The Ball is Flat: European Review

The Ball is Flat ladies and gentlemen. “There is no there there”, as Gertrude Stein once said. What we are seeing is smoke and mirrors, the left-over burp-smell from a really good meal. Football est kaput. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t cover it or that it isn’t in the slightest bit interesting, rather it seems actually far more interesting the more dysfunctional it gets. Here's what's going on in the flatlands of Europe.

Spain: if you read the Spanish papers over the weekend you would think that the entirety of Spanish football was centered in and around the Camp Nou and the stories that the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona squads, both for the Clasico and for the imminent Champions League games that see both clubs in a very real position of danger, threatened with getting knocked out of Europe by Bayern Munich and Chelsea FC. You’d think there wasn’t a financial crisis going on, that the relegation battle was about to be resolved, that the final European slots were still hotly contested, and that even the fans at the Sanchez-Pizjuan were irate at the league for having their game against Levante moved to a later start time to accommodate Real Madrid and Barcelona in prime-time that they inundated the pitch with yellow tennis balls. The match was called off.

Italy: Genoa coach Alberto Malesani was fired, for the second time this season, and Luigi De Canio was hired in the aftermath of a match where Genoa lost to Siena 4-1. Losing by 4 goals in the first half, the Genoa ultras began throwing “flares and small bombs” onto the pitch, climbing the barricades and confronting the stadium stewards. Genoa players diffused the situation by removing their shirts at the ultra end, letting them know that they weren’t worthy of wearing the shirt. Just a week after Italian calico were commended by the manner in which they handled the death of Piermario Morosini, but for every step they take forward, Italian football soon take another few steps back. Now the club face a hefty home stadium bans, possible fines, and the local police are investigating the identities of the hooligans on criminal charges. It’s not just enough to ban the stadium, said Serie A president Maurizio Beretta, we need to stop these delinquents that are damaging football and Genoa." As a side-note, the incident broke a 60 year record in Italy for coaching changes, with this being the 18th in all. As usual, Cagliari leads the way with three coaching changes for themselves.

England: at this point of the season, the Old Trafford staff is cooling down the champagne and cutting up the confetti. Sir Alex Ferguson’s club is usually so focused at this time of the year that no matter who their players are, they still have the mental strength and toughness to push aside challengers when it counts, in those last few matches that the great man calls “sticky-bum time.” Well, I guess the tables have turned and they’re the ones with clingy knickers. Despite being up by two goals on two different occasions, the Red-Devils surrendered their lead to the Toffees, and saw their league status teetering on the edge. Next week’s derby match at the Etihad Stadium may become the decider over these last few weeks. The Citizens have a 6-point lead in goal differential and they won their early fixture at Old Trafford in October. What do I think will happen? If you’d asked me two weeks ago I would have said give Sir Alex another trophy, but now I’m not so sure.