Saturday, June 3, 2017

EXTREMELY WELL BALANCED REAL MADRID WINS BACK-TO-BACK CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TITLES

Real Madrid has made the history today, yet again. As the first team at a club level, the "merengues" were able today to repeat, back-to-back, as the winners of UEFA Champions League, by beating Italian champion Juventus Turin, by the score of 4:1. In the old formula of the competition, called the European Cup of Champions, the "merengues" have won it six times, out of which five times in a row (1956-1960); yet since the enactment of the new formula of UEFA Champions League in 1992, no team, including Messi's Barcelona, was able to win two back-to-back titles. Altogether, the "merengues" have now won record 12 European Champion League titles - the same amount as won by all English club teams! The Real Madrid charismatic coach, and one of the greatest players in soccer history, Zinedine Zidane, was able to give the "merengues" the necessary balance and cohesion which the team was lacking under the previous coaches. Throughout this season, Real had the key players in Marcelo, Modric, Isco, Kross and Ramos, whereas Cristiano Ronaldo, although lacking in dribbling skills and vision to be considered a player on the level of Lionel Messi, is truly now a veritable poacher of goals, even though he disappears for the long intervals of the game. Juventus exhibited throughout this season a formidable defense, yet somehow, due to scintillating Real Madrid midfield, and below par performance of Pijanic and Khedira, the "merengues" were able in the second half to assert the control of the midfield, and to create more scoring opportunities which were converted twice by Ronaldo, in addition to Casemiro and Asensio. Juventus' goalkeeper, Gigi Buffon, who was looking to collect the only missing title in his career, has to hope that 2017/2018 season, apparently the last in his career, will be the lucky one. On the other hand, Paulo Dybala, the formidable dribbler of Juventus, might want to join Barcelona this summer, as Juventus seems to lack quality in the midfield in order to have a shot at winning the next edition of the Champions League.

Janusz Andrzejewski is a New York City based attorney who writes on legal or other community important topics. You can contact him by telephone at (212) 634-4250,  or, through email: janusz@januszandrzejewski.com or jwandrzejewski@gmail.com.