Juventus’
win in its Champions League second round match against Celtic resulted in a
case of sour grapes from a majority of British football fans on social media.
Antonio
Conte’s side was solid in its 3-0 win in Glasgow but most Scottish and even
English fans were quick to focus on some controversial incidents. This resulted
in stereotypical comments on websites such as Twitter and Facebook.
Instead of
focusing on how well Gianluigi Buffon played between the sticks and Claudio
Marchisio’s display in midfield, there was too much focus on Juve wing-back Stephan
Lichtsteiner and his tussles with Celtic forward Gary Hooper.
Fans resulting
to stereotypes resembled the style of football Celtic played. Their view on
Italian football is dated and so is the philosophy of teams from the British
Isles. The stereotypes and football philosophy are at least 50 years old.
The Italian
giants weren’t at their very best but they attacked when they needed to. The bianconeri did enough to win, which was
the most Italian aspect of Juve’s display. Against a stronger team, that
approach could backfire but the Italians dealt well with most of Celtic’s crosses.
Juve’s
approach was an old one but it can work sparingly. In other matches under
Conte, the bianconeri have showed
they can attack for 90 minutes and play better football than Juve teams of the
past.
Buffon made
some good saves but Marchisio was Juve’s man of the match. If Alessandro Matri’s
goal didn’t stand, the midfielder made sure that the ball was in the net for
the first. He scored the second goal after a twist in the box and low shot and
created the third for Mirko Vucinic.
Matri has
been in good form for Juve recently and he kept it up in the CL. He read Federico
Peluso’s long-ball better than Nigerian defender Efe Ambrose and his shot went
over the line before one of the defenders cleared the ball. He also assisted in
Marchisio’s goal with a one-touch pass.
Celtic didn’t
entirely follow the British stereotype by the book but the predictability was
still present. Neil Lennon used the 4-5-1 formation as opposed to the 4-4-2 and
his players did keep the ball on the ground instead of hitting hopeful
long-balls.
One of the
main problems in Celtic’s play was that there was too much emphasis on
wing-play, a common trait of British teams. Full-backs Mikael Lustig and Emilio
Izaguirre played well for Celtic but their crosses didn’t put Buffon, Barzagli
and co under serious pressure.
It was
evident that Greek striker Georgios Samaras was a loss for the Scottish club.
His height was missing as well as his work ethic and technical skills. He could
have given Leonardo Bonucci a hard time or if he played on the left-wing,
Lichtsteiner might have struggled.
Lennon’s men
rarely attacked through the middle. Serbian-Australian playmaker Tom Rogic wasn’t
included in Celtic’s CL squad but come next season, Lennon should consider
including him. Rogic is young but he has flair and can be as great as Tim
Cahill, Mark Bresciano and Harry Kewell.
If Celtic
missed Samaras and some unpredictability, what the Scots didn’t need was a
defender still feeling jetlagged after the African Cup of Nations. Ambrose was
out of sorts, failing to score from a header and being at fault for two of Juve’s
goals.
Despite Celtic’s
shortcomings, that hasn’t stopped British fans for labelling the Italian team
as ‘cheats’. If Juve’s effective display alienated them, then two particular
incidents caused a stir. The man-marking by Juve was clearly not to Celtic’s
taste.
Gary Hooper marked
Buffon during a corner in the first half, which was a clever tactic by the
forward. Potentially, he could have prevented the Juve keeper from trying to
catch the high ball or make a save.
Lichtsteiner
was quick to react to it, getting in between Hooper and Buffon and opened his
arms wide open. The Swiss defender constantly shoved the English forward, who
tried to get in Buffon’s way and Spanish referee Alberto Undiano Mallenco gave
both players yellow cards.
In the
second half, Simone Padoin limited Scott Brown’s presence in the penalty box
during a corner. The manner in which Padoin marked him resembled a rugby tackle
but his arms were a few centimetres away from Brown’s body. Despite not
physically grabbing him, enough was done to put him off.
These two
incidents provoked British fans to write stereotypes about Italian football.
Former England international Michael Owen said on Twitter that Juve resorted to
“dirty Italian tricks”. The man-marking was over-excessive but Juve didn’t
score three goals because of dirty tricks.
Owen might
have also failed to take into account that Lichtsteiner, the player who caused
the most outrage for the British fans, is from Switzerland. Would Owen dare to
make a generalisation about the Swiss based on Lichtsteiner’s excessive
marking?
If it wasn’t
the marking that angered the British fans, they believed that Juve was
outplayed, especially in the first half. You couldn’t convince UK members of
Facebook’s “Soccer Memes” page otherwise.
The Scots
might have had more possession but they weren’t very dangerous in the final
third. Buffon’s saves were mostly routines for him. Kris Commons had Celtic’s
best chance in the first half with a bicycle kick and in the second half, the
weak Ambrose effort was the closest the Scots had to scoring.
Scotland
wants to be independent from the United Kingdom. If Scotland was already
independent from the rest of the UK, would the English be so critical of the
Italians? Maybe they would only for the sake of being anti-Italian.
The Scots
and the English had contrasting styles in the 19th Century. Scottish
players passed the ball around whereas the English were like rugby players,
running past players with the ball, heading towards the goal.
Their styles
have been similar for decades and the English fans are hurt by the loss. Andy
Murray is a Briton when he wins in the tennis and a Scot when he loses but
Celtic’s defeat against Juve was seen as a loss for British football.
Celtic’s
loss confirmed that the simplistic ideals in British football do not ensure
success and dominance. Being tough and playing fast is good but coaches need
greater tactical nous and players need better ball control. Having technical
skill doesn’t mean you have to showboat.
Lennon
showed against Barcelona that he can make his players defend for the majority
of the game. Juve took an early lead on Tuesday night but Celtic did start
attacking from the first whistle. They decided to take the game to Juve, which ended
up backfiring.
Complaints have
been made about the referee from the British but how about what the Celtic
players did to the Juve players? Brown fouled Pirlo and nearly squashed him.
Forrest slid in and fouled Pirlo after he passed the ball. How about Wanyama’s
incidents with Arturo Vidal?
If the
Celtic players and staff still see the bianconeri
as cheats because they are Italian and because of the 2006 Calciopoli scandal,
why don’t they ask UEFA for French referee Stephane Lannoy to take charge? He
usually favours non-Italian teams when he referees against Italian sides.
There is one
more leg to play but Celtic doesn’t have the personnel that Chelsea had when
the Blues overcame a deficit against Napoli last season. Juve could be a
stereotypical Italian side and close the match or do what they do best: play
football for 90 minutes.
Celtic will
need to attack Juve in Turin. The Scots will give their all. Celtic Park
provided a great atmosphere and Juventus Stadium should do the same. Juve is
leading on aggregate and if Juve remain ahead after two legs, it will be a
triumph for the intelligent approach of the Italians over the simple British
way.
No stereotype
can cover that up.
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