Negating Messi

I have now watched two teams contain Lionel Messi. Espanyol and Inter Milan. So it is possible.
How I curse Michael Carrick for costing Manchester United a semifinal spot. Alas this also exposes Arsenal for the team they really are – technically-gifted kids. They will always be a team of kids if they don’t learn that the aim of football is to win. It is the only thing that matters.
It seems strange watching the Champions League semifinals without Man Utd in it. They’ve been there so often recently. Perhaps this year is all about reality checks. Oh, dear.

Get over it!

What do you do when your team loses in the quarterfinal of the Champions League?
Do you go get a life? Do you drown your sorrows? Do you stalk the opposing team’s star player, rape his mother and wife, then cut his penis and make them eat it? No? Then what?
Perhaps, you try to let it go. You try to learn to live with the pain and disappointment and hope for a better result the next time. It’s been three days, and it still feels like shit. So I’m headed for UFC 112, ‘live’. Maybe that’ll do it.

Biased pricks

Gary Lineker (Spurs) anchored last night’s Champions League coverage with Graeme Souness (Liverpool), Steve McManaman (Real Madrid) and Trevor Francis (Nottingham Forest) on Al Jazeera Sport.
Even then, I did not expect the bias against Manchester United that I heard.
All they did, all night, was write off Manchester United. Their biggest faux pas was ignoring Gabriel Obertan’s dazzling skill to set up Owen’s second. Not even a passing reference to him leaving three Wolfsburg players for dead.
Which is why today’s Christmas tune is a healing one – the original Band Aid, when Africa was in vogue:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8jEnTSQStGE