It’s not a scandal. It’s evolution
In a thrilling and riveting match, two European giants clashed for what’s left and next of UEFA’s Champions League.
It turns out David wasn’t such a minion after all: it paved the way to the quarter-finals. Naturally. Smoothly. Meet Ajax and a generation that will certainly mark the near future of European football.
Amsterdam, 1970's.
In an article I read years ago on FourFourTwo, about Cruyff and Neeskens and all that Dutch jazz, I recall something along the lines of “it just so happened that every street football player, from any Amsterdam neighborhood, was destined to be the best European player in his position”.
Flash forward to 40 years later.
Ajax is still an European giant, just like Benfica, Steua, AC Milan, Liverpool and other ‘funny competitors’ that get to, once in every 20–30 years, see the European top flight silverware. Benfica and Ajax are on a different level though: last Dutch title dates back do 19Edwin van der Sar.
Last Benfica title smells like Roman ruins: 19Eusebio and 62;
Last Steua: early 90s (won against Benfica);
Last AC Milan title: I dunno (but they probably won against Benfica).
Real Madrid, on the other hand, just like the early 1950s, found the ‘newfound European life’ through the hands and feet of Cristiano, Casemiro, Marcelo, Bale, Ramos, Modric, Di María, Carvajal and others.
Expensive efforts. It took them millions. It took them a lot of hard work. It took them almost 0 homegrown players to do that. Cristiano and Marcelo speak Portuguese and come from Sporting and Fluminense, respectively. Kroos is a German midfielder with the Bavarian gravitas and prestige of European rivals Bayern München. Modric was bought from Spurs, just like Bale. Ramos? Hot-blooded Andalucian born and raised in Sevilla.
In the end, they ended up smiling and dominating Champions League for 4–5 years, in a never-seen dominance since those Guardiola days.
Now the tables have turned.
I’ve seen the game on Spanish TV (thx Ace) and it’s funny how the name Cristiano Ronaldo is not even remotely muttered nor mentioned by mis hermanos.
It’s like he never existed. The matter of fact is… it doesn’t really matter. While I was thinking about this meaningless crap Ajax was dominating, scoring, setting the pace, telling who the fuck was in charge and who really wanted the quarter-finals. Don’t care about the Real x Barcelona double clash. Physically, Real Madrid are a far more prepared and experienced team. They are usually in the long-run: FIFA Club World Cup, UEFA Champions League marathons, La Liga v Barça & Valencia & Sevilla & Atlético, their usual dance is fast paced.
You would think they would run over Ajax. Newsflash: you’re a douche.
Ajax Amsterdam showed every ‘minor’ team out there that it’s probably easier than you think to run over an European giant.
All you have to do is to keep a good and poisonous ball control and have a killer instinct from the likes of Bergkamp: when you see the goalie, you score. And so they did. Four fucking times. It’s not Bizzarri nor Kiko Casilla there though: it’s someone that goes by the name of Thibault Courtois, probably among the best goalies Football has seen in the last decade (fucked up tonight though:)
To see an outsider team standing their ground is beyond amazing.
You relate to them.
You never get to see those folks.
You think their names are funny: Mazraoui, Schöne, Dolberg, de Beek, de Jong, de Ligt, Ziyech, Tadic.
I mean… you’ve seen them before and they just have amazing stats on a fucking simulation game. Now they’re in the flesh. Bernabéu. Playing their hearts out. And it’s oh-so unforgettable.
Champions League is the real deal when it comes to Football.
You get the see the fined tuned versions of squads about to surprise the most experienced coaches, players, pundits and investors. You get to see the same teams you used to cheer for getting dominated with no chance to survive. Benzema. Kroos. Modric. Bale. This is just Before Gen.
Make way for Ligt, Beek and their friends.
You haven’t seen their best yet!
From someone used to love red and white shirts,
#totaalvoetbal
#michels
#johann
