Catching up
Hey guys. Apologies on the long delay, but I was handicapped by an extreme lack of internet as I completed a final trip around Europe before coming back home to the States. Though the thought of getting up at 4 in the morning to watch football now is a bit depressing, I'll try and run down some fun things I saw along the way in Rome and Madrid.
1) Madrid-Sevilla a couple Saturdays ago was one of the best games I've seen this season (4-3 Sevilla), and then the referee had to go and ruin it by giving Arjen Robben an undeserved second yellow just seconds after missing an obvious penalty in the box. Still, an incredible game.
2) There were way more people who don't like Real Madrid in that city than I thought was possible. I saw two games, Sevilla and Barcelona, and there were hardly any fans either time.
3) Sports stores in Madrid are much more interested in selling NY Yankees apparel than football gear. It's pretty incredible.
4) Saw an incredibly boring Juventus Champions League game in Rome. I also saw some of the most terrible knock-off football jerseys ever.
5) In watching Real/Barcelona in Madrid, I have come to the conclusion that Lionel Messi possibly falls to the ground if he gets breathed on by the defender. He also flops around on ground in a manner somewhat akin to a fish. Furthermore, I think it should be an automatic penalty everytime he grabs his head after getting tapped on the FOOT.
6) Messi is still out of this world.
7) After the Sevilla game, I went to Rome for three days before returning back to Madrid. And somehow Real managed to fire Bernd Schuster during that time (despite the ridiculous amount of injuries he's dealt with) and hire Juande Ramos, who was just magnificent with Tottenham. Go figure.
And although I couldn't get to a TV for this last weekend's Premier League games, it looks like I didn't miss much as all the big guns got draw-happy. We'll check back in soon for some Champions League talk, and maybe a few more laughs about the Madrid-Ronaldo saga.