Imagine 90 with no goal and yet you could not take your eyes off the game
It was not a game for ‘Signorine’ as the three injured players would testify. Even private parts were not spared: at one point Nizard in a close encounter with Julien found himself juggling three balls, two of which not his for the delight of the indulging French star player. And I say no more. Later unfortunately Nizard, till then one of the most active among ‘Colours’, was at the receiving end of a ‘head on’ concussion with Hannes and had to leave the pitch with blurred vision. All the best for a fast recovery: we need players like you!
A lowly scoring match was defenders’ best chance to shine. And shine they did. The two keepers were simply outstanding with multiple saves of any sort. There was even a face off moment when Paride from a corner scissor kicked a furious ball into the opposite low corner only to be denied by Alessandro last gasp explosive dive.
Hannes and Chetan were the brick and mortar of the Bibs’ wall with Massimo and Tom doing the same for the Colours. Once Diego after last week bonanza managed to get few inches off Hannes only for ‘ Der Kaiser ‘ to recover the ball with a majestic clean lunging tackle which fans were quick to compare to that of Nesta against Messi.
The team selection appeared very accurate and the result could only be unlocked by a pinpointed shot by Julien who has the fans used to the odd yet key goal while producing the admirable defensive midfield work. From then on it would take a record long 90’ before another goal, which in fact was the golden goal. In the meanwhile Thomas had to leave the pitch and Hossam was swapped. Later Giancarlo, already not mobile, also moved out with Matej joining the Bibs.
The long awaited goal came when Andrea managed to toe poke what looked like a lost ball past Alessandro. A goal reminiscent of that scored by a young Kluivert against Milan in the Champions League final.
The fans’ nail biting stopped at once and the crowd erupted in wild celebrations, kept suppressed like in a pressure cooker for so long. Never in the history of FDs a game was goalless for so much! Still no one could take his eyes off the game as the unthinkable always looked a split second away. The intensity was unreal and the tension could be cut with a knife but there was none available so it stayed throughout the match.
The game was also graced by the presence of a new rookie, Andrea G, Alessandro’s friend. He nearly scored few times testing Paride to the limit.
The Man of the Match award was expected to reward another stellar performance by Paride who surprisingly so only came second.Perhaps the Italian now regrets a casual comment made when he recently won yet again the trophy:‘The cabinet is full and I don’t want to spend money for another one!’. In fact voters thought it was fair to award it to a defender: Hannes was the chosen one both for the stoicism and the impeccable timing of his playing: in fact this time the number of his victims, though still remarkable, was a fraction of usual tally. Voters perhaps love romantic yet tough players who throw their body on the line at every available opportunity and like to operate on the fringe of legality.
The biggest compliment to the German came from Pedri in his famous head tackle . When asked ‘How did you dare do such a thing?!’, he replied ‘When it comes to defending I always ask myself ‘What would Hannes do?’
We now trust the CLUB to resist the ‘pay per play offer’ that Hannes will no doubt receive from Bayern in their desperate attempt to stop Haaland in the forthcoming CL match.
Giancarlo Castelli