When Inter Milan won the champions league in 2010 they beat that season’s German champions, English and Spanish Champions enroute. Since Bayern had already beaten this season’s premier league and La liga champions, logic would suggest that they were favorites. That said, soccer and logic do not always see eye to eye and this game proved as much. In the immediate after math of the final whistle, the cameras fixated on Di Matteo hugging Ashley Cole and pointing towards him as if to suggest that Chelsea’s old guard had come good and made him proud but Cole pointed right back at him intimating that all the plaudits should go to the Italian tactician for believing in a bunch that Andre Villas-Boas seemed to be phasing out.. That’s the sort of picture (albeit a motion picture in this case) that is really worth a thousand words. If a Hollywood writer had come up with the sort of script where Chelsea’s manager is fired just after a drubbing in Italy, an interim coach is brought in to see them through the final straight, wins the return leg in extra time, goes on to beat Barcelona in dramatic fashion with Messi missing from the spot and overcomes Bayern with Robben missing a penalty in extra time, that script would probably be dismissed by directors while critics would mock it as childish fantasy. In the not so subtle industries of Bollywood and Nollywood (Nigeria) and maybe in a telenovela, the script might’ve be accepted but the point here is that sometimes reality can be more jaw-dropping than fiction. 3 months ago Chelsea were in complete disarray and Di Matteo was called on to pick up the pieces, he’s done more than that, he’s won a double and qualified for next season’s Champion’s league in the...

Obtaining a delicate balance especially in the middle of the park can make or break a team’s season. We can all appreciate the fact that trios have taken over in Europe with the dominance of the 4-2-3-1/ 4-3-3 formations and with that comes the need to find the right balance between attack and defence, between ball players and tacklers, between creative-minded players and plungers, between technically gifted players and runners. That balance can determine whether the team is more attack minded or defensive, whether their game is based on possession or counter attacking. Manchester City was one of the most defensive sides in the premier league last season because of Mancini’s deployment of 3 anchormen in midfield. By adding an attacking player and relegating De Jong to the bench, City have played the most attacking soccer en route to Premier league glory this time around. Then there’s the complex question of the deep-lying passer in the mold of Andrea Pirlo, Xavi, Xabi Alonso and even David Pizzaro. Ideally, the standard triumvirate should be made up of a good tackler, a box to box midfielder who is part tackler part ball passer and a creative player. However, like most things, the reality isn’t that simple. Juventus’ text book midfield Let’s start with the old lady, Antonio Conte’s team has placated their critics with an astounding record breaking 30th Scudetto that they won without a single loss and they could add the Coppa Italia to that feat which would leave them unbeaten in both cup and league- a truly remarkable achievement. Conte owes those victories in no small part to the central midfield trio of Pirlo, Marchiso and Arturo Vidal. Because they use a deep lying play maker in Pirlo, they compensate by playing a plunger/ tackler in an advanced area in Vidal. Marcelo Bielsa used...

When the semi final draw was made, it was hard to completely dismiss the conspiracy theorist’s notion that UEFA intended to have a classico final. The titans of Spanish soccer seemed head and shoulders above the rest and peculiarly both had to play the return ties in Spain. As it turned out, having the second leg at home didn’t turn out to be an advantage and a couple of dramatic scenes later we find ourselves with a Bayern v Chelsea clash in the Bavarian’s famous fiefdom-the Allianz arena. While Bayern will be motivated by the fact that they can save their season from the gallows, as if pardoned by a sweating messenger at the eleventh hour added to their home advantage, Chelsea will be motivated by a different set of demons altogether. With one of the oldest squads in Europe this could be the last chance for a group that has played soccer deserving of a champions league trophy. Also, there’s the small matter of qualifying for next season’s tournament which is now predicated on winning it. Mutually exclusive to either side is the real possibility of ending their season on a damp squib note; For Chelsea a loss would mean missing out on next season’s Champions league and for Bayern, going trophy-less. Battle for Possession Most top managers approach this game the way they’d play an away game, starting cautiously and allowing the players’ nerves to settle in the first quarter hour. For Di Matteo, that decision has already been made and perhaps even more important than scoring, it will be crucial for Chelsea not to concede early on. Ironically, Bayern’s home advantage plays into Chelsea’s game plan. The Stamford bridge outfit has mastered the art of playing without possession since Di Matteo took charge. That’s where this could really get interesting, Bayern are...

Like most things Fiorentino Perez, the trophy handover at the Bernabeu was glamorous, the sort of thing you’d expect from the Chinese at the opening ceremony of the Olympic games. After all, he did promise to build a Hollywood club. At the sound of the final whistle, the lights were deemed for a couple of minutes as a representation of Madrid’s 32 league trophies were paraded on the turf that was covered by a white sheet. One by one the players including those from Madrid’s team B as well as the backroom staff were called out in-front of an applauding Bernabeu crowd to grace the center stage. Whilst the Mourinho project is headed in the right direction and Madridstas have every right to savor their moment, it’s just a matter of weeks before the transfer merry-go-round kicks in and Mourinho acknowledged as much in his post game notes, We will end celebrations today, the players will think about Euro 2012 and I will start thinking about the next season, because you cannot rest on your laurels when you are at Madrid.” You always have to think about the future.” Apart from Fabio Coentrao, the other signings the Portuguese tactician brought in last summer haven’t played a huge part in Madrid’s season. Raphael Varane, the French central defender recommended by Zinedine Zidane put in a couple of impressive performances and he really does look like a star in the making. Mourinho, being the perfectionist, will know that even though his team has broken and set records left right and center, there are a couple of areas that need work. Be that as it may, unlike the current Chelsea and Inter Milan sides that can take a slew of directions, Madrid will stick to their 4-2-3-1 formations and the permutations are generally few. The back-line As is...

When Guardiola called Bielsa “the best coach on the planet”, the Argentine replied abruptly: “I’m not Pep’s master. He is the master.” Those sorts of comments show the respect between the coaches and make no mistake it is mutually shared and reciprocated in all senses of the word. And why not, Guardiola has made history at Barcelona in what could be the still fledgling years of his coaching career if he decides against retirement and Marcelo Bielsa has a monument in Chile because of the work he did with the national team. Already the Bilbao faithful and generally followers of the European game are beginning to appreciate why the man is held in such high regard in South America. Both of these men have one trait that sets them apart from the ‘bottle’ (as Mourinho famously called it in his ‘I am the special one interview), their sides play the game in a certain way, a very specific way with emphasis on specific technical and spacial relationships on the pitch that are a result of constant indoctrination and feverishly practiced drills. Guardiola and Bielsa might have a slight preference for the 4-3-3 come 3-4-3 but the Spaniard doesn’t place as much emphasis on a particular formation as most of the punditry around the European game would have us believe and his team have played a 4-4-2 diamond for the most part this season. In his own words, People talk about tactics, but when you look at it, tactics are just players. You change things so that the team can get the most out of the skills they have to offer, but you don’t go any further than that.- Interview given to UEFA.com just before the World club cup Playing out from the back The cornerstone of both philosophies is possession of the ball and a...

“I liked Rivaldo, because I’ve always thought I have a similar playing style to him,” Boateng told UEFA.com While you must be wondering like I am if someone slipped something into Boateng’s drink before that interview, it’s undeniable that he now plays in a similar zone to the Brazilian maestro- the trequartista position. Here’s a less disturbing interview Boateng gave to Corriere dello sport, I feel like a modern trequartista, in the past, if guys of small stature with great technique and speed played this position, they didn’t participate in the defensive side of the game. Now there are other priorities that come with it, like strength and power.” This trend might be a decade in the making but it has really come to the fore this season. The story of Carlo Mazzone’s tactical conundrum has been told over and over and is definitely worth repeating if only for the fact that he created Andrea Pirlo as we know him today. With both Baggio and a young Pirlo on the books at Brescia in 2001, the coach had a selection dilemma. Mazzone’s compromise was nothing short of genius, Baggio the more established star retained his trequartista role and Pirlo, since he couldn’t play as a box to box midfielder was moved even deeper as a deep-lying passer and behold the new regista was born. After his transfer to the capital, Carlo Ancelotti saw no need to push him higher up the pitch because even though he is no slouch, he is not as mobile as you’d like the trequartista to be. So instead he made the no.6 role as it’s widely known his own but that created another problem- where would the defensive cover come from? Pirlo could learn one or two things about defending and tracking but he is not a hacker and...