Second treble on the table... and, they took it!

And, I saw them do it - live!  Visca, el Barça! 
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by PAM


I have been feeling really frustrated to have kept missing the UEFA Champions League matches this season.  In fact, my last post here on the Champions League was published on August 2013!  It's that bad.  

I know that there are trade-offs in the choices we make in our lives, but two years of not being able to watch a full match in the Champions League has been gnawing on my sanity!  Too much work... just too-too much!  It used to be worth it... but, without time to refresh my mind by indulging my (justified) hunger for great fun, adrenaline rush and tactical thinking through a healthy dose of the 'beautiful game' is 'killing me'... seriously!  OK, perhaps following the Spanish La Liga and the English Premier League, too, is a luxury, considering the choice I made two-and-a-half years ago... but missing the Champions League for two years??  OK, that's like sacrilege for a football fan!  

Football fan or not, I think we all deserve some time to have a little fun - even if only for health and sanity's sake.   


***
Putting my foot down... gotta watch the final!

Sooo, before losing it, I put my foot down and decided to mark my calendar and cancel anything else that coincided with the Champions League final in Berlin... especially that the final is between my favorite Club, FC Barcelona (o, yeah!), and Juventus FC!  As it turned out, I didn't have to cancel anything because the match airs live via cable on a Sunday at 2:30 a.m., Manila time.  So, I had to sleep early Saturday night to wake up in time for the game.  And, oh, boy!  What a treat it was!

What a reunion between Barça... and I! :)

The match was a fast-paced one, with the men from both sides starting with spirited sprint on that beautiful green turf of Berlin.  Everyone watching knew right off the bat that both sides were gunning for the cup with powerful artillery - no compromise!  Both sides have a worthy mission.  Both sides won their local Leagues and local Cups going into the Champions League final.  Juve was gunning for their first treble - the 8th Club to do so if they managed to get Lady Luck smile their way; and Barça was aiming to make history to become the first Club to achieve the treble twice.  Juve's manager/head coach, Max Allegri, was a worthy victor... but so was Barça's freshman head coach/manager, Luis Enrique, relatively young as he may be!  

Champions League followers were expecting the final match to be a battle of midfields, Juve's was led by the veteran, Andrea Pirlo, and Barça's was led by the brilliant Andres Iniesta.  Everyone was also picturing a duel between Barça's "magician", Lionel Messi, and the Italian side's seasoned goal keeper, Gianluigi "Gigi" Buffon, in front of the Italian Serie A champs' goal.  Naturally, a swarm of defenders were about Messi early on; and naturally, Lucho Enrique and Don Andres expected this, and so did Neymar Jr., who pressed the Juve defense early on.  It was a battle of midfield tactics alright.  In fact, duirng the first four minutes or so of the match, the quick-witted Don Andres Iniesta orchestrated the attack for Barça, getting his men touch the ball, once, twice on the turf as they gather towards the Juve goal.  Don Andres found a little opening, slipped the ball through to Ivan Rakitić, who acted quickly and decisively, and sent the ball past the surprised Buffon (and he's rarely surprised!) to hit the back of the net!  The Catalan side took the driver seat, 1-0, merely four minutes into the match!  And the sprinting and tactical battle intensified.  Whew, beautiful!

The rest of the first half was a great duel of wills between the two sides...  Barça pressing to provide a cushion to their lead, Juve was looking to equalize while resisting the advances of the opposite side.  Their horns were locked tightly, but I gotta say that the great tactician, Don Andres, and the South American demolition trio, Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez, with the do-or-die hustle from Dani Alves, kept Juve mum, as they pressed relentlessly.  Barça's attack crew kept the ball with the Catalans, not giving the Juve attackers, led by Carlos Tevez, much chance to create damage.  

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Finishing the task

One would think that in the second half, Barça would be running to finish the match with another goal, but it was Juve's Alvaro Morata who picked up the remains of a saved attempt for a goal by Tevez, about ten minutes into the second half, to equalize. That scattered the Catalan men for a while, and the Barça defense was the first to appear like they were feeling the heat.  It did look like Juve was going for an all-out attack of the FCB goal manned by the 23-year old German keeper, Marc-André Ter Stergen.  However,

Neymar, securing the win with a third goal for FCB.

the young goal keeper, calm and serene in front of the goal, proved to be up to the task - very impressive!  I have to say that Barça's defense, which was usually suspect when things go wrong, proved to be equal to the task as well... well, after recovering from their "initial shock" caused by the Morata goal anyway.  Call it the Don Iniesta calming leadership effect... that man has that effect on his team.  He gets them back on attacking track - fast!  

The formidable South American attacking trio in front of the Barcelona crew kept pressing... they launched many attacks that would've shattered to pieces a goal keeper made of less finer stuff than Gigi Buffon was.  At some point though, something had to give.  In one of the blistering attempts by Messi to get FCB in front again, Buffon saved, but spilled the ball, which was apparently went too weighty after being walloped by Messi's left foot.  The hungry Suarez, without hesitation, sprinted to send the loose ball to the back of the net as Buffon was still sprawled on the turf recovering from Messi's assault, 2-1.  Such is the lethality of Barça's attack line.  Just as quickly as he scored though, Suarez picked up a yellow card as soon as the game re-started after Barça's celebration of his goal! :)  Oh, boy!  At least, the yellow card did not involve biting of someone's ear. ;)

The lead could have been stretched by Neymar to 3-1 about the 70th minute or so, but his header was ruled out as the ball accidentally touched the back of his right hand before flying to the goal. That little touch couldn't have changed the trajectory of the ball... but it was disallowed anyway, and it was fair enough.  Juve then continued to press for opportunity to equalize, as Barça's South American attack trio did the same relentlessly, propelled by the midfield, which was led by the great Xavi Hernandez in the last 15 minutes or so of the match. After a few rolling around by Suarez, whose wailing can be a bit embarrasing and/or irritating at times, Lucho decided to pull him out, and Pedro Rodriguez came on.  During the last minute of the five-minute stoppage time, Messi, Pedro and Neymar ran for a final attempt for a goal, which sent my heart all a-thump-thumping with crazy excitement!  And Neymar kicked the last goal in with such force uncaring about any sort of destruction that such force may cause - no chance for even the likes of Buffon to stop - claiming the 2015 Champions League trophy for good... and FCB's second treble!  And, into the history books they went!  Yowza!  

Awesomeness?  Ah, well... no other way to describe it!  I was glad that, at least, I watched the final - live!  If only for that, I resolve to avoid ranting (here) for the next... uhm, five (working) days, maybe? :)


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P.S. Footie Beautie

I have to say, I love this Barça - Lucho Enrique's Barça, that is.  Their movement as a Team is very fluid.  They still play the "possession football" that was central in Pep Guardiola's Barça, and they still work wonderfully as a Team as in the "Pep era", but there's a bigger component of "no-excuse attack" that makes this current ensemble very exciting to watch.  There is a hint of "savagery" in their hunger to get those goals coming... there is a flavor of unabashed display of enjoyment as they make those goals after a relentless pursuit.  There is raw desire for the best result possible... it's honest, it's compelling, it makes one wants to celebrate with them, it's great! 

Pep's Barça was all about tantalizing movement.  They moved beautifully and gracefully in a well-timed approach to the goal that they were just breathtaking to watch.  They seemed to be playing football on their own, without opponents!  The fantastic goals seemed like mere "icing on the cake", and the trophies are more of a payment to the display of beauty rather than a prize for winning the competition.  Lucho's Barça has more 'muscle', and they have no qualms about displaying it, and they do so as beautifully as possible, too.  They are not only beautiful to watch, they produce nail-biting excitement in their devil-may-care attacks, but in a well orchestrated moves that involve the whole Team nevertheless!  They keep you on the edge of your seat, they make their spectators gush adrenaline, and they challenge their opponents to match their pace.  Pep's 'delicately beautiful men' have been transformed to Lucho's 'exciting men's men'!  It felt different to watch this new Barça, and I love it! 

And, I love all the show of love among the 'beautiful men' of this 'beautiful game'... all the kissing and hugging without any hint of self-consciousness, all the good cheers after the match that show true sportsmanship, are just fantastic to watch.  I missed seeing all this for the longest time... it has been killing me!  But, I got good dose of my 'wonder drug' from the Berlin final of the Champions League.  Life is good!  It is, ya know! :)    

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Photo credit:  I took all the photos in the collage from the Balls Channel live feed via Skycable (Channel 34), except the center photo, which was obtained from the UEFA Champions League's twitter account - thanks.

*** 

Thanks, October...

...it's been great, and i don't mean it in an "Oktoberfest" sort of way - too bad!
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by PAM


I haven't lived through a single month with so much trials, turmoil, devastation, test of character and strong resolve to do what was right, amazement over so many fantastic and/or shocking things, and tremendously joyful moments of sweet little victories, too... until October 2013 came along, that is.  These events plastered on my calendar (and now my memory) like contrasting stripes... and you can just imagine the emotion that went with every stripe.  Up to the very last hour of October 2013, I was debating with myself on whether I made the right decision on this and that... especially THAT! :)  If you were my friend, and I have been talking to you over the last week or so (and that's like two or three of you only), you know what that is.  Yep, extremely challenging... that's what October 2013 has been for me.  But, yep, I've never felt more alive, more 'accomplished', and somewhat wiser and braver... just because every single piece of effort was spent for someone except myself, spent for a cause bigger than myself.      

For every October 2013 challenge won, I felt tremendous joy... and when I finally made the decision on that, it was totally liberating - whatever the implication of my decision was.  The important thing is I gathered enough courage and bravery to confront the challenge, stare it down like I was unafraid, acknowledge borrowed wisdom from the people I look up to in order to trim the choices to just two, made the choice, and put my decision in black and white... 'cause either way, there will be uncertainties and heavy sacrifices... and maybe, even hurt feelings - and, mostly mine, too, that's for sure.  I'm glad I took the more difficult choice - the harder decision.  'Cause I realized after a few days of reflection that there is greater opportunity to be happy about it when all is said and done.  All I need to do is live one day at a time... hold on to my faith, the very good intentions and hopeful aspirations in my heart, and work very, very (very, very) hard to make the decision work... and try to enjoy every minute of it, too.
  
***
Thanks for the 'beauty' and the time to appreciate it

In the meantime, THANKS, October.  Despite the tremendous 'hardship' you brought, you've proven yourself to be generous enough to give me the precious time for this...

Finally, some 'beauty'.  Oy!

It's been months since I last saw similar beautiful images on my television screen.  It felt like it's been forever since I last felt the delicious, delicious exhilaration that those images bring.  The excitement that makes your heart race and pushes you to the edge of your seat is unbelievable.  The burst of emotion that makes you jump and scream, "whoa, aweeeesoooome!" is absolutely priceless!  :)  It's strange that these beautiful images and delicious exhilaration should come again to rekindle my love for the 'beautiful game' on a hard, hard month that October 2013 is!  Mysterious, life is.

Oh, but I have to say, FC Barcelona's away kit is, ahem, ugly. :)  And their defense still sucks!  Their passing is less than impeccable, too.  What's going on?  

I know that they are still convinced, like Pep Guardiola was during his tenure as Barça big boss, that 'the best defense is offense', but other sides have already caught on, and are exploiting the weak Barça defense.  On the other hand, the heavy defense of sides like AC Milan for instance has been making the Blaugranes forwards work tremendously hard to find cracks and create space... and the Catalan men pay such heavy price on counter-attacks because their backline is weak.  Tata Martino needs to figure this out - how to strengthen the Barça backline.  They still bring home the bacon, that's true, but they need to get back

Pep's not-so-secret weapon back in his Barça days. 

to their perfect quality of play in order to snatch back the 'best in the world' recognition.  Right now, Bayern Munich seems to have that title - officially per FIFA silverware, and in form and quality, too.  Now that Pep is pushing everyone, demanding high-quality output from the Bavarians in the perfectionist fashion that he was famous for in Barcelona, it seems that there is no limit to what the Bavarians can achieve in the next how many years.  On the other hand, Barça's greatness - as a Team - seems to be eroding, even if the individual players remain world-class quality-wise.  

Winning for Barça these days must be all about dynamic adjustment of tactics on the pitch, because other sides have already figured out the Barça greatness under Pep's leadership.  Martino  needs to infuse his brand of greatness to Barça - quickly and effectively - a uniqueness that will surprise the other sides, and delay their reaction on the pitch - to give Barça enough time to keep scoring a win.  That was the beauty of Pep's leadership in Barça... he led his men to stay with the delightfully beautiful tiki-taka patiently, patiently, and ever patiently!  Waited for the opponent to feel frustrated and confused, and waited still until they let a space open up in their frustration and confusion.  Messi and his cohorts would then go in like the flash of lightning through the little cracks in the defense to score a win!  They did that all the time... their opponents became weary of this, nervous of this... and it gave Barça the aura of mystery and unmatchable intelligence on the pitch, quickness that 'killed', and invincibility that was hard to figure out.  This is why Pep designed his tactics around Messi because Messi had the quickness and precision that Pep needed for his tactics to work. Add to that Messi's youthful enthusiasm to play quick and beautiful, and Pep had the perfectly adorable side that played beautiful and exciting football.  But José Mourinho figured out Pep's Barça

Tata Martino... concocting the new recipe for winning.

game plan (there... I finally acknowledged it), and he let the whole football world know of his discovery.  Barça slowly lost 'the aura'... and it was then when Pep knew it was time for him to move on - to give his beloved  Barça a fresh opportunity to re-invent itself as a Team with a new and unique tactic. 

Martino, while he needs to be faithful to the Barça's brand of 'beautiful football', must come up with this uniqueness... something that will surprise their opponents, the way Pep surprised his opponents during his tenure, the way Pep found the winning formula.  Martino still has Messi - the best player in the world... and now, he has Neymar Jr., too.  He still has Xavi Hernandez and Andrés Iniesta, and Cesc Fàbregas still shows brilliance given the right opportunity.  Like the ever-reliable attacking midfielder, Sergio Busquets, the work efficiency and dedication of Javier Mascherano in the defense line deserves kudos, too.  While Gerard Piqué seems to need some 'straightening up', Dani Alves remains lethal, and Adriano Correia seems 'moldable' to a bigger role. In short, everyone has got it in him to deliver the goods when asked...  and that's a lot to work with to concoct the new winning recipe for Barça.  The question is, when will Martino start hammering his influence through?   

Alright, November, I wanna know the answer to that question.  Therefore, be kind!

***

Ask...

...and it will be given to you.
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by PAM

God answers prayers.  He does... and quickly, too.  Just last night, I was praying for patience and hopefulness to endure the 'extreme boredom' I have been feeling lately.  A few minutes after I said that prayer, he gave me (all of us, Barça fans, actually) this:

Barcelona - Real Madrid Highlights HD 26.10.2013 by FCBHDWorld

El Clásico, baby!  Oy! :)  If that did not give you a reason to pump your fist - with feelings - I don't know what else could.  I saw it LIVE (!) - uhm, well, via cable, actually. :)  

This new edition of Clásico was relatively tamed, but I'm digging how Lionel Messi walked in last to complete the Barça line-up... with some discreet swagger - very, very cool!  And, boy, I love the way Neymar Jr. played his first El Clásico - totally fearless. He gave the Blancos absolutely no respect!  Awesome, awesome!  Fantastico, Braziliano!  Oy!  And that overhead chip by Alexis Sanchez that put the Blaugranes ahead by two goals was totally splendid!  I hope we see more of those in the near and distant future.  I have to say, I enjoyed the diva-ish protests of the 'one and only' football grand diva, Cristiano Ronaldo - the man who introduced "man purse" to the world is absolutely reliable for heavy drama on the pitch. :) But, to be fair, that was a penalty, it should have been called.  Then again, there were penalty-worthy contacts, too, against Barça that were not called.  Whatever, for as long as Victor Valdes denies the diva the limelight with heart-stopping saves, the second-most-expensive Blanco is as good as entertainment. So, carry on! 

Visca, el Barça!  

Boy, it's been forever since I last yelled that... and it feels great!

***
Wooing lady luck

And then this afternoon, it was beginning to feel like lady luck have decided to abandon me... I was stuck in heavy, crawling traffic on my way to the Electrical Engineers Oathtaking at the SMX Convention Center at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.  But, she changed her mind... looked my way, and smiled.  I made it to the very last part of the Program.  I got to celebrate with our graduates... and it felt like heaven!

Total passing rate:  55/57, #2 Top Performing School in the country
(#1 in the 50 or more Exam takers category) with one in the Top 10.

Batch 2013 passing rate:  54/54... yep, 100%!  :)

Later in the evening, I heard Mass with a person I admire, respect and love.  She celebrated her 80th birthday with her family and friends by thanking God and hosting a delightfully sumptuous dinner... in the historic Manila Hotel no less.  She did not accept gifts... she simply requested her well-wishers to express their generosity instead with the children she supports in a shelter.  I kept wondering where she gets her energy at her age... she gets it from dedicating every kJ of energy she has in helping the needy.  

Last night, I prayed for patience and hopefulness... I received those, and so much more today: inspiration, joy, excitement, exhilaration, and the warmth of friendship.  

So, yep... 'ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you'.  It's as simple as that... it's as mysterious as that.   

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