UEFA Champions League Semifinals: 10 Bold Predictions
Danish physicist Niels Bohr once said, “Prediction is very difficult, especially if it's about the future." Read through two of these predictions and note the outcomes.
Prediction: Nii Lamptey is the “new Pelé."
Outcome: Contractually enslaved his agent Antonio Caliendo, falling out with his Ghanaian teammates, failing to secure a starting position at Aston Villa, Coventry City, Venezia, Unión Santa Fe, Ankaragücü and União Leiria. Then you factor in being abused by his parents, watching his two children die, and you begin to see why Lamptey never became the “new Pelé."
Prediction: Colombia will be one of the four semifinalists at the 1994 FIFA World Cup.
Outcome: Perhaps this prediction was made a year out from the World Cup, after Colombia historically mauled Argentina 5-0 in Buenos Aires. At the World Cup, Colombia were knocked out in the first round, finishing last in a group containing Romania, Switzerland and the United States. Argentina didn’t fare better, being knocked out in the second round.
Who made these predictions? Pelé, arguably the greatest footballer ever, but certainly no Nostradamus. These predictions are what you call bold predictions—predictions which have the makings of a maverick.
So when Will Tidey asked me to produce a list of bold predictions, I thought oh my... I’m emulating Pelé, the Mayan of football.
My bold predictions are not interlinked, so one plus one equals three. Oh and please don’t put your money on these predictions.
Without further ado, here are my 10 bold predictions for the upcoming Champions League semifinals.
10. Sir Alex Ferguson Will Not Play Paul Scholes
1 of 10Sir Bobby Charlton once remarked at how in control Paul Scholes’ passing was—well his tackling definitely isn’t in control. His red card against Manchester City was as daft as Mario Balotelli’s red card against Dynamo Kiev.
For a player whose footballing ability is so majestic, his passing style so adored by football purists, why does he need to put his team at risk with his “tackling?”
His attempt on Pablo Zabaleta leans more towards an assault than a tackle because how can you classify studding someone in the thighs as a tackle?
Sir Alex Ferguson may refuse to play Scholes because he doesn’t want to take the risk of Manchester United being down a man. As Ferguson remarked, he isn't a man of sentiment, however, it would be a shame to watch someone as gifted as Scholes sitting on the bench.
9. Schalke Will Knock out Manchester United
2 of 10Schalke will enter their semifinal matchup against Manchester United as underdogs. In the recent past, underdogs like Borussia Dortmund, Monaco, Bayer Leverkusen and Porto have all knocked out Manchester United in the Champions League.
Sir Alex Ferguson is 0-4 against German opposition in two-legged Champions League knockout ties, so history is on Ralf Rangnick’s side.
Though Rangnick shouldn’t rest on his laurels, what bodes well for his Schalke is that they won’t be dominated by Manchester United to the extent of chasing air. If anything, Ferguson is likely to approach a counterattacking style against an attacking Schalke side, who’ve scored nine more goals than Manchester United this Champions League season.
The problem for Ferguson is: What if Schalke score first then score against the run of play when Manchester United are trying to equalise?
8. Pepe Will Be Sent off
3 of 10El loco would be a fair description of Pepe—and to translate, el loco means crazy. This reputation of being crazy stems from Pepe's uncompromising defending and his abrasive personality.
It seems José Mourinho will play Pepe as an enforcer in the middle to stop Lionel Messi. It's not the first time that Mourinho has played an enforcer to stop the opposing team's best players—think back to centre back Khalid Boulahrouz playing at right back to stop Ronaldinho.
In the second El Clásico, Pepe was the man of the match, countlessly winning possession by going in gung-ho but at the same time a slightly more cautious than Paul Scholes.
- Chelsea vs. Barcelona—Asier del Horno sent off
- Barcelona vs. Inter Milan—Thiago Motta sent off
- Real Madrid vs. Barcelona—Raúl Albiol sent off
The trend would be for Pepe to be sent off, and one can foresee a red card when Pepe cleans up Messi.
7. Sami Khedira Will Break His 39 Game Goalless Drought
4 of 10For a player who sparkled so much for Germany and Stuggart, displaying box to box attributes of a first world-class centre midfielder, Sami Khedira has so far disappointed for Real Madrid.
Mourinho has decided to restrict Khedira's duties to mainly defensive, therefore you don't see the bombarding runs from midfield or the defence splitting passes.
Khedira is playing the "Makélelé" role well enough, and by sacrificing his statistics for the team, Cristiano Ronaldo is predominantly free from defending.
6. 17-Year-Old Julian Draxler Will Score
5 of 10Julian Draxler’s nine goals in 12 games in the U-19s prompted a promotion into the Schalke first team, where he has shown moments of quality. He seems determined to succeed, even taking the drastic measure of quitting high school (on the advice of former manager Felix Magath).
Against Nurnberg in the DFB-Pokal quarterfinals, Draxler was substituted into the game with four minutes remaining, three minutes later he scored the winner. It was clutch, but the audacity for a 17-year-old to shoot from long range, rather than pass the ball to an older more experience teammate was akin to a 16-year-old Wayne Rooney scoring memorably against Arsenal.
Peter Ofori-Quaye, Cesc Fàbregas, Bojan Krkić, Martin Klein and Karim Benzema are the only 17-year-olds, in the past 15 years, to have scored in the Champions League. Did you know Lars Ricken and David Trezeguet were only 20 years old when they scored against Manchester United?
5. Sir Alex Ferguson Will Play Wayne Rooney on the Flanks
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Wasn't it an odd sight to see Wayne Rooney on the flanks whilst Cristiano Ronaldo played up front? Rooney would do the dirty work whereas Ronaldo would profit off Rooney's hard work. Though the days of Rooney sacrificing his statistics for the team are long gone—they evaporated when Ronaldo left for the Bernabéu.
Rooney is the best player at the club, and it would be a surprise if Sir Alex Ferguson deployed him on the flanks. Given that Antonio Valencia is fit again, it's more probable that Valencia and Nani will start on the flanks, whereas Rooney will play up front.
The only reason Rooney would play on the flanks is to allow Dimitar Berbatov to start up front. However, Berbatov doesn't start the big games. If Berbatov was to start, why not pair him up with Rooney? If Rooney does play on the flanks, it's already an admission from Ferguson that he'll play pragmatic football.
4. Bébé Will Make an Appearance
7 of 10When Ferguson chastised Manchester City for their kamikaze spending, he had already decided to spend £7.4 million on a player that he had never watched. Talk about a hypocrite.
Having been abandoned by his parents, Bébé spent his teenage years in a shelter where he played street football, dreaming that someone would give him a chance. Then in the summer of 2010, Manchester United came calling. Doesn’t it sound like the plot line of a Danny Boyle film?
The story of Bébé is interesting; he had yet to make an appearance for Vitória de Guimarães, though Manchester United saw fit to sign him. They could have signed him for free a few months earlier, when Portuguese third division club Estrela da Amadora couldn’t pay his fees.
He has since scored two goals in seven games and last played for Manchester United against Crawley in February.
3. Pep Guardiola Will Start Thiago Alcántara
8 of 10Thiago Alcántara, or simply Thiago, is perhaps Barcelona's most promising prospect. Whilst Bojan Krkić's progression has declined, Thiago has looked like a Barcelona player every time he has been given the chance.
Thiago is more like Andrés Iniesta than Xavi, and since Mourinho caught Guardiola off-guard by playing Pepe in the middle, perhaps Guardiola should catch Mourinho and everyone off-guard by starting Thiago.
By starting Thiago, Barcelona will have the ability to access how he'll cope under immense pressure. If he succeeds, then it's an indication to develop Thiago, instead of paying a substantial transfer fee for Cesc Fàbregas.
2. José Mourinho Will Attack Barcelona
9 of 10It's one thing to list three forwards on paper, it's another to instruct those three forwards to stay up front and attack. Like he had done on numerous occasions against Barcelona, Mourinho will flood the midfield, allow Barcelona to conjure up meaningless possession, hope Barcelona do not score a goal in the first 20 or so minutes and hope his team score against the run of play.
"The football Barcelona played at the Bernabéu was simply brilliant. Their superiority was clear. Real Madrid played against a Barcelona side who dominated throughout the whole game. ...the lion was Barcelona and Real Madrid was the mouse...It's clear Barcelona are superior to Real Madrid who are a team with no personality. Their [Real Madrid] approach was clearly wrong" —Alfredo Di Stéfano
Sounds very Johan Cruyff like doesn't it? It shouldn't be of surprise that Di Stéfano reacted with such disgust when watching Real Madrid labour to a 1-1 draw in the second El Clásico. Remember Di Stéfano played with the likes of Ferenc Puskás, Francisco Gento, Raymond Kopa—pioneers of attacking and beautiful football. During the 1959-1960 European Cup, such was Real Madrid's dominance, that they scored 31 goals in seven games, including seven in the final.
Mourinho replied, "I am the coach and I am the one who decides..."
1. Lionel Messi Will Create History with 6 Goals in One Match
10 of 10In 1959, Ove Olsson became the first player to score five goals in a European Cup match—the last player being Søren Lerby in 1979. Both occasions, Olsson and Lerby's team won 6-1 and 10-0 respectively.
In the Champions League era (1992-current), no player has scored five goals, let alone six goals.
Only nine players have scored four goals in a Champions League match (Serhiy Rebrov, Tomasz Frankowski, Semih Şentürk, Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi, Dado Pršo, Ruud van Nistelrooy, Andriy Shevchenko and Lionel Messi).
The idea that Messi would score six goals in one match is delusional. Maybe against a weaker opposition but not against an almost catenaccio like Real Madrid.
If Messi did score six goals in one match, he would have scored 15 goals this Champions League season—not only the most ever in Champions League history (van Nistelrooy scored 12 goals in the 2002–03 Champions League season) but also in European Cup history (José Altafini scored 14 goals in the 1962–63 European Cup season).
