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The match most eagerly anticipated by football fans around the world.
With two days left before the UEFA Champions League final, provocative articles came pouring out, and among them, one in particular was drawing special attention.
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This was causing controversy in many places.
According to reports from Spain's reputable outlet Marca and Britain's The Guardian, tickets allocated to Manchester City fans were said to start at a minimum of around 3,200 euros.
Of course, even that was relatively moderate.
That was only because those seats were in a section with a poor view of the pitch. To buy a seat in the higher Category 2 section, around 17,500 euros was needed.
And the VIP zone had climbed to around 23,000 to 29,000 euros.
For comparison, it was at a level comparable to the World Cup.
The UEFA Champions League had reached this point because the match itself had become that huge of a spectacle.
Manchester City, who had already achieved the treble and an unbeaten league title, against Barcelona, who stood on the verge of a treble and dreamed of soaring again.
There were many intriguing elements to it.
The first was revenge.
[Will this be Pep Guardiola's revenge match against Barcelona, or Barcelona's revenge match against Ho-young?]
Whether Guardiola, who had been dismissed by Barcelona, could successfully get his revenge on Barcelona was the first point of interest for people.
Because there was hardly a sweeter act of revenge than winning the Champions League against the club that had sacked you.
And the second was the relationship between Barcelona and Ho-young.
An inescapable bad blood that remained even after they moved into different leagues.
There was unprecedented interest and anticipation over whether Barcelona could finally beat Ho-young this time.
Barcelona's supporters, the Culés, wanted to beat Ho-young even just once.
And the third thing that interested fans was the head-to-head clash between Lionel Messi and Ho-young.
[
Messi had shown explosive scoring form in the semi-final against Bayern Munich and reached 17 goals.
He had already scored 51 goals in La Liga as well, so if he kept up his form in the second half of the year, he might even pass 100 goals this year.
In many ways, the momentum he gained after the Beijing Olympics from Ho-young had worked positively for him.
By contrast, Ho-young was currently leading with 19 goals.
Spain's major sports media outlets were covering it from various angles.
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AS and Marca, outlets that did not get along particularly well with Barcelona, were busy praising Ho-young while tearing Messi down.
The pro-Barcelona outlets El Mundo and Sport did the opposite.
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And Don Balón, the outlet known as "Messi's personal newspaper," was, as always, showing devotion to Messi.
The majority of football fans were also supporting Barcelona.
Did they not say that neutrals usually side with the underdog?
With Barcelona already having the overwhelming larger fanbase, football fans who wanted to see the underdog rise up joined in, and the wave of support for Barcelona kept growing stronger.
The atmosphere inside the club was just as good as Manchester City's.
But ideals and reality were sharply different.
Experts, every single one of them, predicted a Manchester City victory.
You could tell that just by looking at the odds assigned to Manchester City by the betting sites.
But there was also the opposite view.
A renowned columnist and editor-in-chief at Spain's Don Balón presented plausible reasons for Barcelona's chances of winning.
[Spanish football magazine Don Balón]
[By: La Saeta Oscuro]
[The bird that has risen high falls to the beating wings of the bird ascending]
[The upcoming UEFA Champions League final. As a football expert, I believe the probability of Manchester City winning is very high. The reason is Ho-young.
The first time I covered Ho-young in an article was around seven years ago, and in that article, I mentioned that Ho-young's only weakness was his age.
But look at Ho-young now.
He has now stood at the top of the world with the vigor and fearless energy of youth that no one else possesses. Manchester City has risen there with him. But what rises quickly also falls quickly.
At present, Barcelona can be compared to a bird in ascent. The team recorded 100 points and 110 goals in the league, while Lionel Messi and David Villa combined for 120 goals in all competitions. Those are numbers that do not lose badly to Manchester City.
In addition, Barcelona possess one great advantage that Manchester City do not. That is experience of winning the Champions League.
On the other hand, Manchester City, neither the manager nor the team, have won it before. Inevitably, there will be shortcomings in preparing for a final, and that will unavoidably affect the players' confidence.
Moreover, Barcelona's players know Guardiola extremely well. If they dig deeply into his football philosophy and tactics, they will be more than capable of exploiting weaknesses.
Taking all of this into account, I boldly predict Barcelona's chances of victory. The time has come to beat Ho-young. Even so, if Manchester City win, I promise that I will not write articles criticizing Ho-young from now on.]
Don Balón's editor-in-chief was showing enormous faith in Barcelona.
Barcelona this season really were that strong.
Of course, after the second leg of the semi-final against Bayern Munich, controversy over refereeing errors had led to them being called "Buycelo na," but in this final, that was out of the question.
That was because the current situation in UEFA had become extremely strict.
And all of it was the result of what had happened with Real Madrid.
This was how it developed.
[Angered by Real Madrid's trophyless season, President Calderón says, "It is the fault of some incompetent staff. We will rebuild the club and raise it again," announcing a purge]
[Some Real Madrid staff respond, "The incompetent ones are the people at the top. If the stained shadow is to be lifted, the strength of aware socios is absolutely necessary."]
Trophyless.
With such a miserable result, Real Madrid split apart almost as soon as the season ended.
And that was not where it ended.
[Real Madrid's current kit manager reveals, "On the orders of stadium operations chief Bruno, a listening device was installed in the away dressing room," the match in question was the semi-final against Manchester City... renewed attention on Ho-young's interview saying all of their tactics had been exposed]
[Bruno, the stadium operations chief, confesses, "Calderón gave the order."]
Once a full-scale investigation began, every charge came to light with shocking ease.
It was proof of just how weak Calderón's personal relationships were.
Then, as reports came in regarding various internal corruptions, a prosecutorial investigation was launched.
The anti-Calderón forces that had been hiding in various corners rose up.
[Opaque financial management exposed among Real Madrid leadership]
[Protests demanding President Calderón's resignation continue for days]
[Even suspicion over who controlled the golden retriever caught by Ho-young... meanwhile Ho-young receives offers for dog product commercials... they made porridge for the dog to eat]
[Bad news upon bad news, Real Madrid continue their endless collapse... "ruin"]
Manager Pellegrini and various players were also dragged into controversy.
And with that, Real Madrid was pushed to the brink of complete collapse.
[Cristiano Ronaldo, Xabi Alonso, Karim Benzema, and other key players highly likely to leave Madrid after this season]
With things in this state, no one could easily buy off referees.
Thanks to that, the match was expected to proceed very cleanly.
The venue was the Allianz Arena.
On May 19, under brilliantly clear skies, the opening ceremony took place.
Franz Beckenbauer, honorary president of Bayern Munich and Germany's greatest legend, appeared as the ambassador for the final and added prestige to the occasion.
Soon after, the opening ceremony began.
Jonas Kaufmann, the most unique tenor in the world, passionately sang "The Stars Are Brightly Shining," and then the world-famous violinist David Garrett walked out and gave a solo performance.
At the same time, the Champions League trophy, the Big Ears, appeared above the giant banner, and the duet began.
Then, the moment fireworks burst in the air, it transformed as if by magic into a giant model trophy, and the Champions League anthem rang out.
It was at that very moment.
[Ladies and Gentlemen! Please welcome, your teams, for the UEFA Champions League final!]
-Ce sont les meilleures équipes!
-Es sind the allerbesten Mannschaften!
Bathed in that glorious sound, the players of both teams came out and stood side by side directly beneath the giant banner.
It was the moment the giant club flags in the supporters' sections behind both goals began to wave.
"Waaaaaaa!"
The greatest show on earth.
No one could deny that it was the greatest performance in Champions League history.
It was also a historic moment that, at the ongoing G8 summit, the British Prime Minister, the German Chancellor, the US President, and the French President were all watching the match live.
[To the more than 66,000 spectators in the stadium, and to the hundreds of millions watching around the world, the match will begin shortly.]
After the grand opening, silence fell over the stadium.
Then, after a moment, the supporters of both teams, who had been waiting for this day, raised their voices together.
It was the instant the countdown began.
""Three!""
""Two!""
""One!!""
Piiiiiiik!
""Uwooooooo!!""
[Yes, at last, the 2012 UEFA Champions League final has begun! Manchester City, challenging for a new throne. And Barcelona, challenging them!]
As everyone expected, Manchester City came out in a 4-3-3.
Barcelona did the same.
[Barcelona's Tito Vilanova is showing why he is a manager who pursued the same football as Guardiola. At first glance, the basic tactical framework looks the same as City's.]
[That's right. You could call this a clash between master and disciple. As Guardiola's soul partner, he will know him better than most.]
[You could say it is a double-edged sword. You can see through the other person's thinking, but your own thoughts are also easily read.]
[But I do not know. I have heard rumors that Barcelona prepared for this more thoroughly than ever before.]
[Haha. Whether those rumors are true, we will find out soon enough.]
The disciple, Tito Vilanova, struck first.
As if he had brought out a hidden weapon, he was slowly revealing its presence.
[Barcelona's players are pressing aggressively from the front right from the start. This is definitely different from their usual look.]
[It is. The players are moving tirelessly and surrounding Manchester City's players from multiple directions. Very brave indeed.]
A tactic that looked extremely complex at a glance.
Even four-sided pressing was hard enough, but Barcelona were partially reshaping their structure like endlessly changing cells and giving the opponent no gaps at all.
It was team-level pressing that could not even be imitated without an extraordinary tactical understanding.
The level was such that each player had to handle at least two roles.
All of this was a tactic devised by Tito Vilanova together with world-renowned tacticians and famous managers and coaches.
Those people, all busy enough with their own work, had gathered for one reason alone.
Manchester City with Ho-young.
It was, in effect, a secret alliance created to defeat them.
And so, an all-out battle with everything at stake began.
(To be continued.)