European giants provide the perfect game for Cardiff final
THE THINKING FAN’S FOOTBALL COLUMN
SHORT of Messi and his Barcelona mates pitching up at the Principality Stadium, we have pretty much the perfect Uefa Champions League final on its way to Cardiff.
Spain’s biggest club – and indeed the biggest in the world – versus Italy’s finest.
This is truly mouthwatering fare as some of the greatest players on the planet right at this moment in time prepare to do battle in Wales.
It is the final Welsh organisers probably dreamed about more than any other when the historic decision to bring the biggest club game on earth to Cardiff was announced by Uefa a couple of years back.
FA of Wales and Welsh Rugby Union chiefs, of course, couldn’t go public in handpicking their preferred two finalists. Privately, however, you wouldn’t have gone too far wrong in assuming they wanted a Real Madrid versus Juventus showdown.
Which is exactly what they have got – dispelling fears it could have been Monaco versus Atletico Madriud instead.
Barcelona would have been ideal candidates, too, of course. Some talked of the prospect of an incredible El Clasico shoot-out on Welsh soil between Messi’s Mob and their arch-rivals from Spain.
But the FAW and WRU really wanted two teams from different countries participating in their final.
And ideally, they wanted them to come from abroad, as opposed to an English Premier League side making the short hop across the Severn Bridge or down the M50.
So that ruled out Arsenal, Tottenham, Manchester City and Leicester.
You can make a case for the glamour of Bayern Munich or Paris Saint Germain, of the fanaticism the supporters of Atletico Madrid or Sevilla would have brought to Cardiff.
But ultimately the really big three teams in this year’s competition were Real Madrid, Barcelona and Juventus.
Real are perceived as the biggest club of the lot and happen to have the Gareth Bale home-town factor as well. So it had to be them.
Given Juve are from Italy, not Spain, they were the preferred ideal opponents.
It could not have worked out better as these two giants of the game pitch up in Cardiff on June 3 and play out a final that will be watched by 400million TV viewers in 200 different countries across the globe.
Never before will Wales have been put on the worldwide sporting map quite like this. So, what about the football itself? It will be a truly-incredible contest, fought out between the two ultra-special sides.
Juventus may have sneaked under the radar for many, but football connoisseurs have known for some time just how good the Old Lady are these days.
In Leonardo Bonucci, Giorgio Chiellini and Andrea Barzagli they have the best defenders in the world. Impassable, but also comfortable on the ball. It’s a potent mix.
You don’t blank out Barcelona twice – as Juve did in the quarter-finals – without being quite phenomenal at the back.
At 39 and 34 years of age respectively, Gigi Buffon and Dani Alves have suddenly rolled back the years to the days when they were the best goalkeeper and right-back in the world.
Gonzalo Higuain is a goal machine, but the difference for the Juventus class of 2017 is that they have a genuine matchwinner again in young Paulo Dybala.
Everyone talks of Bale or Neymar as the heir apparent to Messi or Ronaldo as the next Fifa Ballon d’Or winner, but mercurial Argentine magician Dybala is the heir apparent to Bale and Neymar.
In the Spanish corner we have the Galacticos.
Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric. Swashbuckling Brazilian Marcelo is the best left-back in the world by a country mile, the new Roberto Carlos.
The battle between Marcelo and fellow countryman Alves down Juventus’ right flank is going to be compelling. Particularly with Bale thrown into the mix, too!
Can the splendid Real centre-back pairing of Sergio Ramos and Raphael Varane halt the Higuain-Dybala threat?
Most intriguingly, will goal-getter
supreme Ronaldo be able to succeed where Messi, Neymar and Suarez failed in two matches by scoring against Bonucci and Co.
Ronaldo has fond memories of the Millennium Stadium. He has scored there and won trophies in the past for Manchester United.
For Buffon, on the other hand, recollections of Cardiff are different.
The last time he played at the stadium, he was beaten twice by Simon Davies and Craig Bellamy as Wales spectacularly overcame Italy in a Euro 2004 qualifier.
Fully 15 years on, will Buffon have Cardiff joy and lift the giant Champions League trophy aloft down on the pitch?
Juventus don’t have a great track record in this final.
They have two wins and a record six losses to their name. Real Madrid are the opposite. A record 11 triumphs and three final defeats.
Will the status quo continue, or will Juve buck the trend of history?
This is part of the fascinating backdrop to what the FAW proudly declare as the biggest sporting event to come to Wales.
And most fascinating of the lot, of course, is the little matter of Bale coming home.
It was kind of meant to be that the moment Cardiff was announced as the 2017 final venue, Real Madrid would get there – and Bale would bag the winner.
We will see whether that last bit pans out, indeed if Bale is even fit for the game after missing recent matches through injury and Isco impressing in his place.
What is beyond question, however, is the magnitude of the occasion we are about to witness.
We’ve had some tumultuous final showdowns in recent times. Barcelona v Juventus, two Madrid derbies. Barca v Manchester Utd, Inter Milan v Bayern Munich, AC Milan v Liverpool.
This Cardiff showpiece is every bit as big.
It’s the dream final for Cardiff. The eyes of the world are about to focus upon Wales.