by Navaneeth OM

There will hardly be anybody who does not follow any form of sports or games. Each one of us then knows how it enriches us. For football lovers all over the world, the last one week has been giving more than unbelievable experiences, be it European Champions League; or Europa League; or English Premier League. What a week with electrifying football and unexpected turnarounds. And lots to learn while we enjoyed it.

Let us start with the famous comeback of Liverpool F.C. against F.C. Barcelona who were both fighting for the final spot in the Champions League Semifinals. When the second leg of the semifinal started, Barcelona were all set to move to the finals hands down. Barcelona were leading 3-0 after their win at Nou Camp (Barcelona’s home ground) when they started the 2^nd leg at Anfield (Liverpool’s home ground). And, even though Liverpool scored an early goal, Barcelona was still ahead 3-1 on aggregate and just 36 minutes away to reach the finals. What happened next is unbelievable, 2 goals in 2 minutes got it levelled and with 11 minutes remaining, Liverpool scored again to win an epic battle that too against the giants Barcelona. This was a monumental win. A great lesson to learn that even if you are facing the wall and all odds against you, with courage, belief in yourself and the spirit to fight and give all your efforts, you can claw back and overturn the position in your favor and write stunning comeback stories in golden words. What else Liverpool fans needed, 4 goals scored against Barcelona in front of their eyes and the atmosphere was electrifying, more like they won the Champions League. It was a final before final and a sweet revenge to their last year’s Champion’s league loss in the finals to Real Madrid, another Spanish giant.

 

The second semifinal between Tottenham Hotspur and Ajax F.C proved equally exciting and come back from behind performance. Ajax F.C., the team that boasted of young guns (average age around 21 and fresh legs and not so experienced) were the giant killers defeating Juventus on their march to the semifinals. In their 1^st leg, they went ahead 1-0 that too in the away match at Spur’s ground. In the second leg and with just 35 minutes to end, Ajax were ahead 3-0, scoring 2 more goals in the 1^st 45 minutes. Then emerged yet another comeback performance you want to see as a football fan. A dream run from Lucas Moura saw yet another scintillating comeback performance in Champions League in a space of 2 days for Spur’s to overcome the heroics of Ajax F.C. Again, you need courage and belief and never-say-die attitude to do such an act and that is why some are called champions. But, more importantly this match gives us 2 more lessons to keep in mind. One, when you get a chance, accept it gleefully and give all your efforts to show that you are second to none. Lucas Moura, who scored a hattrick was not a regular to start the match for Spurs and when their captain and striker Harry Kane had to sit out, he got a chance to play full 99 minutes where his 3^rd goal came in the 6^th extra minutes. Second, until you have carried through your roles and responsibility to completion, you should not relax and cannot be complacent for even a second. Ajax side, may be because of their inexperience, failed to manage last 35 minutes + 9 extra minutes after ruling the 145 minutes before that. And they say, “we never lose, either we win or learn”, learn through the experience.

 

Now, let us move to another match. This time it is the English Premier League 2018-19. Just 2 more matches to decide the champions. When 36 matches were completed, Manchester City, the reigning champions were leading Liverpool F.C. by just 1 point and both had 2 more matches to be played. Then, Liverpool wont their 37^th match and went ahead by 2 points. Now, Manchester City should win their 37^th match to be in contention to rule the league facing Leicester City at Etihad Stadium, their home ground and fans. 70 minutes into the match, it is still 0-0 and the team and fans started wearing their anguish look even after doing everything they can to break the Leicester defense. It is 71^st minute and all except the goal keeper are in Leicester’s half and their Captain and defense wall, Vincent Kompany, gets the ball. He is 25-30 yards from the goal and unchallenged with other players distributed all around the opposition box. He went for a shot, stopped for a moment, and seeing still unchallenged, composed himself and shot from 25 yards with all his power and it stuck into the top right corner of the net. Even if 5 goal keepers were there, it would have still gone in. Such was the power and precision of the strike. None of the Leicester players thought he would strike from that distance and Kompany always scored by heading corner kicks or free kicks. That was a magical strike from their player of all seasons. This again shows however strong the opposition you face, if you are relentless in your efforts and willing to take chances, success is yours. Vincent Kompany was never expected to shoot, which was confirmed by Pep Guardiola, the coach, who said that he was telling in his mind not to shoot, but pass the ball. But, such was the instinctive act from the captain at the right time. Even now, MC needs to win the final match if Liverpool wins their last match. This Sunday (12^th May 2019) will be yet another day for the football lovers to celebrate the game.