Real bt Chelsea

Yes, Real Madrid CF has beaten ex-Real manager Jose's Chelsea by three goals to one in the ICC Final. There was a lot of tension before the match. Mourinho said that Real was at this competetion because of his professionalism. Don't know if there was any pun intended or he was really mocking Real. Then he attacked Ronaldo, by claiming that he coached the original Ronaldo (R9), implication being CR7 isn't as good as R9. And lot of issues between Real's Spanish players and Mourinho. There was this one more thing, Carlo Ancelotti, the current Real manager was ex-Chelsea manager during their 2009 campaign. And with all this past history, it is not a coincidence that of all the players, the ones attacked by Mourinho put in a great performance. Ronaldo with 2 spectacular goals, Casillas with 2 fine saves, Pepe literally owning Lukaku and Ramos with a decent display.


To speak about the match, Real changed from the team that used to be under Mourinho. That team relied on counter-attacking football with pacy wingers Ronaldo and Di Maria. This team under Ancelotti is more about quick passing, fluidity, possession. Isco is such a wonderful player to watch, he retains the ball so well and his passes were exquisite, see his assists to Ronaldo and Benzema in LA Galaxy match, pin point and accurate. With Isco and Modric retaining the ball in midfield, we dominate the possession and it is more about attacking now, while it was counter-attacking till the last season with Xabi's long passes releasing CR7. This team looks really good, but I wonder do we need Bale at such exorbitant price when Di Maria's form is more or less good. With Ozil playing on the right, Isco & Modric dictating midfield, I wonder where Xabi and Kaka fits in. And boy, did you see Ronaldo's second goal, it was absolute master class from CR7. He was on the left flank, passed the ball to Benzema and started cutting back into the 30 yard box. Benzema, after receiving the ball from Ronaldo, passed it onto Isco who perfectly found CR7 in the box, and Ronaldo coolly headed the ball into the back of the net. For some reason, I was just watching only Ronaldo on the screen instead of the ball, maybe to see how he influences the game, how defence marks him and all such stuff. When, I saw him passing to Benzema and cutting into the box, I kind of felt that he would get the ball back and finish it and it exactly happened so. May be these type of goals are common in football, but when you anticipate something and it happens so, I guess you will like that goal more. And what do I say about his free kick. He said that his celebration wasn't targeted at Mourinho but I doubt that.

To talk about Mourinho, we all know, he likes to talk, he makes himself the centre of attention. He plays mind games pressurising the opposition. I don't question his treatment of Casillas or Ramos. He is the manager and he decides who is the starting XI. But his recent comments are too much to take for anyone. I don't know, I never objected his remarks on other teams or their players when he managed Real, so, I shall not criticize him now. Still, I know that Mourinho means trouble, issues, controversies, but this time he crossed a line by personally attacking CR7. Whatever may be said and written about him, I still consider him the most successful coach, albeit without the FIFA World Cup.

Now, my Mains preparation. After assessing myself for the past 5 days, I realised that I stand very little chance of clearing Mains given the time left to prepare is just 4 months when I hardly completed 30% of syllabus. So, I decided I will orient my preparation towards 2014 Mains. What does that mean. First, in no way, it means that I gave up 'preparing' this year. I will still prepare 10hrs a day. Second, instead of reading news papers, current affairs meticulously, I will just read the headlines and not much. I have always felt that to really grasp the current affairs, one needs to be thorough on the basic knowledge concerned with the issue. So, what I will do most of the time is, read the basics and be strong in them. Once I am thorough with the basics, I can read Hindu editorials, reviews, analysis on social issues, build on the basic knowledge-network and then I can form a good informed opinion about the topics in General Studies. Same goes with Public Administration. Plus, I don't want to rush through the syllabus, just for the sake of finishing it by December. Looks like, my wait goes for another year, but its my decision and I am okay with it. Later...