I wish to salute Manchester United and their fans. In fact I would suggest that if I were not a fan of the Aristocracy, the only other team I would cheer is Manchester United and that has nothing to do with what they do on the pitch. It is all about class. I did not watch their game against Bayern Leverkusen last night and that was because I was so fatigued. I guess age is beginning to catch up with yours truly; after sitting until late on tuesday to watch the Chelsea match and the post match analyses by the pundits and waking up early to a busy wednesday, it was too much for my mortal body to take. I however woke up early today to watch the highlights and the results surprised me. That however is not the reason I admire Manchester United. It is the quietness on social media in spite of the feat their team achieved. They are not gloating. Meanwhile the noise from that other side is increasing at an alarming levels. I see posts, comments and photoshopped images all illustrating their supposed glory. One particularly funny one is a very tall photo of Arsene Wenger posing like someone conducting an orchestra! I hope that soon, they will learn that you can do a lot of talking in silence. Man U did that last night and that is very dignified of them. The other story that interests me is that of remarkable comebacks and I have a feeling that we will be treated to one on 11th December, 2011. I get to that shortly. Fans will be familiar with the UCL Champions league of 1999 when Bayern Munich was leading until Manchester United orchestrated a remarkable comeback starting with a Teddy Sheringham goal. Some of us may have been too young and therefore missed that match which was played 14 years ago. If you missed that 1999 Man U feat, you definitely watched another of remarkable comebacks, again at the finals of the UCL 2005. Liverpool was trailing the Rossoneri by three goals but in a few minutes of absolute madness, the Rossoneri collapsed allowing Liverpool to equalise. Liverpool beat them to lift the trophy in the ensuing penalty shoot out. Chelsea was trailing Napoli 3-1 in the run up to the second leg of the last 16 in 2012, their year of glory. Napoli had a fluid and attacking team boasting the likes of Edinson Cavani and Ezequiel Lavezzi. Pundits gave Chelsea no chance to recover. However Chelsea conjured a remarkable comeback at Stamford bridge, edging out Napoli to book a place in the next rounds. What the story of remarkable comebacks tells us here is that the only three clubs in England to have registered a remarkable comeback are also the only ones which have won the holy grail of European soccer: the Uefa Champions league! A story of a remarkable comeback is one of grit, mettle, endurance, determination, steel, focus, wit and ruthlessness. It is the story of Manchester United, the story of Liverpool and the story of Chelsea the London Aristocrats! The EPL league also has its own stories of a remarkable comeback which will be very relevant to Napoli. Napoli is a decent side which is managed by a very experienced gaffer especially in Europe, Rafael Benitez. Indeed he is the one who led Liverpool to that famous night in 2005 so he perfectly understands the story of a remarkable come back in Europe. Rafael Benitez will be very interested to watch the video of a certain EPL match played on 5th February 2011. Newcastle was trailing in that match 0-4 by half time. I was watching the match at a pub and I got so disappointed and frustrated with Newcastles display, I decided I was not going to watch the second half. I was so surprised to learn later that they had rallied from behind to draw 4-4! I had to watch a replay of that match later to see to believe! Napoli has its pride of place in history. It is the team of the best player ever in history, the legendary Diego Maradona. May be 11th December, 2013 is the day for Gonzalo Higuain to score a hat trick. May be that is the day to add another paragraph to the narrative of comebacks. May be it is the day to make Diego Amando Maradona proud!
Posted on: Thu, 28 Nov 2013 06:17:13 +0000