2022-23 Champions League Final

Manchester City 1-0 Inter Milan

Very defensive game, not a lot of chances on goal for either team, got really chippy in the 2nd half. I thought the ref lost control in the 2nd half, let both sides get physical and he started making random foul calls instead of clamping down. But this was the right outcome. 

Coming in Man City was the better team, they had the better run and though Inter fought their way to the Final, I thought Man City would win in a tight one and they did. The goal was a bit of brilliance in a long stretch of weirdness in front of the goal, but man for that bullet shot to find its way through the crowd was amazing. 

Nobody dominated, there was no clear MVP and even saying Man City was the better team is pretty minimal. Inter's best chances came in the heavy-chaos time after Man City took the lead and it made for a fun watch but not a lot of goals. 

I kinda still think Real Madrid was (or should've been) the best team but Man City choked them out in the semifinals and that can't be ignored. So Man City was truly the best team throughout and this was the right result. Inter had a good run--and beating AC Milan along the way must've been a dream come true.

Great W for Manchester City, your 2022-23 champs. 

2023 Champions League Quarterfinals (1st leg)

Benfica 0-2 Inter Milan

Benfica felt like the stronger team in the 1st half, though both teams seemed roughly equally dangerous around the goal. But Inter was able to find the goal soon after halftime and really changed the shape of Benfica's attack. Inter got a late PK to pile on that I thought was flaky: yeah, it hit the defender's hand but I didn't think it was that meaningful, especially considering that the ref chose to neglect a physical challenge in the 1st half that would've given Benfica penalty. I don't find Inter to be wildly better than Benfica, but hard to go against them heading back home with a 2 goal advantage. 

Manchester C 3-0 Bayern Munich

Man City was just better all over the field. Bayern is in a weird place: they're still solid but they're not as dominant as they've been for the last decade or so, they panic-fired their new coach (which I thought was not necessary) and they no longer look untouchable in the Bundesliga. I still say they're one of the finer teams in Europe but trying to come back 3 goals down against Man City is gonna be tough (whereas I would've given them a puncher's chance in the Lewandowski days). If Man City gets a goal, I don't see how Bayern can even get lucky in the return match.

Real Madrid 2-0 Chelsea

Real Madrid was more comfortable in possession, more dangerous around the goal, and once Chelsea went down a man, their counter attack chances faded badly. Chelsea didn't get rolled but it never felt like they were in this game. Chelsea needs their best game of the year to move on--not impossible but Real looks too good right now. 

AC Milan 1-0 Napoli

Napoli's possession was better but Milan's counter attack (particularly in the 1st half) produced a slew of good scoring chances. Napoli was probably the better team and I wouldn't be surprised to see them have a stronger result back at home, but Milan was more dangerous around the goal (they may regret not adding a second goal).  This one is still up in the air, I can totally see Napoli rocking Milan in the 2nd leg.

Real Madrid 86-98 (OT) Maccabi Tel Aviv

http://www.foxnews.com/sports/2014/05/19/jubilant-israel-celebrates-maccabi-tel-aviv-unlikely-european-basketball-title/

(Note that that link is not Fox Sports but Fox News, so no game report--not even a final score!  But apparently the Euroleague Final was watched by 1/3 of all Israelis, including bigwigs like Netanyahu and Peres. Interesting)

I watched the 2nd half and OT of this game, it was good stuff.  Tyrese Rice was the PG for Maccabi that made all the plays down the stretch.  Maccabi looked like an all-American squad: tatted up African American kids that looked more like Morningside Heights than the Golan Heights.  I love the international game, I love that people all over the world wanna play this game that I wanna watch.

Though Maccabi has performed well over the years in this League (I believe this is their 9th title), it was Real Madrid that was the obvious favorite.  They featured Rudy Fernandez, one of those guys that NBA-ers expect to become a star, and Nikola Mirotic, who I think will be wearing a Chicago Bull uni next year (and I believe they expect him to start).  Mirotic impressed me but Fernandez came up short too much from outside.

It was a good game, very similar to high level NBA-style offensive sets, good athleticism, good refs, coaches that prowled the sideline looking busy (they looked more like soccer coaches than basketball coaches to me), it had all the familiar features of high level ball.  I also watched a bit of the runner-up game: Barcelona dueled CSK Moscow for about 3.5 quarters and then ran away with the game behind their star, Joey Dorsey (you may remember him from Memphis's loss to Kansas in the 2006 NCAA).  Good stuff, man, I hope I remember to catch this again next year (thank you, ESPN3).