Champions League Finals Today: Give Us A Great Match!

Champions League Finals Today: Give Us A Great Match!

I know that there are lots of hot political issues to discuss: North Korea's nuclear test, the nomination of the first Hispanic-American female to the US Supreme Court, and, of course, Silvio Berlusconi's affair with an 18-year old! But today is the biggest match day in the European football (soccer) season: The Champions League finals. The two biggest European clubs duking it out to determine the best club in Europe and arguably the world. Today's finalists: Manchester United and Barcelona.

Most of us that will watch the match today will be neither Manchester nor Barcelona fans. All we ask for is an entertaining, thrilling match. All we are saying is give us a great match. In the age of football commercialism and match-fixing scandals, winning has become the objective. Winning at all costs. Winning dirty even. Against the practical commercial imperatives and this philosophy of winning for the sake of winning, true football fans like myself want a brilliant match. An entertaining match. A dramatic match. Heroic fighters, guile, and exquisite skill. Attacking football too. I know I am asking a lot, but these foootball clubs that will be playing today are mini corporate empires. They pay stars like Messi (photo left), Henry, Eto'o, Ronaldo (photo right), Tevez, and Vidic millions of dollars. So we the fans expect entertaining, action-packed football.

I don't care about the result because Manchester and Barcelona are not clubs close to my heart. I care about a good match, whereas the respective supporters of the two clubs want to win, plain and simple. My memories as a kid are of excellent teams that won and others that lost. That is the name of the game. The best team will not always win. Brazil's national team in 1982 and 1986 had gifted players in abundance (more gifted than the team that won the World Cup in 1994), but they lost. But they played with gusto, joie de vivre, and brilliant attacking, one-touch football. Football that mesmerizes its viewers. It was a joy to see them play and real football fans cried when they were defeated.

The best Champions League finals in recent memory was in 2005 when Liverpool defeated AC Milan 4-3. Something amazing occurred that day. Liverpool was down 3-0 at the half and won the match in unlikely fashion. This is my template for an entertaining, dramatic finals. It will be hard to repeat the heroics of that day. So when Manchester United and Barcelona take the pitch today in Rome all we are really saying is give us a great match!

Tamir Bar-On