Barcelona 2 – Inter 0
By: MAD | November 25th, 2009
Right now I am the least plugged in individual regarding the game yesterday. I haven’t gone through the comments here and I haven’t read any of the post game stuff as this Thanksgiving stuff is really knocking me out. Frankly, I think that I am better off as most of THOSE PEOPLE really don’t have too much to say anyhow. I am willing to bet we lost this game because we don’t have too many Italians or something… sigh. But I wanted to make sure that there was something here for those who aren’t in the States for this crazy time known as “Black Friday Week”.
So here are my thoughts on this delightful little sojourn. Feel free to disagree, although I probably won’t be around much to dispute anything with you. I admit that my next few statements won’t be anything that anyone wants to read. But I have to say, I think that they definitely fit the facts better than “It was an off day”… yikes.
If I was a fly on the wall in both dressing rooms, I probably would have heard two very different coaches’ speeches. In one, I would have heard something to the effect that a loss would have ended their Champion League season and let’s do this for the city. In the other I probably heard something to the effect that everybody already knew that the two Soviet teams drew – Sneijder, you sit – the rest of you, don’t get hurt, this game is meaningless.
More after the break
And the resulting game is exactly what we got. One team played their little hearts out and the other didn’t run too hard.
Yeah, yeah, I know, Champions League, blah blah, European stage, blah blah.
The draw in the former Soviet Union meant that a win in Milan and Inter are in regardless of the result yesterday. Everyone knew it before the game started. With Fiorentina and Juventus coming up in key matches and the final Champions League Matchday more vital, Barcelona became a chore. We had to show up. We had to play it. But we aren’t going to risk anything or anyone. Sneijder was a no-go. Yeah, yeah, he was injured, but if it was important enough he would have gone. If he’s on the filed against Fiorentina then we know that Mourinho could’ve played Sneijder.
Does this mean that we played to lose? That losing was the plan?
Noooooo. It means that we didn’t risk anything or anyone. That, from what I can tell, we went into the game saying, “A draw is nice – if not, then no biggie.”
Cambiasso only played a half. This is an indicator that this game was snuffed at the start. Cambiasso is the ideal type of midfielder to have on the field when playing Barcelona. As is Muntari, by the by. Playing these guys a half each in this game means that we were saving them for someone else.
Stankovic started. If this game were crucial I don’t think he starts, and we waited an age to bring on Balotelli. In a more crucial situation if we go down by 2 in the first half – he gets in much sooner.
The biggest indicator that this game was a training session was the appearance of Ricardo Quaresma, The Ghost as I have heard him called. 2 goals down and we take out Milito is not the way to fight back into a point.
How about Mouorinho’s body language? There was a distinct lack of energy there especially regarding bad calls or the length of time Barca players were allowed to roll on the floor. He looked pretty disinterested to me.
Am I suggesting a Biscuit between the two teams? It’s not unheard of and I wouldn’t put it past either side, as it’s a deal in which both sides would benefit, but I don’t know that I, personally, buy it. Barcelona keeps the score down, gets a boost going into their derby and gets it’s much needed win; we rest and don’t run to hard and take on a Fiorentina that worked hard for its win – and more importantly have a better chance to keep the status quo in the run up to Juventus, who have a tough game this weekend.
Watch how many people will fail to read that last paragraph correctly.
But speculation aside, the result didn’t surprise me. I know others were looking forward to a back and forth game where both sides would attack and drama would ensue. But this is the Champions League, folks. “Safety” is the name of the game, not “football”. Safety tip number one, in MAD’s book: Make sure that you are in a position to win the Cup that you have a good shot at winning. That Cup isn’t given in the Champions League, that’s for sure. That Cup is a crap shoot after the group stages – and really, most teams are only in it make 10 or 20 or 30 million Euro anyway. The Big Ears Cup is pretty incidental.
The Serie A Championship is a better bet. And like I said, I haven’t read anything or listened to anything regarding interviews that confirm or deny what I have said. I am just speculating reasons that confirm what I have seen yesterday. I know that there are a lot of people upset about not getting a good game. The British commentators made sure that was clear (By the way, I love listening to British commentators talking about a game in which neither team was English or Scottish. It’s like watching a dog turning his head to figure out what you said). But if you thought that Inter were gong to come out with guns blazing, Serie A be damned… then you haven’t been paying attention.
Of course, this is good scheming only if we manage to beat Fiorentina and only if we manage to beat the Russian Champions. Otherwise we have just thrown an opportunity down the drain for nothing…
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Category: Champions League, Dejan Stankovic, Diego Milito, Esteban Cambiasso, Jose Mourinho, Ricardo Quaresma, Serie A, Spurious Gossip, Sulley Muntari, Team News, Wesley Sneijder
Tags: Champions League, Dejan Stankovic, Diego Milito, Esteban Cambiasso, Jose Mourinho, Ricardo Quaresma, Serie A, Spurious Gossip, Sulley Muntari, Team News, Wesley SneijderSubscribe
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Comments | Add your comment
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As an afterthought, Juve the team could, for example, offer to walk out on a match whenever their own fans indulge in racist chanting. Afterall, Juve is an icon in Italy, arguably loved by more Italians than any other club. In my part of the world, most people not yet plugged into Seria A have not heard of Inter, but they have AC Milan and Juventus. As Moratti said, Juve could do more. These big clubs especially have a social responsibility to show solidarity against the scourge that is racism. Balotelli’s case is just a symptom of a wider problem.
Posted from
Singapore
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Are people chanting against him because he is getting more and more arrogant or he is getting more arrogant as a mental reaction “I don’t care a shit, I am over u all” toward the racist society that chants against him?
A curious question comes to mind: If one day he scores the winning goal for Italy in a world cup final, will these stupid heads celebrate the cup? If he is really the next big thing –And I personally think it’s more a hype- then if there is anyone that Italy must put hopes on, it’s this guy if he matures. I mean: If he will be treated properly so he matures.
In any way, his arrogance hurts him in the first place. The racist chants -thrown on him- are basically targeting a massive group of people living all over the world. Including those who are 100 miles better than you and me and deserve respect.
In racism, there is no “Because”. There is only “Shut Up!”Posted from
Sweden -
johonna nobody says he deserves the abuse but there will always be racism no matter what so the only way to tackle it is for people to have their opinions changed through positives not some arrogant fuck who thinks hes gods gift
typical of an inter player easier to play the victim as per usual. does liverani get taunted from the fans, did ferrari? what about gentile?
sorry europe isnt as perfect as america either as you have absolutely no problems with racism whatsoever. sorry was it georgia where they were selling barack obama monkey t shirts??
4-2-3-1 im certainly not a teenager so you can take your opinion and stick it up your narrow arse then you can indeed shut the fuck up.
what im saying is balotelli should be at the forefront of italys fight against racism which is a positive thing surely?? but you lot think im being negative???
its ok though because you would rather him act like a utter dickhead just like mourinho and moratti instead of wanting a positive role model on your team, which makes a lot of sense seeing as though its inter.
then again what do americans know about equality or indeed football?
Posted from
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alex, how the fuck do you come up with what balotelli thinks of himself? how can you judge other people based on what you see in media??this kind of judgment is the problem in the first place, couse by judging he an asshole, those racist feel they justified for some reason, their nuts
“there will always be racism no matter what”
take a look at the BPL, do you think balotelli would be abused there, dont think so.“the only way to tackle it is for people to have their opinions changed through positives not some arrogant fuck who thinks hes gods gift”
there are other way to tackle this problem, for a start the juve player have to recognize that this is RACISM and a WRONG thing to do,Posted from
Australia -
MAD -
Sorry mate I’m in complete disagreement with you here.
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Alex, Alessio, whoever is saying it’s Balotelli’s fault if he gets called the N-word -
I wonder what is the point of your passionate advocating for the asshole Juve-fans who are responsible for this disgrace. Look, we know that not every Juve fan is a racist. We know it’s a handful of dickheads who are unfortunately giving Juve and its whole fan base a bad name in this circumstance.
Why don’t you save yourselves the effort of legitimizing the racist jeers saying they’re somewhat deserved? WHO CARES!! Why not isolating the handful of douchebags instead?!?
I find it amusingly appropriate for you guys to come up with that B-S in the comments to MAD’s piece here. Both positions (MAD’s on the Inter Barca game, and yours on the Balotelli racial abuse) are characterized by the same utter denial of something negative that happened, all of which doesn’t help solving the issues at hand.Posted from
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and accused your a teenager is not what 4-2-3-1 main point alex, your dodging his argument
Posted from
Australia -
its like talking to a brick wall with you people. no one is justifying racism
if the juve fans were so racist why dont the chant against angelo ogbonna who plays for torino?? or fabiano santacroce they are both black italians?
its not just juve fans that have been racist towards him wasnt it a group of roma fans who threw a banana at him???
why am i wrong for thinking balotelli, as a sports personality, should be more positive so he can be a good role model for other black italians?
who gives a fuck if hes a teenager or not? by 19 i had been working for 3 years saving up enough money to pay through university hes been giving the opportunity to play for the champions of italy and still he acts like a twat?
“take a look at the BPL, do you think balotelli would be abused there, dont think so”
your an idiot sammy seriously. first of all its the ENGLISH premier league, second of all you must not of heard the tottenham fans chanting against sol campbell and he used to be loved there? or the abuse adebayor gets?? mido getting called a terrorist shoe bomber?
why is it im getting attacked when all im saying is someone has the chance to really help the anti racism cause but would rather act like a spoilt brat?
Posted from
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‘does liverani get taunted from the fans’: Yes he did. When he moved to a certain fascism-sympathetic club, his own disgraceful fans were racist towards him. He’s endured more than Balotelli, simply because he was an even earlier version of the ‘Black Italian’. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport3/worldcup2002/hi/team_pages/italy/newsid_1910000/1910556.stm
On to tomorrow’s game, does anyone think Mourinho will persist with the 4-3-1-2 again? No Sneijder, no Maicon, no Santon to take over from Maicon, and we’re playing against the team that has one of the best records in Europe this term. Deki’s form seems to be dropping too. Basically, we have no one to drive the attack.
The time is right for Ricky to make his mark. I really hope Mourinho takes a chance on him, and that he takes it with both hands/feet.
Posted from
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Alex, if I may enter the fray here, you working to pay through university is a personal struggle just like many thousands of others who wait at tables or work at the car wash for the same reason, but to carry the torch for Italian racial equality and love regardless of colour or creed…..man, aren’t these a tad too heavy, too huge for a teenager, sports personality or otherwise? The best I would expect from him would be to keep his head down, not react to the provocations, stay calm and talk back only by scoring more goals than any other white or golden Italian, I think he’ll do great and adulation from Italy will follow. But no more than that, as your post implies he should do.
Anyway, while I, like many others, may think Balotelli is an arrogant “twat”, I also acknowledge that his image may be a victim of media manipulation and misinformation, and he may in reality be not be as bad as they make him out to be – Johonna and sammy have rightly asked “how do we know for sure?”. Afterall, Inter’s bitter rivals are owned by powerful people who also own most of Italy’s media. Some of the ridiculous stuff the media put out there would have attracted lawsuits that easily bankrupt them if they do that in other societies.
Posted from
Singapore -
As a die hard Juve fan for over a decade, I find all this racial abuse by these so called “Juventus fans” ridiculous bullshit. It is “people” like these few hundreds chanting “Se saltelli muore Balotelli.” that give football the image of a sport followed by hooligans and racist bigots, when in fact this is not true. I honestly don’t think Balotelli has caused as much trouble as some people like to make it seem as. Yes he’s a teenager, he’s temperamental and he’s gotten a few red cards and had problems with his coach and fans. He’s not the first gifted player who has gone through a phase like this. His few temporary character flaws get amplified on a daily basis simply because he is not white. That is unfortunately true. It doesn’t matter if the guy appears annoying, a cheat, an asshole, a provocateur: race has nothing to do with his character and should never be mentioned. Ibrahimovic seemed like more of a whiny bitch when he was in Italy than what Mario has. Ibra made gestures towards his fans, had a “I don’t give a fuck” attitude half of the time, every transfer period complained through Raiola about a new contract and said that Barca was his favorite team as a child as soon as he transferred there. If for some reason there are still idiotic chants such as these this weekend or even worse the next one it will be extremely disappointing. Hope all of these motherfuckers chanting and ruining it for the real Juve fans get shot.
Posted from
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“Yet his talent has been his greatest weapon in the fight for acceptance.”
liverani doesnt get abused anymore because he has won people over just like balotelli could
maybe i am being to heavy but by just keeping his head down and playing to his potential then that would be positive wouldnt it?
i was using my age as an indicator that at 19 your not a kid anymore and cant act like he does. he seems to disrespect everyone on the pitch
when i say he should be a role model i mean he should just stop acting out on the pitch, from my posts im coming across like he should be taking to the streets and protesting. didnt mean that just for him to act with a bit of humility
Posted from
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Johonna, that’s not at all what I was saying. Racist abuse, no matter whether the fans are racist or not, is unacceptable. Period.
That said, it is entirely different from your “rape” story. No one booed Balotelli when he first started playing because he’s black. No Bologna fans have been booing Muntari or Matteo Ferrari because they are black. It is entirely because of his Cassanata attitude.
Posted from
United States -
Just a thought today since the lad scored a PK.
We obviously need another AM to cover for Sneijder when he is out.
What’s the thoughts on bringing back Jimenez? It will of course never happen because Mou is not convinced, but does anyone else out there agree that he could get the job done?
And as far as Balotelli goes:
He deserves to get abused, but the type of abuse should NOT be racist.
Posted from
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@Svergentina
I don’t know anything about Jimenez but if he’s only a good AM and he can come back now, it’s still better than not having one. In big matches such as the one against Barca, our middle is really non-existent when Sneijder is out injured. I think we should always play with 2 offensive MF, and if Sneijder is out at least we won’t capsize in Europe. I’m still quite curious as to why we haven’t moved to shore up this part of our game; it looks like we should have fixed it 6 months ago. Strong, well organised teams could just choke Sneijder out of the game and we’re finito.Posted from
Singapore -
Jorid: EXACTLY! If I were a Juve fan I would be pissed. The actions of that small group of fans in Bordeaux has painted all of you with their ignorance.
And Alessio, you are wrong. Balotelli has been suffering abuse since made his transition to the first team. It became worse when he turned 18 and Italy recognized that he was actually born in Palermo.
If you look at the banners and what people are saying, the problem is not so much that he is black but that he is a black person who is Italian.
Oh, and I should have a preview up shortly.
Posted from
United States -
Couldn’t disagree more, Johonna, but that’s natural we’d see it differently. Matteo Ferrari never had this kind of problem. When Balotelli first came on in the Coppa, we didn’t jeer him, we just watched him score two goals and said “shit.” When we travelled to Inter and lost 1-0, there were no chants then, which was the first few months of his career. It was only after he acted as an insufferable prick that popular opinion went against him.
Some other teams might have different reasons for disliking him,, like the Laziali I definitely cannot speak for. But that’s how I read it.
Posted from
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Couldn;t agree more “Inter Inter”. It is true that the team needs another attacking presence on the pitch. I have no doubt that whoever we bring inn will settle nicely (may I remind you of Sneijder’s original hesitance, but his now current ardent admiration for the club). Truthwise, Cassano, Van der Vaart, Jiminez, I will take ANYBODY at this point to just not see Stankovic at trequarista anymore or to see Vieira on the pitch.
With the addition of another AM, our team is sincerely complete. We will have creativity, deadly striking firepower, extremely formidable defense, a stellar keeper, and a group of solid midfielders in Muntari, Zanetti, Cucho, and Motta.
That is a team anyone could be proud of.
No more Vieira, no more Stanko at trequarista, or else I fear we will once again fail and are then put at a very high risk of losing Maicon…
Posted from
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i hope Balotelli keeps his ‘arrogant’ attitude.
I think characters like him are great for the game.
Im currently watching the derby della lanterna and Cassano’s theatrics are as entertaining as the rest of the game
Posted from
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In the end racists will suffer from bad karma: what goes around comes around.
Posted from
Spain -
Alex, if I could I would send you to the Congo to try to find a job. Given that you think that racism is going to exist forever, I don’t think you’d like it very much there.
Posted from
Spain -
Deleted by JOHONNA: Sammy, Alex. I am over this and am deleting the comments that are offensive.
Posted from
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hahahah and youre using the congo thing on me?? please dont use other people insult on you for somebody else….
Posted from
Australia -
i just realized its no use try to have a civilized argument with someone like you, just try to remember the majority of the people here DONT agree with your point. and by insulting my imaginary citizenship just raise the question. are you NOT racist as what you claimed? just wondering..be civilized!
Posted from
Australia -
haha no problem Jo, like i said before, just realize its no use arguing with the guy. he’s even insult australia.. hahaha
Posted from
Australia -
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