Muhammad Ali was the greatest boxer of all-time. Period. Stop.
During the early stages of his career his lightning quick moves and reflexes, along with him bombastic personality, made him one of the greatest attractions on earth. Who could forget the early wins of his career where his power and movement left many in awe of his abilities and ring generalship.
Of course as he got older and slower we started to see the “rope a dope”. Ali would lie next to ropes and he would just let his opponents go after him and expend a great deal of energy in an effort to be able to counter and find the one mistake that he could take advantage of. He also had a cornerman that helped him believe in the concept.
Sound familiar?
Chelsea won their first-ever Champions League title doing so despite all the complaints and all the vitriol sent out in their direction. Roberto Di Matteo’s side became the fifth team (Manchester United, Liverpool, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa being the others) to earn European Cup glory. Maybe it wasn’t the ending many wanted, but they kept it real and showed another option.
I remember my dad saying a phrase that stuck with me after Brazil lost to Argentina in 1990 after the Canarinha lost to the Albiceleste after bombarding the goal defended by Sergio Goychoecha. ”It’s not fair. It’s Football.” Brazil hit posts and could not find the back of the net.
Argentina, on their only offensive incursion of the match found paydirt thank to a pass from an injured Diego Maradona to Claudio Caniggia. Fair result? No, but Argentina got what everyone is ultimately looking to do- score.
There are several other instances. Greece in 2004 beat a Portuguese side twice, in Portugal, to earn the biggest win in Greek football history.
This is the case with Chelsea. They knew that football is not about style points. If you can win with attractive football, that is a bonus. The goal is to try to simplify things and be able to get the results.
Benfica had 180 minutes to make something happen, but they couldn’t figure it out. Many could blame the refereeing, but there were other issues where the Portuguese failed to meet their end of the bargain as well.
Napoli had a two-goal advantage but did not have the courage to seal the deal when they had the chance at Stamford Bridge. Napoli is a notorious for being a Jeckyll and Hyde team. They were brilliant against the Blues at the San Paolo but were irrecognizable at Stamford Bridge. The courage they lacked to finish the tie off at home and to be aggressive on the road, left them along the wayside.
Then come Barça. On paper and in every stat, they were superior. Stats are wonderful when telling stories of triumph and defeat, but they aren’t how winners are determined. Barça outshot Chelsea by light years. What the stats don’t tell you is how many shots were deflected off of Chelsea defenders. As much as people want to embellish football with stats, there is only one stat that matters- the scoreboard.
Barça were so blinded and frustrated by the defense, that they often forgot about defending. They also forgot about shooting from the outside. Let me take that statement back. Barça don’t shoot from the outside. Bayern do. All it took were three offensive opportunities for Chelsea to bury the then-reigning champs. They looked for the space and struck. Quintessential Ali rope a dope translated to football.
Bayern got caught in the same Barça-esque one-track mind of having to dribble through a defense in order to attempt to shoot. Their defensive lapses and inabilities to vanquish their opponent are more the reasons that they today are looking at the Allianz Arena and still think of what might have been. Bayern didn’t lose the match in penalties. They lost it in their inability to break their opponent’s neck when they had them down 1-0 with three minutes to go. They lost it when Arjen Robben got flashbacks and saw Roman Weidenfeller in goal yet again. They lost it when they Mario Gómez was neutralized. They lost it when they became wasteful. At that point, the match was lost. The penalty shoot out and the eventual misses, just made it official.
Chelsea taught us that stats are just a part of the story, but they are not the entire story. Football is about intangibles. What’s the use of measuring how much a player runs if his overall function on the pitch is meaningless? What about a player that barely runs yet he stops all comers and maybe get an assist in the process? Does that make him a better or worse player?
In American football, there is a saying that goes, “Offense wins games, defense wins championships”. Chelsea made that adage even more relevant to football by making their offense count to get the results. Their defense helped get them to where they are right now.
Of course, Chelsea being one of the biggest spending teams in world football and the way that they played might (and has) upset many. Money does buy championships, and Chelsea winning this title is the rule more than the exception in modern football. The caveat is that no one has established a written rule as to how that money (whether it is yours or the banks’) be spent.
I am saying it because I am right? No, I am saying it because I was just as wrong as everyone else. Of course, I never even imagined that Chelsea would be in the final; forget winning it. This is the reason why they play the games. We got spoiled of seeing Barça and Real Madrid as well as a couple other teams that make up that extremely short list. Maybe they didn’t play hallucinogenic football that we have been accustomed to in the past few years. Right now, who is?
Football is not just a game that has to be played attractively. There are no scorecards. You don’t get bonus points for scoring an attractive goal. They all count the same.
In football you have to execute and be concentrated. They out executed some of the best possible competition in which they faced the best player and the best team in the world in the process. They also faced a team that historically in this competition were looking to win against them, in their own backyard. A place where they only lost once all year. To be honest, right now Chelsea fans don’t mind being the most focused and best-executing team in the world right now.
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