It was supposed to be the biggest tie of the fifth round of the FA Cup, pitting the last two Premier League champions against each other. But of course, when you have the manager of one of those teams coming out and saying he wouldn't be fielding a "real" team, well, it does rather take the wind out of the sails.
Against Chelsea, Manuel Pellegrini did just that, fielding five kids making their full debut -- guys that most City fans, let alone neutrals, would never had heard of. Tosin Adarabioyo? David Faupala? Cameron Humphreys-Grant? Are you kidding me?
I stress that this is not a knock on the kids. They did the best they could and hung in there for nearly an hour. It's a knock on the competition.
Pellegrini rested the bulk of his veterans because on Monday his team travels to the Ukraine to face Dynamo Kyiv in the Champions League. This is his last season as Manchester City manager. The club has never been past the Round of 16.
Pellegrini also has a gaggle of injuries and half-fit players, so he asked for the game to be moved to Saturday. Chelsea certainly weren't opposed to playing on Saturday so you'd think the Football Association would have been happy to accommodate him. Not only would they have gotten a real game out of it, they would also have helped English football's UEFA co-efficient by giving City a better shot at getting past Dynamo.
But no. Citing a range of logistical issues -- from Fulham playing at home on the same day to the needs of the TV rights holders to goodness what other nonsense -- Pellegrini was told to suck it up.
And now some are accusing him of violating the sanctity of the FA Cup? Really?
The upshot was a mess of a game, which, admittedly, was in keeping with the other damp squibs in this FA Cup round. It's not Pellegrini who is disrespecting the FA Cup. It's the people who run it, seemingly incapable of basic organization and logistics.
What will Roma do about Francesco Totti?
There is no good way to navigate the twilight of a one-club legend. Whether it be Kobe Bryant, John Terry or Raul doesn't matter; there are simply some that are less bad than others.
Roma knew the day was coming when Francesco Totti would become an issue. He turns 40 in September and for the past five years he has simply kept going when others might have contemplated retirement. By and large, he also produced, chipping in 30 goals over the past three years on a team that twice finished second.
This year, partly due to injuries, he has been limited to six appearances. Last week, he came on for the final four minutes against Real with Roma 2-0 down. It was probably not something he appreciated.
"Being managed better is something that would benefit everyone," he said Saturday. "A bit of respect for what I've given this club... I admire [Roma coach Luciano Spalletti] as a manager and a person... But I wish he had said to my face some of the things I read in the papers." It's not clear to what exactly Totti was referring. Local media has found quotes with Spalletti talking in general terms about the need for energy and self-sacrifice or saying that Roma fans had seen great players like "Batistuta, Falcao and Totti," basically referring to him in the past tense. Whatever the case, the "respect" dig was enough for Spalletti to drop Totti from his matchday squad for Sunday's game with Palermo, which Roma won 5-0. The resounding win -- and Mohammed Salah's wonder goal -- kept some of the controversy at bay, but only some. (Heck, even Lindsey Vonn weighed in.)
Spalletti's relationship with Totti goes back a decade, but things and people change over time. As a club, Roma have bent over backwards for him -- a gig as an executive is no doubt waiting for him the minute he hangs up his boots -- just as he has arguably done more for Roma than anyone in its history.
There is a reasonable solution to this; there must be. The real issue, and one that applies to Totti as it does to other one-club legends cited above, is that Roma is all he has known since 1989 when he joined the club just before his 13th birthday. And perhaps, in his heart of hearts, he knows that right now he won't be able to contribute as a club official even a fraction of what he gave Roma as a player.
It won't happen, but maybe the best solution would be for Totti to leave in the summer and go elsewhere. Far away. Keep playing if he wants to (and if his body lets him) but above all, learn something new and different. Then, come back in a few years' time in a club role.
Barca come close to disaster at Las Palmas
Eventually, it worked out fine for Barcelona and right now, they're fully nine points clear of Real Madrid and eight ahead of Atletico. But Saturday in Las Palmas was one of their ugliest wins of the season, a miserly 2-1 made possible by a goal that ought to have been disallowed. They had just 53 percent possession and were out-shot by an opponent mired in the relegation zone that had lost four of their past five Liga outings -- it all adds up to a distinctly un-Barca experience.
You can rattle off the mitigating circumstances. Gerard Pique and Sergio Busquets were out, while Ivan Rakitic started on the bench. They had to take a three-and-a-half hour flight to get there. The game took place in hugely windy conditions. Outside of international breaks -- which obviously aren't breaks at all for the vast majority of their players -- they've gone more than three days without playing just twice since August. (Once over the festive period and once just before that, they had four days between matches, though they spent one of them on a plane headed to Tokyo for the Club World Cup.)
But the fact remains: Las Palmas matched them in terms of performance and could easily have grabbed a draw or more. Is there a reason to be concerned?
Probably not. Rather, it says more about how sides like Las Palmas (and Levante a few weeks ago) have adopted a blueprint to take on Barca. Las Palmas knew they were bound to lose, so they came out swinging with three strikers plus two attacking midfielders. They didn't sit and look for the counter, they tried to play in Barca's half. That's neither something to which Barcelona are accustomed, nor, clearly, what they expected.
Las Palmas fed off the crowd, the MSN were quiet and we nearly had ourselves a shocker. It won't happen every week and, in any case, you can bet next time Barca will be prepared.
Sad banners at Inter
Inter rolled over Sampdoria 3-1 Saturday night to move back into fourth place in Serie A and keep those Champions League hopes alive -- they're fourth points behind third-placed Fiorentina -- but it was two returning heroes who stole the show, Ronaldo and Jose Mourinho.
Talk about contrast. Mourinho's Milanese road show saw him showered love by the Nerazzurri faithful (as you'd expect for the guy who delivered the Treble) whereas the Ultras reserved a slightly rougher treatment for Ronaldo. At one point, they displayed a banner that read, roughly: "Legends don't change shirts, Pieces of s--- do."
Both men developed deep bonds with the club and the fan base; both also left for Real Madrid. The difference, of course, is that Ronaldo came back to town to play for the arch-rival, Milan. Inter adored him for 18 months, during which he was arguably the best player in the world, and then nursed him through three-and-a-half years during which he started just 14 Serie A games. They could live with him moving to Madrid -- not least because he fetched a sizable transfer fee -- but they saw the return to Milan as a betrayal.
I appreciate loyalty and passion as much as the next guy, but given what Ronaldo brought to Milan -- 20 appearances and nine goals in two seasons -- I don't quite get the Benedict Arnold tag.
Why are Real Madrid still struggling?
The Madrid papers went with "Adios Liga" headlines after both Atletico and Real were held this Sunday. Atletico failed to break down an excellent Villarreal -- you can see why they're fourth in the table -- and paid a price for the absences in central midfield (from Gabi to Agusto Fernandez to Thomas Partey, who may be young, but could have done a job). Games like these surely leave Colchonero fans wishing Diego Simeone had a bit more faith in Claudio Kranevitter.
As for Real Madrid, their 1-1 draw at Malaga was messy. Cristiano Ronaldo missed a penalty, but both sides fluffed numerous chances to the point that it could just as easily have ended in a home win. Statistically, Zinedine Zidane hasn't been an improvement over Rafa Benitez but the real issue goes well beyond the managers and goes back to what has dogged the club for the past few years: it's simply a poorly constructed squad.
With Karim Benzema absent, there's no bonafide center-forward and Jese showed that he's no "false nine" -- or, rather, that he's a "false nine" in the literal sense. The lack of midfield cover for a back four that isn't exactly water-tight, though Nacho did alright deputizing alongside Sergio Ramos, comes back to hurt you unless Luka Modric and Toni Kroos are in "beast mode" or unless you score three or four at the other end.
The main difference, it would appear, is that the players have nice things to say about Zidane both in public and behind his back, something that simply wasn't the case with Rafa. But to expect Zizou to get radically better results with the same ill-constructed crew is simply unrealistic.
PSG soon face an Ibra dilemma
We're just about there. Zlatan Ibrahimovic powered Paris St. Germain to a 4-1 win over Reims, with his two goals taking his seasonal total to 30. PSG remain 24 points clear of Monaco which means that short of divine intervention, they'll win the title. The only question is whether they'll do it before or after these two teams meet at the Parc des Princes in less than a month's time.
Meanwhile though, Ibrahimovic's form presents a conundrum for PSG: to extend or not to extend. He's on pace, statistically, to have his best-ever season in Ligue 1. Laurent Blanc himself said he was "indispensable" to the team, which is a pretty big statement if you're mulling over whether to let him go in June when his contract expires.
That said, he's 35 in October, and while the qualities that define his game -- size, strength and technical ability -- are slower to wane than others, at some point the decline will come and you don't want to get caught with all your eggs in the Ibra basket.
It's not a coincidence that in recent weeks there has been talk of a move to China or Major League Soccer, which is what happens when you have a veteran superstar looking for a new deal. There's no half-way with Ibrahimovic. If you commit, it means another season with the Big Swede as the hub of PSG's wheel. If you don't, you'll have a giant hole to fill. Keeping him around and managing his decline -- as an impact sub and occasional starter -- is simply not an option.
Payet's one of the best in the Premier League
Dimitri Payet won't win any Player of the Year awards in the Premier League. It's already going to be tough enough for the voters to give Riyad Mahrez or Jamie Vardy serious consideration, so what chance does Payet have?
But on Sunday, in West Ham's 5-1 romp away to Blackburn, he showed again that in terms of technical ability, he belongs among the highest tier in the Premier League. It wasn't just his two goals -- a superb free kick and a pretty long run and finish -- but the effortlessness of it all.
The game's pendulum may have moved towards athleticism and power and away from technique in many ways, but to put it simply, guys who can make the ball do what they want still have an edge -- particularly when they combine it with the kind of decision-making and awareness he has shown since his move from Marseille.
A teachable moment in the Bundesliga
Roger Schmidt was clearly wound up. His Bayer Leverkusen side were losing 1-0 at home to Borussia Dortmund and the goal was a direct result of a free kick that he evidently felt should have gone the other way. He waved his arms and seemed to say a little too much in the direction of referee Felix Zwayer. Zwayer signalled that Schmidt was sent off.
And that's when things got really weird. Schmidt refused to budge, demanding an explanation for why he'd gotten his marching orders. Zwayer explained why to Stefan Kiessling, the Leverkusen skipper, who relayed it to Schmidt. Nope; not good enough. Schmidt didn't move. He demanded Zwayer to tell him to his face. And so Zwayer told both teams to leave the pitch, suspending the game for roughly 10 minutes. More discussions took place behind the frosted glass door leading to the tunnel. Eventually the teams emerged, as did Zwayer and his officiating crew, but not Schmidt, who had finally accepted his punishment.
Rudi Voeller, Bayer Leverkusen's director of football, said Zwayer's behaviour was "unnecessary."
"[Zwayer made out] that something terrible had happened [and that was] totally over the top," he continued. "You can send a coach off, but the referee could have been sensible about explaining to him why."
Apparently, Zwayer was entirely within his rights according to the Bundesliga rulebook. (Nope, I didn't know that either.) Schmidt acted like a brat but a bit of common sense from the match official wouldn't have gone amiss here. Think of it as a "teachable moment."
A bad mistake by Deschamps
As gaffes go, this was a bad one, sort of along the lines of the old maxim whereby you "should never meet your heroes" lest you be disappointed.
France coach Didier Deschamps was asked Sunday night about his squad and his defensive options with a view to the Euros. He replied: "There is a lot of competition for places, for example [Jeremy Mathieu] at Barcelona and [Kalidou] Koulibaly at Napoli."
The problem, of course, is that while Koulibaly is French and played for Les Bleus at the U-20 level, he's also Senegalese and has represented his country of ancestry since last September, winning a total of five caps.
When it was pointed out to Deschamps, he mumbled: "Well, we'll see." No, we won't. Unless French president Francois Hollande is planning to invade and annex Senegal any time to soon, the only thing Deschamps will see is Koulibaly playing for a different country.
So yeah, it was an egg-on-face moment. Outside of when France is playing or training -- basically, less than four months over the past three-and-a-half years -- his only job, other than attending World Cup and Euro draws, is to watch football and keep tabs on players who are eligible. It can only mean one of two things -- he's either been given bad information on Koulibaly or he's not actually tracking him at all but felt the need to say something just for the heck of it.
Either way, it's not a good look.
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