I’m going to leave out everything I thought I might say about money and purity in football, about big clubs vs. small clubs, about moral high grounds and about the deep, unsettling ways in which the organization of the game is changing. The only point I’m going to make is the one I thought I would end with: that I watched the sun rise yesterday, and I watched Fernando Torres’s goal against Marseille, and maybe the Champions League is a cynical ploy that no one ought to care about, but I thought the goal was more beautiful.
Read More: Champions League, Fernando Torres, Football as Ballet, Liverpool
by Brian Phillips · December 12, 2007
Your comment reminds me of the opening vignette in Eduardo Galeano’s Soccer in Sun and Shafdow, which I sadly don’t have to hand, but I’m sure you’ve read anyway.
Tom, I almost quoted it! And would have done so, probably, had I not already quoted Galeano in the post about Buffon yesterday. Here’s what he says:
Ditto — and I don’t even like Torres. In fact, I pretty much hated him when he was at Atlético. Now my allegiances are locked in an epic existential struggle between past abhorrence and present admiration — and let’s not lie, the future weighs in too with its myriad hopes.
Gotta give him credit; he’s been incredible so far this season. Let’s hope it lasts. 🙂
oh well said sir ! It was a thing of beauty. It was great soccer and who gives a damn who performed it for whom !
🙂 beautiful it was. And thank you for not addressing money and purity in football. CL might be about making money and protecting big few, but some of my best memories over last 14 years come from CL games.
Top 3 are:
1. Dynamo Kyiv run to quarter-finals in 1997 – 1998, entire country was watching.
2. Deportivo 2003 – 2004 taking Milan to cleaners with 4-0 second leg at home.
3. Gerrard and Shevchenko walking off the pitch after extra time of 2004 – 2005 final shaking hands.
That’s a great list, Davyd. And I agree: the Champions League makes me jump up and down an awful lot for something that everyone seems to find soulless. I’d add Celtic’s win over Milan this year and Nakamura’s free kick against Man Utd last year to my list of stirring moments.
Trent — Glad you’re a fellow beggar! And I know you must be one, if you’re able to appreciate Liverpool. I’m guessing Yakubu’s exploits over the last few days are making it easier not to mind Torres’s!
Em — Torres has exceeded my expectations, too. Struggle or no struggle, I’m glad you’re able to enjoy it. I thought to myself while I was watching the match that you were in for a very happy landing.
Champions League is the way I discovered football outside of the EPL. Cynical ploy or not, I owe it my love of Serie A.