all the the things you need to get to the UEFA Cup final.
The ability to play football a luxury that’s not really required, as Rangers showed numerous times through their campaign, especially at home and away against Fiorentina in the semi-final second leg last night. The whole concept of passing to a bloke wearing the same shirt as you is lost to them. Except of course Barry “What the fudd” Ferguson who manges to do so, of course backwards and invariably playing someone into trouble, otherwise it’s pass to the opponents or hump it up to that patch of grass.
Maybe Spurs should stop trying to play Spurs football, thankfully never going to happen, wouldn’t put up with it.
Barcelona had a whinge after they could only manage a 0-0 draw at Ibrox in the Champions League group stage about Rangers being anti-football, they always seem to come out with that when they don’t beat a team they should but in this case they were right.
That semi-final was two hundred and ten minutes of football Jim but not as we know it.
The Fiorentina coach Cesare Prandelli would have more of a case though if he had a decent striker, there seems to be a real dearth of players in the game these days who can just stick the ball in the back off the net. Too many players playing up front who aren’t really strikers but attacking midfielders, too much fannying about and no cutting edge.
Oh but they had one, one big dumb lump who has missed some sitters over the years and as soon as he strolled up for his turn in the penalty shootout I turned to the bloke next to me and in unison we said “blazed over the bar”, priceless.
Well Rangers opposition in the final Zenit St Petersburg have a striker who does know where the net is and how to put the ball into it but Pavel Pogrebnyak will be missing because of a stupid bit of refereeing, no way should he have been yellow carded for being barged into, especially while Schweinsteiger (it has to be said with a dismissive German accent like it’s an insult) somehow managed to stay on the park.
Where Rangers were dull and and tedious Zenit were all action and great movement, and managed that strange thing of passing to your own teammates, while stuffing Bayern of the Munich (“Broadsword calling Danny Boy” © Alan McInally) 4-0.
So Rangers had to go through as soon as the Little General was in the final there was only going to be one outcome, on paper Zenit should stuff ’em but then so should every other team.
I’m rather glad I didn’t get tickets to this years final and for the Champions League final, well who do I dislike the least? Though it would have been harder with Captain Pugwash and his lucky dullards against Ferguson, suppose he’ll be made a Dame if they win this time, but Baron Greenback and his dullards is bad enough.