It's just Football!

Last night Bayern Munich played Manchester United in the quarter-finals of what is now called the Champions League. At one time the teams in this competition were the winners of the respective leagues in Europe who would play against one another to determine the European Champion.

This was all pre-Bosman and so the teams involved truly represented their countries at club level-each team was only allowed to have a maximum of 2 foreign players. So in the past when Bayern played United, it was essentially Germany versus England.

Now, post-Bosman, it is possible that club teams can and do field 11 players, none of whom are from the home country of the league for which they play. Last night United started 5 British players, and Bayern fielded 5 Germans. Despite this, in the English media there remained an undercurrent of Germany versus England. In the German media the focus was on the 1999 Champions League final which United won beating Bayern in injury time just as the whistle blew.

I watched the game in German, I find the German commentators tend to be more neutral and if anything are more critical. The English tend to be much more one-sided for example what is a "professional foul" by United is an example of "dirty play" by Bayern.

In the post-game analysis the Germans admitted that for the first 45 minutes United was spectacular. With 43 minutes played United was ahead 3-0. Than Bayern scored. They came out in the second half and played very well getting a second (beautiful) goal and so won on the away goals rule. There was a a contentious moment when a young United defender was shown his second yellow card and therefore was sent off.

Now a couple of things here. The United defender was called for two fouls: both were yellow cards. After the match it is common for players to shake hands with the referee. Rio Ferdinand, captain of United and England refused to shake the referee's hand. Lastly, when asked about the sending off the coach of United blamed "typical Germans" for crowding the referee resulting in the red card. Ironically it was a French player who was fouled who remonstrated.

The real point here is why did a football game played by international players and coached by a Dutchman and a Scotsman decline to blaming "the Germans" again?