Deshpande's Adda!

Barcelona defeated Manchester United comprehensively at Stadio Olimpico in Rome. Overall the match wasn’t a high paced one but had quality. Compared to the previous year’s finals, it failed to live up to its expectations, especially with teams like Barca and Man Utd. The first 10 minutes were dominated by Man Utd. until Eto’o opened the scoring out of nowhere. Then onwards Man Utd. lost their momentum and we saw a complete Barca domination where Man Utd. were reduced to small patches of domination. Overall, I can say the match was lost after the first 10 minutes. Ratings: Barcelona Valdes -6.5: Shacky at the start but produced a few fine saves later on. Yet was the less busy of the two goalkeepers. Toure -7.5: Played as a make-back central defender today, but was quite successful in holding the line. Also made a few good forward runs. I think he is best in the midfield. Pique -7: He did rise to the occasion, playing against his ex-team. Made a few vital tackles and exce

Claudio Ranieri was officially sacked this week by the Juventus management after a run of bad games. He was much maligned among Juventus fans and a favourite of Inter and AC Milan fans. I could see a spontaneous reaction of satisfaction among all tifosi alike. This stirred me to think, was Ranieri so bad..?? After a round of deep introspection I realized that he doesn’t deserve the criticism that he gets. There are many examples to prove so. CV Claudio Ranieri had coached Valencia and Chelsea (the only major clubs he had previously coached). Even though he was sacked from both the clubs he was responsible in forming the basis of a major club by unearthing talents like Mendieta, Miguel Angel Angulo, Claudio Lopez & David Albelda in Valencia and Lampard, Petit, Joe Cole, John Terry and Robben in Chelsea. Tactical The biggest contribution of Ranieri was converting Giorgio Chiellini into a center-back. The usual Left-Back played as a Center-Back as a part time to the injured