Brorussia Dortmund - to my two-bit knowledge of football the
name sounded as obscure as vuvuzela may have to many soccer fans before the
South Africa World Cup happened. At first look I deduced it might be some
Russian soccer team! But then I thought Russians are not all that great in
football, then what is this team doing at Champions League semi-final.
I assumed maybe the team had an easy outing in preliminary rounds. Did some Google search of the team and was surprised to know it is a German club, and then checked out if there were any well known German stars in it - none that I knew of. So I thought it would be a safe bet to assume that they don't stand a chance against Spanish giant Real Madrid.
When the first semi-final happened between Bayern Munich and
Barcelona, my sympathies were with the German club, though I had an uneasy
feeling that Spaniards' tiki-taka (short passes) brand of soccer may choke
Bayern, as it happened with German team (after all majority of players are from
Bayern) at the World Cup and Euro. Being not a die-hard soccer enthusiast I did
not stay awake late to watch the match.
But the news next morning left me surprised (pleasantly of
course). The German club had literally overrun the Spaniards. The usually
mesmerising Lionel Messi and crafty Xavi Hernandez failed to score even once.
For them the second leg will be an uphill battle and the home venue advantage may not be enough.
However, little did I know then that I would be in for a
much bigger surprise a day later. Then too I did not watch the match live and
went to bed thinking that Cristiano Ronaldo and his men (who also have two big
German names Sami Khedira and Mesut Ozil on their side) are luckier than their
Catalan cousins to have such an opponent in the semi final.
The next morning I did not even bother to check the results
on television. A chance glance at the afternoon bulletin really shook me. Yet
another Spanish giant has been put on the mat, and they too will have to display a Mt Everestian feat in the second leg to overcome the deficit.
The TV screens were flashing the name of Robert Lewandowski,
the little known Polish striker who had scored all the four goals, a feat not
attained by anyone against Real Madrid. The soccer blogosphere was abuzz
digging out little known nuggets about his past. Lewandowski would have joined
Blackburn three years back, had it not been for cancellation of flights due to
volcanic ash from Iceland! Going by his record it appears that his barrage of
goals against Real Madrid was no fluke and he has been a prolific goal scorer,
both at Dortmund and the Polish national team.
Also Read: Bangalore Beat
Also Read: Bangalore Beat
