Well, that was just brutal. After St. Pete and Munich showed us all how a semi-final should be played (read: plenty of scoring), Fiorentina assaulted the Rangers bunker for a total of 210 minutes, outshooting them in that period 35-11. Rangers set out to keep a clean sheet for two whole legs and the neutral observer would have to credit Walter Smith's side for sticking to the plan, if that neutral observer hadn't clawed their eyes out from boredom after the first 125 minutes had elapsed. Rangers did a masterful job of conceding midfield possession completely, forcing Fiorentina possession wide and denying the crosses, and the plan certainly worked. Fiorentina were unable to cross accurately and their forwards couldn't get their heads on anything (aside from the forehead of the artful Daniel Cousin, sent off in extra time in the second leg for his third headbutt). In the end it came down to penalties and both keepers excelled. Bobo Vieri ended the tie by making the mistake of heaping too many toppings on his sundae; he stutter-stepped to juke the keeper, went for placement in the top corner and added power in case Rangers keeper and man-of-the-match (in Bobbie's book) Neil Alexander made the guess of the century. As the misguided effort sailed up and over the bar Rangers fans everywhere certainly applauded their side's commitment to excellence in entertainment and looked forward to penalties in the City of Manchester Stadium later this month. No, I'm not bitter at all. I've never been much of a Celtic fan but I'm starting to re-consider.
2 comments:
What's really brutal is someone hotlinking to the image on your site instead of putting on their own site.
Not sure I know what that means but perhaps someone can explain. Has some rule of blogging been broken in the name of brutality? -Ed.
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