic) episode of leopard depression and self-destruction.
Unable
Excusing Atlético’s elimination by Morata’s failure after four minutes is cheating at solitaire. “If he manages to score” has the same force as “if Bayern manage to score any of the 47 shots that did not qualify for the 2016 semi-final.” The team is in the lead despite the top five, and Oblak has missed a goal in 11 games in a row. It’s better to look back than at the Nine: in 2024, the Colchoneros conceded 36 goals, the fourth-most in Europe.
What can be concluded from the disaster in Germany is that he does not know how to dominate and be a favorite, that he is a better counter fighter than an advantage boxer. He was a giant against Inter in the second round and a dwarf against a passionate, physical and supportive Dortmund side who always believed in a comeback… and scored four goals.
old Europe
Bets that had pointed to brilliant Arsenal as semi-finalists were dashed with disappointment by a smaller Bayern side set to finish the Bundesliga one stitch behind Leverkusen (they are currently 16 points behind) and who had already fired. Tuchel asserted the codes of old Europe, where the weight of the shield and tradition are worth more than a handful of good intentions and refined football. Let them ask City.