The FOG Returns…

Yesterday’s rant was brought to you by The FOG – – The First and Only Grandson – – and I said then that he would produce part of today’s offering as well.  Last weekend, Real Madrid beat Liverpool 1-0 in the finals of the UEFA Champions League.  The FOG was not in attendance but saw the game and sent me this description/analysis:

“The 2021/22 season drew to a close on Saturday the 28^th of May in Paris as the Champions League final between Liverpool and Real Madrid commenced later than planned due to rioting from Real supporters outside the entrance to the Stade de France not allowing many Liverpool fans to enter the stadium. The atmosphere in the stadium was supposedly electric as Liverpool fans hoped for the second Champions League title of manger Jurgen Klopp’s reign whereas Real supporters sought to break their own record for most Champions League wins by making it 14 in total. There was a lot of history between these two clubs as they had met in the Champions League final before in 2018, a match where Liverpool was let down by both bad goalkeeping and an injury to their star player Mohammed Salah caused by Sergio Ramos who went unpunished much to the dismay of the fans.

“When the match finally got under way, around 40 minutes later than expected, Liverpool showed their hand immediately with a high line intended to press the notoriously lacklustre Real defence which had been a sore point for “Los Meringues” all season. It seemed to be working as within the first half hour the Liverpool strikers managed to get shots off frequently challenging Thibaut Courtois, the Real Madrid Goalkeeper. As the half progressed Real began to attack more but they were still looking as if they were outclassed by Liverpool, and it was only a matter of time before Courtois allowed a shot to bulge the net.

“This is until the 40^th minute where Karim Benzema got on the end of a ball over the head of Liverpool centre back, Van Dijk, who was unable to catch up with him. Benzema looked as if he was about to shoot but he hesitated to long and was closed down by Alisson forcing him to lay the ball off to Vinicius Junior who could do little but poke at the ball managing to sneak it past Alisson and back to Benzema who put in the net. His celebrations and those of the Real Madrid fans were cut short though by an offside decision as it turns out that Benzema was behind Alisson leaving only one defender between him the goal line, therefore he was offside, and the goal didn’t count. Little more happened in the first half, and it ended 0-0.

“The second half was much of the same but Liverpool dominance over possession was slightly weaker opening the door for Real Madrid to counterattack. Liverpool continued to bombarde the Real goal forcing Courtois to shut down chance after chance with incredible saves. One that was particularly notable came when Salah expertly took down an over-the-top ball with his first touch but was foiled in his endeavour to give his team the lead by an incredible reaction save. Liverpool looked destined to win until one of those counter attacks combined with an error from Trent Alexander-Arnold and a pinpoint pass from Valverde gave Vinicius Junior an easy tap in to deliver Real the lead after 59 minutes of deadlock.

“Madrid, now with the lead, needed only to see off any more challenges from the Reds and hold on till the final whistle blew, but this would prove harder than expected as Liverpool only upped their chance production as they riddled the Madrid goal with shot after shot each one blocked by an expert save from Thibaut Courtois who I believe deserved a man of the match award as he personally kept “Los Blancos” in the match. As regular time ran out and all hope began to fade for the Liverpool supporters their shots became increasingly desperate coming from outside the box at awkward angles and many of them missing far wide of either post.

“When the clock struck 90 minutes the ref announce that he would be adding 5 minutes of injury time giving new life to the Liverpool team as they continued to press in search of an equaliser. The last few minutes were scrappy and Real Madrid players were taking every opportunity to fall on the ground and waste time with injuries that seemed to magically disappear 20 seconds later. In the end Madrid managed to hang on to their 1-0 lead, adding a 14^th Champions League title to their trophy cabinet despite Liverpool’s dominant and objectively more impressive performance.”

Here are a couple of stats to give you an idea of how Liverpool dominated the action in that game – – to no avail:

• Shots:   Liverpool 24  Real Madrid 4
• Shots on Goal:  Liverpool 9  Real Madrid 2
• Corner Kicks:  Liverpool 6  Real Madrid 2

Moving on …  Let me tie up another “loose end” here.  A week ago, I mentioned that Huddersfield and Nottingham Forest would face each other in a finals match to see which team would be promoted from the English Championship to the English Premier League next season.  The game was played last Sunday, and Nottingham Forest prevailed by a score of 1-0.  That means the three “promoted” teams are Fulham, Bournemouth and Nottingham Forest.

I am not going to pretend to be a soccer maven here, but something jumps out at me from the Championship Table last season.

• Fulham averaged 2.3 goals per game
• The next highest scoring team (Bournemouth) averaged only 1.6 goals per game.

In the Premier League last season, only 2 teams averaged more than 2.3 goals per game.  Those two teams – – Manchester City and Liverpool – – finished first and second in the Premier League.  It will be interesting to see if Fulham can continue that sort of offensive prowess against better defenses next year in the top league.

Finally, I received an email from a friend who said he thought I was morphing from a curmudgeon into a pessimist.  Thinking on that “accusation”, I went to see if I could find a distinction and came across this observation by Oscar Wilde:

“Pessimist:  one who, when he has the choice of two evils, chooses both.”

But don’t get me wrong, I love sports………