A `Final before the Final’ is when two giants of Europeanfootball aristocracy collide prematurely in the Champions League. When Real Madridand Manchester United were drawn together at the live draw in Switzerland lastDecember, audible gasps of delight were heard even from the normally blasé UEFAbig wigs, fresh from another champagne and caviar lunch.
The titanic battle begins next Wednesday (Feb 13) at theBernabéu with the return leg three weeks later at Old Trafford on Tuesday,March 5. The tangible excitement isbecause Real and United are two great clubs with two charismatic managers in JoséMourinho and Sir Alex Ferguson, who have locked horns both in Europe andEngland. Then there are two formerUnited team-mates Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney who will be fighting forthe plaudits. These two clubs also havethe Midas touch “ Forbes value Man United at $3.3 billion and Deloitte'srevealed recently that Real Madrid had become the first club to earn more than€500m in a year.
Currently, United are in better shape than Madrid - they aresitting at the top of the EPL on a cosy cushion of nine points, while Real havealready surrendered their title to Barcelona. With strong rumours of disharmony both in the Madrid dressing room andat board level, Mourinho may have to leave this summer. Winning the CL remains Mourinho’s sole avenueof salvation for their awful league campaign. He could then walk out the door, with his massive ego intact, saying“…thanks for having me but I’m still a genius!”
Sir Alex doesn’t need another CL so urgently, but Mourinhois ahead in their one to one clashes and dethroning him would be sweet revengefor the Scot. The two managers have adeep mutual respect for each other and often share a bottle of red winetogether after a match. Mourinho agreedto take part in a documentary I made about Sir Alex and revealingly he referredto the Scot as “The Boss”. A hugecompliment from a megalomaniac who refers to himself as “The Special One”.
Ronaldo and Rooney too have contrasting fortunes. Lastweekend, Rooney scored the winner for United against Fulham while CR7 alsoscored the only goal of the game - a back-header into his own net. Ronaldo, it seems, always manages to score agoal, even against Real!
I was at Old Trafford the last time Real played United nineyears ago when the other Ronaldo, the Brazilian with the Freddie Mercury smile,had scored a hat-trick to eliminate United from the CL. It was incredible to see the United fans riseas one to give him a standing ovation when he was substituted. Off the field, however, Sir Alex’srelationship with the Real Madrid has been an acrimonious one.
It started in the pre-Mourinho era, when a dispute flared upabout Madrid’s relentless pursuit of the then United player CristianoRonaldo. Sir Alex loves reading history,and escalated the argument when he said in a GQ interview, “What made it reallyobscene was that Madrid, as General Franco’s club, had a history of being ableto get whoever and whatever they wanted, before democracy came to Spain.” Madrid are sensitive over their links withthe Fascist dictator who brutally ruled Spain from 1936 to 1975 and they lashedback saying Sir Alex was “getting old” and Spanish newspapers sneered he was“senile”; probably in disbelief that anyone had the nerve to criticise Madridin such a politically provocative way. Ferguson raged back with, “Do you think I would get into a contract withthat mob…no chance…I wouldn’t sell them a virus.” Eventually, Ferguson supported Ronaldo’sboyhood dream to play for Real whilst United pocketed a world record transferfee of £80 million. As Shakespeare put it “All’s well that ends well” - but anedge remains.
United earned the right of playing at home for the secondleg as they topped their CL group and such an underestimated advantage couldprove pivotal, so I am putting myself on the line by predicting that United willeliminate Real and `The Boss’ will be savouring the red wine more than TheSpecial One.
Neil Dougan was a youth player for Glasgow Celtic Boys Club and is a British Series Producer and Director for all the major UK broadcasters: BBC, Sky, Channel 4, and ITV. He recently scripted, produced and directed `The Boss: 25 Years of Sir Alex Ferguson’ for Manchester United TV. He spends his time between Goa and the UK, with his wife and son.
In ‘Eye on the ball’ Neil Dougan will put his football expertise to paper “history and punditry with a generous pinch of personal experience
