Day -462. WorldCup2018
The Barcelona moment: the day after. After the euphoria of the historic
win against PSG the reflection set in. The six goals included two
questionable penalties (but how often are penalties awarded without a
few questions?) and an own goal. The excitement of the outcome,
considering what the score was in the 88th minute, cannot be denied. How
Barcelona achieved the result could be questioned, maybe? Or is it too
soon?
My football loving character Jim (see
yesterday) is probably still on a high. When I think back to his near
misses over the years (you really have to read yesterday) I think it
could have all started with Real Madrid's comeback from being 5-1 down
to Borussia Monchengladbach in the UEFA Cup in 1985. The 4-0 second leg
win was epic. That made Jim want to be at a classic moment like that.
After a couple of missed opportunities (Arsenal, 1989 and Man United,
1999) he watched with envy in 2004 when Deportivo La Coruna came back
from losing the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final
against Milan 4-1. Their 4-0 win in the second leg was the biggest
turnaround in the competition's history up to then. Jim thought Arsenal
could be his team, the ones to give him the epic victory. They had been
so close against Bayern Munich 2013, losing 3-1 at home and then winning
2-0 in Germany. And before that, against Milan in 2012 when, after
losing 4-0 in Italy, they were so close with a 3-0 win in London. Jim
thought the 5-1 loss to Bayern this year, in the first leg, would set it
up perfectly for a 4-0 Arsenal win in the return match. Not quite,
Bayern won 5-1 again and Jim learned never to put too much trust in
Arsene and Arsenal ever again. Last night healed all of Jim's wounds.
No comments:
Post a Comment