Champions League

Insideworldfootball.com

Those who forget the past, said the great American savant George Santayana, are condemned to repeat it. Football in 2013 runs the same risk. This is because many of the administrators who run the game seem to have forgotten the past. Or perhaps they never cared for the past despite their many references to it in public utterances.

This explains why 2013 will be for the world’s favourite game a question of dealing with issues many thought had long been settled.

Take race.

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Evening Standard

UEFA have no plans to expand the Champions League from 32 to 64 teams, according to a highly-placed source close to UEFA president Michel Platini.

The Frenchman shocked football last week when, in an interview, he suggested there could be a restructuring of Europe’s tournaments.

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Insideworldfootball

Poor Michel Platini. Do you not feel sorry for him? A wonderful footballer, he exchanges his shorts for a suit and becomes an administrator. Under his Presidency, UEFA hosts a European football competition that everyone says is one of the best in recent memory, if not the best ever.

The fears that it will lead to racist violence, and that players might even walk off during a match if they are racially abused, prove unfounded. The football is gripping, indeed so gripping that it brings back memories of great tournaments such as the Mexico World Cup of 42 years past. The Euros concludes with fascinating debates as to whether present-day Spain is better than the 1970 Brazil of Pelé and company and whether they deserve the title of the best football team ever.

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Former Holland and AC Milan star who enjoyed great success with both club and country believes the international game is the priority

Evening Standard

Tangerine dream: Ruud Gullit raises the European Championship trophy for Holland in 1988. Image courtesy of Evening Standard

Do not tell Ruud Gullit that winning the Champions League matters more than glory with the national team.

Two years ago, just days before his Inter Milan side were crowned kings of Europe, Jose Mourinho claimed that the Champions League was bigger than the World Cup.

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Manchester City’s plan to start an Alex Ferguson sort of rule at the Ethiad will depend not on how much money they spend, but how they succeed in managing the club. And by making sure that they keep hold of their management team, manager Roberto Mancini in particular, who has taken them to this wonderland. The initial signs are optimistic that they will avoid the problems Chelsea have had.

PlayUp

Mancini led City to glory, but must now be in sole control of football matters. Image courtessy of PlayUp

The comparison with Chelsea is very relevant. Remember back in 2005, we heard a similar vision of the future from Chelsea. Then, Peter Kenyon, chief executive of Chelsea, spoke of his vision to turn the world blue. Chelsea went on to win two more titles, indeed, they did the coveted double of League and Cup under Carlo Ancelotti and have won other trophies. The club could still crown it all with what its Russian Tsar dearly wants: the Champions League on Saturday. But if they do not, this is a season with only an FA Cup and sixth in the League, and that domination over United, taking over from Old Trafford in the way Ferguson took over from Anfield, has not been achieved.

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