The game of football, on average, especially among the best teams in the world, is going through a great moment. That’s what we saw again this week in the Champions League, with beautiful matches and lots of goals.
The period, more or less, between 1954 and 1974, for about twenty years, was one of enchantment with a very beautiful, creative, offensive football, with great teams and super stars, such as Pelé’s Santos, Garrincha and Didi’s Botafogo, Puskas and Di Stefano’s Real Madrid, the Brazilian teams of 1958, 1962 and 1970, Cruyff’s Holland of 1974, and so many other teams and stars that fascinated the world.
From the 80s or 90s onwards, with the progressive development of sports science, a great dilemma was created, a confrontation between the beautiful, inventive, unpredictable game and the more programmed, tactical, disciplined and more defensive football, with the retreat of marking to close spaces and counterattack. One team waited for the other and nothing happened.
In the last two decades, especially in recent years, there has been a reconciliation between duty, the programmed, tactical game, with pleasure, individual talent, inventiveness and improvisation. The game is more efficient, intense, offensive, with more goals, more pressure to recover the ball, more compaction, more exchange of passes from the goalkeeper and so many other details.
As teams try to exchange passes from the goalkeeper and press to recover the ball closest to the other goal, there is a greater risk of losing the ball in the middle and leaving a lot of space in the defense. Barcelona is always close to scoring, being beaten or winning or losing in a match with many goals for both sides. The games are exciting and delightful.
Manchester City, against Real Madrid, started better and lost 3 x 0. The English team played in attack in Madrid in the same way they face the bottom teams in the English championship. PSG beat Chelsea 5-2 in a balanced game.
In big European teams, midfielders are extremely important, which is still unusual in Brazilian football. Vitinha, from PSG and the Portuguese team, as always, performed brilliantly in all parts of the field and even scored a beautiful goal, with a beautiful touch over the goalkeeper. Midfielder Valverde scored three beautiful goals against Manchester City. São Paulo, led by Crespo or Roger Machado, follows this model, with an excellent trio of midfielders who alternate their positions during the match.
In the Brasileirão, Flamengo and Cruzeiro played a discreet, predictable game. Gerson, based on what he has played, created huge expectations. I have the impression that Gerson and Gabigol achieved great prestige at Flamengo and did not know how to deal with their careers. They lost their critical sense and intense shine.
As the excellent journalist André Rizek, from Sport TV, recalled, Gerson was a starter and played well in the team’s first match under Ancelotti’s command and was then never called up again. He is not even on the pre-list for the two friendlies against France and Croatia. The player himself, coach Tite, psychology and the club need to try to help him, on and off the field.
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