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by PAM
When the going gets tough, the tough, uhm... takes a break? :) However the 'saying' goes, I need a break right now. Therefore, 'footie beauty' time:
Uh, let me clarify, it isn't so much about Pepsi (just a bit), it's more of the 'beauty of footie', and the awesome 'supermen' who play it... the best of 'em all is in the video - Lionel Messi, of course! :)
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| No work is ever a "torture" if you're accompanied by something "beautiful". It's the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinal days... good days! :) |
Yep, footie could be that one fun company on these sleepless nights of grading test papers, problem sets, and lab reports - a teacher's "Waterloo" - well, at least, it's mine. Whew!
Today, it didn't help that the first leg of FC Barcelona and AC Milan's QF tie at San Siro resulted in an incredible draw. Messi's magic didn't show up in its full regalia today... just glimpses of greatness. Ugh! While the Catalans' attacking crew's build up towards the Milan goal was superb as usual, creating many chances, their finishing was surprisingly weak - at best... and flawed - mostly. They didn't seem to have anticipated how Milan planned on closing-in on Messi... as in "very close"! Well, not the Marcelo-Pepe-Ramos Real Madrid kind of violent closing-in... but Nesta et al. did build an effective 'moving fence' around Messi... and it helped Milan that the turf was oddly too slippery for the Catalans' tiki-taka to work effectively.
Barça's defense, while highly improved over the past how many matches, remained precarious, with Dani Alves busier on the offense than defense, leaving a big hole at the back, and Gerard Piqué's game was still far from 100%, leaving the critical space in front of Victor Valdes highly vulnerable to "stray ball-ets". Milan's defense, on the other hand, was superb... "incredible", I should say! But they were gun-shy in attack... yes, and that includes 'The Tower of Terror", Ibra himself. The big guy seemed to have concentrated on contributing in defense more, I think. Therefore, the tie was lacking in explosive excitement that the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza crowd was obviously anticipating... I don't recall having to look up more than 10 minutes from my "grading Waterloo"... and I don't recall Pep Guardiola doing any of his animated worth-watching-out-for antics on the sideline when his men did something awesome. If anything, the whole match aggravated my splitting headache! Aaargh!
Alright, lose all that "caballero inhibitions" now, Pep... pack some serious "fire power' and 'let loose' out there on the Camp Nou pitch next time around - it's QF... and you're up against Serie A's best, for cryin' out loud! "Man up", brother... and kick some, uhm... (star-studded) ball! Bring on second leg!
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Video credit: Thanks, YouTube, for the video link.
