CURRENT
CRISS CROSS
TO BE…
Football is not a mere game for me, it bigger than the daily hustle-bustle. It is bigger than the monthly paycheques, and yearly
promotions. It is bigger than the weekend drinks and the casual flings. It is bigger than life and death. It is one of the reasons I live
on, and the sole reason for this magazine to exist. So…let’s play ball.
DON’T OBEY THE GIANT
A visit to Anfield (home of Liverpool FC) puts the fear of mortality even in the hearts of the shrewdest footballing brains. That is what
the best football analysts believe, and that is what I have seen happen time and again. Teams with lesser resources come to Anfield
and are blown away just by the sheer awe of the stadium. And that is the case in all the stadiums of every big club. Whether it is
Allianz Arena (Bayern Munich), Old Trafford (Manchester United), Camp Nou (Barcelona), Stamford Bridge (Chelsea) etc. They are
medieval equivalents of strongholds of a big empire, only to be admired not to be attacked.
But PFC Ludogorets Razgrad, a little known club outside their native Bulgaria and playing their first ever Champions League match, did
the opposite. On the memorable September 15, 2014 night, when Champions league Football returned to the hallowed turf of Anfield
after 5 years, it was the other team that took all the plaudits. Ludogorets scared the living daylights out of a shaky Liverpool team
and the noisy Anfield crowd. They had a proactive game plan (that didn’t include just containing Liverpool), were quick out of the
blocks and were never enamoured by the occasion or the setting. And if not for a nervous penalty at the end, they would have
walked away with a thoroughly deserving draw.
It is an evidence of a new mind set prevailing in Football. Minnows are no more ready to lay down their weapons, and nor are they
bound by a siege mentality. They are trying to play their own game and relying on their own strengths rather than trying a reactive
approach. And when they play on their own turf, they want to dictate terms to any team.
But it is not just the Football they play that makes them truly fascinating to watch. It is their attitude and steely determination.
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