Beautiful Bayern
Chennai: Are Bayern Munich the most dominant club in the world? Statistics are certainly in the affirmative. Stylistically, too, the German giants have a strong case. Bayern have enjoyed incredible
success in 2013.
The Club World Cup they won after beating Morocco’s Raja Casablanca 2-0 last week is their fifth trophy of the year. Even though the quality of the inter-continental championship wasn’t something to rave about, the ease with which Bayern claimed the title must have embarrassed their opponents.
Bayern’s style of play warrants more praise than their trophy count. Numbers are important but not more important than flair. Neutral fans still talk about the Ajax of the early 70s and the Milan of the early 90s essentially for the way the Dutch and Italian clubs went about their business.
As Jose Mourinho has demonstrated so effectively in his trophy-laden career, it’s indeed possible to win titles without winning hearts. But teams that play the game in a certain way leave a legacy. Bayern are on course to join the league of clubs that are universally loved.
There is no doubt that the German club have replaced Barcelona as the team to beat in Europe and, by extension, in the world. It would be easy and simplistic to put down Bayern’s enviable success to the combination of German steel to foreign silk. But times have changed.
This Bayern team can do the dishes as well as play the piano. Home-grown players aren’t far behind Arjen Robben and Franck Ribery in creativity. It would be invidious to say this class of Bayern is inferior to Barca in style.
The Catalans must be quaking in their boots if they think about the hiding they suffered at the hands of Bayern in the Champions League last season.
Gone are the days of German teams that put a premium on winning. The 2006 World Cup was a transformative event, even though Germany had laid the foundations for a strong youth set-up after a diabolical campaign in Euro 2000. The German national team and top clubs from the country dish out most watchable football these days.
One of the reasons Bayern splashed the cash to bring in Pep Guardiola was the Spaniard’s stress on playing catchy football. Guardiola’s arrival was as much a PR exercise as an affirmation of the former Barca coach’s credentials.
Mental strength is in the DNA of Bayern. Few top clubs in Europe can come back like the way Bayern did after losing two debilitating finals (1999 and 2012) in the Champions League. Winning the Holy Grail of European football in 2001 and 2013 proved that the German club could be down but never stay that way.
Milan headed deep down
Milan headed deep down
Deccan Chronicle/ Sumil V.S.
Chennai: Multiple-time European champions, almost a serial winner of the domestic league in their hay days and under a manager whose credentials are now being questioned by all and sundry. No, the club in question is not Manchester United.
But a team who have been even more successful at the European stage and once a darling of most neutrals. AC Milan.
This Sunday, a clever backheel from Argentine striker Rodrigo Palacio helped Internazionale Milano — or in English Inter Milan — beat their arch cross-town riv-als 1-0 at their shared homeground of San Siro Stadium.
The result ensured that Milan stayed rooted to the thirteenth spot in the points table. With results like these — though the scoreline have been much worse of recent — becoming a norm, it is intriguing that coach Massimiliano Allegri still can drive into the club everyday, that too in a league where the club owners are far more trigger happy than a particularly well-respected Russian gentleman who happens to own a London team.
The days when the biggest — read as most followed in other countries — ‘derby’ in European competition was played out in the ‘captial of fashion’ was not that far. But unfortunately, the latest edition of the clash between two bitter rivals was bitter only because it has fallen so badly in terms of the level of talent on display.
A ‘derby’ where once the likes of Andriy Shevchenko, Paulo Maldini and Gennaro Gattuso showed their might against the likes of Laurent Blanc and Luigi Di Biagio, is now being decided by Alessandro Matris, Robinhos and Palacios.
Worse, Milan still heavily bet on Mario Balotelli — who, for some unknown reason, is still considered one of the best players by a few. With the ‘second half’ of the season set to begin post the Christmas break, many doubt if Milan can finish among the top ten, let alone at a Champions League spot.
( Source : dc )
Next Story