“Oh Nou… I fluffed it”
Comment and analysis round-up
Quote of the day: “We’re normally better than that at keeping possession. That is what causes me more concern than any other part of the game. We will analyse why in the next two or three days, but we lacked penetration. We were not quick enough breaking out of central areas and, when you give the ball away at this level, you have to go back and defend.” - Sir Alex Ferguson.
Runner-up: “That was a horrible way for the game to finish for John [Arne Riise] and I really felt for him. He’s been here a long time and done some wonderful things for this club. He’s a great lad, too, and no one is pointing any fingers at him. We’ve got to try to get his head right now because he could have an important part to play next week. A few of the lads had a word with him at the end and I will do my best to pick him up. That is my job as captain but it’s also just the way we all are here. Win, lose or draw we do it together as a team. It’s not about individuals or apportioning blame. It’s about sticking together and that is what we will do. We’ll be looking out for John over the next few days.”- Steven Gerrard.
Today’s overview: Post-match analysis of Manchester United’s goalless draw at the Nou Camp focuses attention in today’s backpages.
The Guardian’s analyists believe Sir Alex will be content this morning. David Pleat (Guardian) noted that “the watching world will have been disappointed but, in containing Barça’s easy-on-the-eye build-up, the visitors’ job was done”, and Barney Ronay (Guardian) basked in the knowledge that “how refreshing to be reminded that at this rarefied level football can still be awkward, tense, even at times rather unsatisfying.”
However, love for Manchester United is in shorter supply in The Times. Matt Dickinson arguethe Manchester United manager got away with his misguided team selection, just as he did famously in the Champions League final here in 1999″, before noting that “Cristiano Ronaldo may be a shoo-in for the individual accolades in England, but last night there was a rush of fresh applications for the Messi fan club.” (Richard Williams also jumped on the Messi bandwagon in the Guardian.) Martin Samuel added a brief history lesson, pointing out United acchieved goalless draws at “Monaco, Madrid and Volgograd in previous campaigns and lost all three ties. Only once, against Panathinaikos, has a goalless away draw set United up for a home victory.”
The dissenting voice of optimism in The Times comes from Tony Cascarino, who feels that “Barcelona seem vulnerable as a unit. Their insecurity is summed up by their reliance on Lionel Messi, brilliant but only 20 years old. Apart from Messi, Barcelona were poor, especially in the first half.”
The Telegraph’s Henry Winter splashes with the surprising claim that “fractionally ahead of Rio Ferdinand, Scholes was man-of-the-match for a performance rich in well-timed tackles and well-judged passes.” (Note how The Times gave Scholes an 8/10 rating, the Guardian only 6/10, while the Telegraph themselves only rated the midfielder with a 7/10 - and Wes Brown got an 8!)
Ian Herbert (Independent) used last night’s match to illustrate how, with respect to Ronaldo, “the Best comparisons [are] short-lived. A more abiding image will be of the Portugal international on the right flank, arms thrown out ahead, in frustration at a free-kick refused after Zambrotta had put a stop to a run early in the second half.”
Looking ahead to this weekend, the Sun’s Steven Howard wonders if “Ferguson [will] give it the gun and attempt to blow Avram Grant’s side well and truly out of the water? Or does he rest players against a Chelsea team that has to be at full-strength to keep their title hopes alive?”
Transfer gossip appears in the papers. The Independent claim that Inter Milan’s Ibrahimovic and Balotelli could be on their way to Stamford Bridge, while Spurs’ Younes Kaboul could be off the Juventus. The Sun claim that Luka Modric and Steve Sidwell could be heading to St. James’ Park, while Mark Schwarzer is ready to trade Boro for Bayern.
Tom Dart (The Times) wonders whether “Chelsea [are] dreaming of Moscow because John Arne Riise was thinking about Luton?” (See the Luton incident here.)
In other news, The Guardian’s Lawrence Donegan investigates the likelihood of Sepp Blatter’s foreign player quota system coming into force. Money quote: ”In a fist fight between the privileged and self-aggrandising bureaucrats of world football’s governing body Fifa and the self-aggrandising and privileged bureaucrats of the European Union the temptation is to hope both sides will punch the living daylights out of each other before keeling over and leaving the rest of us in peace.”
