im just hoping like hell SAF lets the guys just go....
He certainly let them go, let them go down the drain, along with their modern dynasty.
Let's revisit some of the revisionist history that came after last year's final. As tends to happen with time, reality can easily be forgotten as the story is re-written in favour of the victors. The truth being that Manchester United were very lucky to find themselves in the final last season, after edging a tight encounter with a Barcelona side after a flukey long-range strike from Scholes. Barca had dominated long stretches of the two legs, and but for that one piece of speculative magic the story of the semi final would have been Ronaldo's penalty miss in the first leg, his only real decent contribution in the tie.
Meeting Chelsea in the final, EPL hype reached a crescendo, and another great moment of luck, John Terry's slip, after Ronaldo had again choked by failing on a penalty attempt, handed Man Utd the trophy. They were back-to-back champions of England, and the fact of an all-english final seemed to re-inforce the myth of that league's unmatchable might. People started to believe that this was one of the great football sides.
Leap back one year, the same Manchester United side met AC Milan in the semi-final stages, and after a plucky come from behind 3-2 victory at home, they were completely and utterly humiliated in Italy, by a side that was never in the title race domestically. Irregardless, Milan were largely untroubled beating an english opponent in the final.
Which brings us to today, the Red Devils, had been so caught up in their hype to really believe they could win a quintuple of trophies this season, but having failed in one of those their supporters and the greater population of EPL fanboys had shifted priorities to believe that this team could still take back to back European Cups. In their way a team they thought was unfairly syphoning attention away from the world's greatest league, and its greatest team. Surely they would set the record straight.
Barcelona went in to the game under-strength in defence, which meant the scene was set for Ronaldo to wreck havoc, while he could rely on his own superstar defenders to minimise the threat of Messi. The first ten, fifteen, twenty minutes seemed to offer up this possibility, but then the script started going awry. Barcelona's midfield clicked in to gear and slowly, but surely Manchester United begun to crumble. By the end of the match, the Prince had become the Pauper, as the new king rose to take his crown. Messi shone, while Ronaldo waned, reduced to rushed shots and cynical challenges.
And so, as some of us wake to a brand new day, while others take to their pillows, we can rejoice in the lifting of that insidious veil from our eyes. Cheer, cry, or simply admire, we have witnessed a truly great team explode the myth of another not so special.
And after that, after this year of miraculous Messi magic, let the debate rest, at least for one more season. The young argentinian is truly the world's best, and if you still believe that Ronaldo deserves that credit, then you're a dickhead. No arguing, you're just a dickhead.
