Let’s have a look at the fabulous football in last week’s action. Arsenal gunning past giants Bayern Munich to shock-crash out of the League Cup, the goalless Manchester Derby, the ‘Losing One’ vs the ‘Normal One’.
Arsenal recorded their first win in their European campaign, surprisingly enough, against Bayern Munich, and ironically giving the Germans their first ugly ‘L’ for the entire ‘perfect’ season. A controversial goal from Giroud and a fine one by Ozil, helped the Gunners blow open the race in the group. Bayern may have held on to the ball quite well, but it was in the counter-attack that Arsenal edged all out on. Arsenal’s pace was just too much! I mean did you see that Bellerin guy’s gallop!? Did he head for the corner to kill time? Of course not, he plays for Arsenal. Instead he got around his man and squared the ball for Mesut Ozil, who side-footed goalwards.
Let’s not talk about Giroud’s happy handball goal, and let the gunners have their deserved thunder. However, the thunder was short lived for the Gunners. Championship team Sheffield Wednesday had quite the shocking Tuesday, beating Arsenal 3-0 in their League Cup meeting. And to add salt to the wounds of Arsenal, not only were they eliminated from cup, but also had two of their best players, the Ox and Walcott, limping out of the match. It’s always either a glorious dream or a dreadful nightmare for the Gunners, ain’t it?
Bayern on the other hand have a lot of kinks to iron out, especially on handling pacey counter-attacks. They also go into the second leg with Arsenal coming to the Allianz Arena –although I’m not too sure if that is a good thing, considering Arsenal’s form in Munich as of recent is not looking too good for the Germans. However, the Bavarians are boosted with the surprise return of Arjen Robben who seems to have had no problem finding his old form again, scoring a very Robben-esque goal, just on his comeback game, in a 4-0 win against humble FC Koln.
There’s also a possibility of Bernat and Badstuber returning, which would be for the best for Bayern’s defense.
Also, something that’s mention-worthy was Neuer during the defeat. Yes, he made a bad move –but when hasn’t a goalkeeper done. However, the saves he made really showed the world how much of a class apart he is. This weekend though we saw the German champions record for longest running winning streak, since the start of the season itself, of 10 matches in a row come to an as they were drawn 0-0 to a very defensive Frankfurt team.
Coming to the Manchester neighbours, what an interestingly unentertaining event it was. I mean, other than a status contest of who spent the riches better, it was quite the dull evening out in Manchester.
United had half-hearted claims for a penalty dismissed in the second half, following Raheem Sterling’s clumsy challenge on Herrera, however, City walked off reclaiming the top spot in the Premier League with the draw. Just another expensive bore, I’d say!
Now coming to the scene with the special one and the normal one. Saturday night we saw the not-so-mighty-now blues, along with the not-so-special-now one get swept away by a stellar performance from ‘Klopp and kompany’. Yes, Chelsea opened the game with a very Ramires goal, but did Liverpool come back, hard. This was a true glimpse of the skills of Klopp. The match showed how he knows to control the flow of the match, and how he’s adhered to getting the buy-in of his players, and the ability to work out the visible weaknesses of the opposition. And man-management. Everyone’s seen, at least through youtube, as to Klopp’s motivation powers, and here was in evidence as he urged his players on from the sidelines throughout. All felt the force of his criticism during the first half, but by the final whistle, all they felt was the German embracing each and everyone of his men with nothing but heart-felt gratitude. As for Mourinho –your act of playing the victim is becoming quite the bore, man! Quit giving excuses and do something about it.. or not, completely! I mean, I’m in no way a Chelsea fan, but when they showed Lamps’ face at the end of the match, you feel for them.
I’m not even going to say the usual ‘Let’s see the special one has got saved up’ and just move on. It’s just another sad story.
Let’s just move on to a more exciting story called the Champions League. A few clashes to watch out for are the 2nd leg clashes between PSG – Madrid and the Arsenal – Bayern clash. A few other possibly entertaining ones would be Chelsea – Dynamo Kyiv, CSKA Moscow – United, Sevilla – City, Monchengladbach – Juventus. May your teams be blessed with wins and goals galore! And wait for next week’s round of the European and weekend clashes!
