On Tuesday (28) afternoon, PSG and Bayern played a nine-goal game in the Champions League semi-final. Hours later, Cruzeiro beat Boca Jrs. in the Libertadores da América 1-0. It was difficult to watch the second game after what football offered us in the first half.
I won’t get into the debate about it being a “other sport” or the technical quality of the players. For me, what should be non-negotiable is the desire to play and put on a good show. And then the South American confrontation was far behind.
The technical debate is unnecessary, because European football was forged on the hiring of Brazilians and Argentines. Interestingly, Bayern and PSG had German protagonists, such as Kimmich and Musiala, French. such as Olise and Dembele, the Englishman Harry Kane and the Georgian Kvaratskhelia. But in essence, Europe’s super teams have a lot of raw material that could give more quality to the Libertadores games. The best games are there because the best players are there.
My point, which I have already discussed in previous columns and will be a crusade that I am not willing to give up, is the need to offer the public good entertainment. In Mineirão, Boca Jrs. entered the field to dirty the football. The tactic is the same as usual: fouls, collisions, simulations, provocations and cynicism. Cruzeiro, mistakenly, because they only have football to win on the field, bought the idea — distracted by wanting to have the spirit of the Libertadores — and what was supposed to be a meeting between two heavy shirts turned into something “unwatchable”.
Passionate fans just want their team to win games. You want the finish line and you don’t care which way you cross the finish line. But football fans will only turn on the television if they want to see a good show. And whoever takes the field plays for the results-oriented needs of their fans, but also has a responsibility to the sport. Basically, doing what the Argentines proposed is disrespectful to the game.
In Paris, the ball was in play for 54% of the 99 minutes of running time. The game was stopped by VAR in the first half and another in the second. There were difficult plays, in which the referee was respected to make difficult decisions, which would please one side more than the other. It’s his job and it’s up to the players to understand and help him do his job to the best of his ability. The game was also stopped nine times for… goal celebrations. If a minute was lost for each ball in the net, 10% of the match time was lost in this regard alone.
When the ball didn’t roll in the Champions League game it was because the players were celebrating the greatest moment in sport. At Mineirão, we had one goal, no VAR intervention and 44% of the ball in play. In the first stage, 40%. There were 20 minutes of “football” in the 50 minutes of running time.
I understand that Cristian, Bareiro, Fagner, Delgado etc. They can’t perform like Vitinha, Olise or Harry Kane, but they need to try to play and just worry about playing. What makes us love football is the 5 x 4 in Paris. That’s why today we see children wearing European team shirts and not Brazilian teams. Video games are not the biggest responsible, as some try to point out, for the turn of younger people to international football.
We are destroying our product and we are transferring the passion of new fans to a football very far from our reality.
LINK PRESENT: Did you like this text? Subscribers can access seven free accesses from any link per day. Just click the blue F below.
