STEPPING UP
Like Zidane, Virgin bring their A game on big European nights
DAMIEN Delaney reckoned, in his dulcet Cork tones, that Borussia Dortmund had scored too early. He had a point.
Had Jude Bellingham’s wonderful strike broken the deadlock in the 85th minute, rather than the 15th, last Wednesday, we might still be digesting another post-mortem on Pep Guardiola overthinking things in Europe.
Instead, Emre Can gave away a silly penalty before Phil Foden did his thing and, so, we will have Qatar and the UAE competing for bragging rights in the Champions League semi-final. Dortmund, who are hardly a minnow, felt like they were the last team batting for the little fella in this year’s competition.
That City and Dortmund was only the second-best quarter-final this year illustrates the sheer quality of football on display in this season’s competition – although those of us that watched the tie over 180 minutes can always say that we witnessed the moment that Bellingham announced his rare talent to the wider world. He looked so good across the two games, constantly demanding the ball and never losing it. The joke is on us for laughing when Birmingham City retired his squad number. Maybe they should have renamed St Andrew’s in his honour.
Bellingham’s emergence was one of many highlights over four breathless nights, made all the more memorable by Virgin Media’s impressive coverage. The broadcaster formerly known as TV3 has come into its own in delivering European football over the past three years, which makes it all the more disappointing that it recently lost the rights to the Champions League.
The station’s sports coverage has improved immeasurably over the past couple of years, even if the ghost of TV3 can still haunt the halls of Ballymount, as we saw with Ivan Yates’ ridiculous show, The Green Room.
But as was trumpeted last week, their excellent Six Nations coverage as well as the Cheltenham Festival were big ratings winners in recent weeks. However, you feel it’s their packaging of the Champions League that has allowed the confidence of its sports broadcasting to flourish.
There had been a void on the great European nights ever since the late, great Bill O’Herlihy and his ‘three wise men’ departed the RTÉ studio, but Virgin’s team have done a fine job in taking up that particular mantle over the past three years.
Tommy Martin might be embarrassed by the comparison, but the Donegal man does have Billo’s ability to keep the conversation going and ensure his analysts never get bogged down in their discussion.
Martin is ably assisted by Ann-Marie Keegan and Niamh Kinsella, who do a fine job of rounding everything up, while Virgin’s pundits keep things interesting.
Delaney is one of the better analysts in Ireland at the moment. Not long out of a Premier League dressingroom, he has the perspective of the modern player and seems to work particularly well with Brian Kerr, who remains the jewel in Virgin’s coverage. Kerr’s insightfulness enhances each show and his contribution to the racism debate during Thursday’s Champions League is typical of his intelligence and thoughtfulness. ‘It’s disgusting in society, disgusting in football and for far too long, UEFA and FIFA have been far too lenient and it has taken far too long for this uprising to take place in support of what’s only common decency and respect for all human beings.’
Those sorts of contributions will be missed next season, particularly if we have to rely on Steve McManaman and Michael Owen to give their insights on BT Sport. But it says something about Martin’s skills as a presenter that he can get his analysts to talk in this manner. Niall Quinn and Keith Andrews are both far more revealing in the Virigin studio than in their regular slots on Sky Sports.
‘It’s the battle of the billions,’ Quinn proclaimed on Wednesday when assessing the semi-final line-up.
‘City and PSG are both looking for world domination. City are a bit further down the road in that quest but this project will only be judged as an out-and-out success when they win the Champions League.’
In a way, City-PSG, as mouth-watering a tie as it is, seems an apt metaphor for where club football is heading. Here are two clubs bankrolled by the petro-dollars of two repressive Gulf states, battling it out to be the top dogs in European football.
There were times I was so swept up by the breathtaking quality of football on offer during PSG’s two matches with Bayern Munich that I forgot what the club stood for. And how they ripped the fabric of European football by ponying up all that cash for Neymar a few years ago. And it was easy to forget that, especially when Kylian Mbappé was weaving his magic on a bamboozled Bayern defence.
And isn’t that what sportswashing is designed to do? Make us forget. Concentrate on the spectacle in front of you, ignore how it was funded.
Football is in a strange place if, among the four semi-finalists left in the Champions League, Real Madrid can be considered the best of a bad lot. Perhaps they are the team to root for. Zinedine Zidane put on a tactical masterclass in Anfield on Wednesday night, his side’s deep defending frustrating Liverpool.
Zidane has won three Champions Leagues as a manager, but he never got much credit, as that was always felt to be more down to the individual brilliance of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale. This year, it has been a little different. Zidane has had to set up his team in different ways to stifle the opposition.
The reaction to this has all been rather odd, as there is a bit of bemusement that one of the best footballers of all time would know a thing or two about tactics. If Zidane pulls off this Champions League, he will have to outwit Thomas Tuchel and then Pep or Mauricio Pochettino in the final.
It’s a pretty stern examination of his coaching credentials, but it may be the only slice of romance left in this year’s competition.
Indeed, it will be fitting if Virgin Media bow out on their excellent three-year stint covering the competition with Kerr and Delaney discussing how one of the greatest-ever players has suddenly become one of the great managers.
But one thing’s for sure. They will be missed next season on the big European nights.
‘Brian Kerr’s insight enhances each show ’