Barca Dissappoint; Inter and Valencia Brawl
Posted on March 7, 2007 - Filed Under Football | 1 Comment
Last year’s Champions League winners Barcelona limped out of the tournament this evening after a mediocre performance in Anfield against the 2005 winners Liverpool. Although the Catalan club scraped a 1-0 victory, they didn’t impress in the slightest and look only a shadow of the side that was so mesmerising for the last two years. Ronaldinho needs to hit the gym too; it’s sad to see the great man in such a sluggish state.
A far more lively encounter took place at the Estadio Mestalla, where Valencia took on Inter Milan having earned a 2-2 draw in the San Siro two weeks ago. I didn’t see the match, but since I had no intention of watching the Liverpudlians bask in their victory, I switched over to catch the end of the Inter game on Sky after the final whistle at Anfield just in time to witness these scenes:
Here’s the video:
Although it may initially seem that Internazionale were mostly to blame for the incident, it was in fact a Valencia player that was the villain of the piece. Inter, who are riding high in Seria A at present, were obviously upset at exiting the Champions League before the quarter finals (the 0-0 scoreline meant that Valencia progressed on the away goals rule), and naturally tempers were strained as the match drew to a close. Just before the the above footage begins there was a clash involving a number of players going for a high ball, which seemed to rile up just about everyone on the pitch. It appears to me (and I may well be wrong on this), that Valencia’s Carlos Marchena instigated the fracas by lashing out at Inter’s Nicolas Burdisso after Burdisso said something to him (you can’t see this in the clip). Burdisso then tried to throw a punch at Marchena but was hindered by Valencia and Inter players alike.
What happened next was truly disgraceful. Valencia substitute David Navarro, who hadn’t even played in the match, charged onto the pitch and landed a punch right on Burdisso nose, breaking it (according to Mancini, Inter’s coach). Navorro did this, it must be emphasised, while Burdisso was being withheld by his team mates and some Valencia players. After that, it all kick off with the Inter players trying the tackle the poltroon as he fled the scene. There was apparently quite a rumpus in the tunnel as well, but it wasn’t filmed. You can see Toldo (I think it’s him anyway) forcing his way into it in the video, as Cambiasso (the gentleman in the white shirt) is held back by stewards.
Inter are the team in blue and black shirts by the way, in case you don’t follow football.
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Excellent use of the words ‘poltroon’ and ‘rumpus’. Full marks.