Column

The mid-week Champions League quarterfinals confirmed three things for me.

One — Sir Alex Ferguson and I can agree on some things. He thinks Rafael Benitez is arrogant and rude. I think so too. In fact, I dislike Benitez. He’d be more suited in the boardroom of a recession-hit firm, scratching his bald head and wiping the sweat off his brow with a perfumed handkerchief.

Two — Cristiano Ronaldo maybe the best footballer in the world. He is also the most conceited and unless he mends his ways, he’ll be booed even in the Tuvalu Islands.
Three — I am going to start a protest if three English clubs make it to the Champions League semifinals next year.

I am not going to forget the second leg of the quarterfinals between Chelsea and Liverpool in a long, long time. It may not have been a flawless game but was 90 minutes of anything-is-possible football. Liverpool’s belief that they could turn around the 1-3 deficit at an arena where permeability is sin, set the tempo.

By the 28th minute, Liverpool were 2-0 up and looked like the miracle team of 2005. But the point here is not how good the game was — UEFA has ranked it in its top 10 Champions League classics — but how Rafael Benitez got on my nerves. Did you see the way Rafa reacted after the first two goals that Liverpool scored? He sat on his chair, looked on in contempt, as if to say, ‘Hah, this is a cakewalk. We are just so spectacular. And all credit to me’.

Sir Alex sees that contempt too. When Liverpool took on Blackburn last week, Benitez crossed his arms and signalled ‘game over’ after Liverpool went 2-0 ahead in a match they won 4-0. Fergie said of Benitez: “Arrogance is one thing. You cannot forgive contempt. I don’t think any other Liverpool manager would have done that.” I agree.

Then at Porto, Cristiano Ronaldo showed why there may not be a better talent going around in world football. He scored the goal of the competition despite being booed every time he got a touch on the ball, ironically in his own country. If I’d done something so spectacular I would have run the length of the ‘Dragao’ stadium three times over, screaming my lungs out.

What does Cristiano do? Nothing. Just shrugs and behaves like this sort of thing is so natural to him. The vanity of the man, it’s incredible. Narcissus would agree that Cristiano is his rightful heir. Sometimes I feel sorry for Cristiano. He could have been so loved — such is the skill and beauty he possesses — but he might just go down in history as the most hated footballer.

Finally, on Saturday night, we would have watched a Chelsea-Arsenal FA Cup semifinal, which could eventually mean a Manchester United-Chelsea FA Cup final on May 30. Before that we have to see a Manchester United-Arsenal Champions League two-leg semifinal, on April 29 and May 6. If Chelsea beat Barcelona and United go through in the all-England affair, then another United-Chelsea Champions League final on May 27.

And we’ve watched them play each other in the EPL. I can’t bear another year of three English teams in the last four of the European competitions. I crave variety. What’s wrong with the Italians? And the Spanish? Real Madrid — please wake up.