Football is the only sport where defending yourself is considered an aberration. Or a kick in the ass

We need to understand the meaning of ass. Which obviously isn’t Avogadro’s number. There cannot be a specific formula. But Carlo Ancelotti didn’t eliminate Manchester City because he has an ass (which is the mantra of all the guards who spent a sleepless night). Unless you want to archive every success on penalties under this word. But here too there would be discussion. They have written books on preparing for spot kicks. There are staff of specialists who are hired by clubs to deal with this appendage which is not a lottery. Lunin also explained it post-match. They had studied the opposing shooters. And they knew that with three of them they could shoot centrally. He stood firm on Bernardo Silva’s penalty. It went well for him. But there was also a job.

In the contemporary perversion of football analysis, it seems that there is only one way to play. Football is the victim of what seems to us to be an aberration. It is the only sport that has eliminated defense. Defending oneself is considered execrable. There was a time when defense was praised in basketball. Valerio Bianchini (and others of his generation) turn up their noses and more at contemporary basketball which is all about three-pointers. In water polo, defending yourself is essential. If you don’t know how to do it, you’d better not jump into the tub at all. And last night Ancelotti’s Madrid defended like you do in water polo. He forced City’s players to go out wide and impoverished them: partly because Guardiola considers crosses to be equal to Satan; partly because in the center the Haaland machine gun didn’t go beyond a header that hit the crossbar. Ancelotti defended like you do in water polo where if you concede a goal on the restart you are rightly considered a chicken. We could go on forever. How can you be a boxer if you don’t keep your guard up? Go down after thirty seconds. In every sport the principle of defense is fundamental. In football, no, you don’t have to defend yourself anymore. It has become a showcase for supposed aesthetes. A sport that one would like to be free from counting goals. Because ultimately the current majority of football analysts would like the jury for this sport. At the end of the game the paddles with the votes are raised. And with this method Guardiola would have won by a landslide. Also because the jurors would have been soaked in statistics, graphics on pressure, the position of the players on the pitch. As if keeping players to protect their own goal was a disgrace.

But let’s get back to the ass. City indeed produced an enormous amount of play. He touched a thousand thousand balls. He took corner after corner (by the way, a book was written about this too: the corner kick is not a scoring opportunity, there are very few shots from the flag). Frankly, we don’t remember any great saves from Lunin. The low exit from De Bruyne’s cross, on that action he hit the crossbar Haaland. Then there was Grealish’s shot deflected into the corner by Rudiger. De Bruyne shot high in the second half to make it 2-1. And he kicked a left foot just a little high. And Nacho’s save on the line was the consequence of an injury, of a misunderstanding with Lunin. How many saves did the Real goalkeeper make? Very few. How many decisive saves did he make? Zero, maybe one. Woods hit: one. Where’s your ass?

Madrid started the match in one way, then retreated under the pressure of City who are a formidable team. It has very strong players, even on the bench. Does it have a defense of cuirassiers? How many defenders in the world are faster than Vinicius?

Ancelotti – as he explained at the end of the match – won in the only way possible. Do you want to call it ass? Very good. Instead, it would be desirable for the Madrid match to be studied in Coverciano and in football schools. The ball is not just continuous passes. It’s also defense. It is an ancestral principle that is violated in children’s football schools. Little ones who are immediately indoctrinated in the ball of geometries.

Ancelotti and Madrid offered a demonstration of intelligence and competence, of ability to adapt. Darwin should be re-studied or at least read. If you don’t have the ability to adapt, you won’t survive. The Real match, like Mourinho’s Inter match 14 years ago at Camp Nou (again against Guardiola), are life lessons. Ruling them off means not wanting to take note of reality and continuing to revel in one’s own ideas. It’s a legitimate operation. But it explains very little.