My last note was about the results of the EPL and Bundesliga and I posted it right before the Champions League Final. Two or three times I wanted to write something since then, but free time is my big problem. Finally I have some time, but now I can’t pick out a single theme, so this will be a medley.

Note #1.  Losers, All in White.

The Champions League Final was held two weeks ago in Rome. Of course it’s rather late, but anyway my congratulations to Barcelona and all the fans. I support neither team, so it was a little boring match for me. If Manchester had created something really dangerous, if two teams had been equally strong, I would have had better time. I should note that it’s all Barcelona. Maybe first time for a long period I saw this team so organized and disciplined. I mean usually Barcelona attacks, goes forward all the time. But they won this match not because of their offensive style, but because of organized actions on the field, I like it.

Note #2. We Sing – Nous Chantons – Wir Singen.

And this is about Champions League too. Well, about Champions League song. Usually I don’t pay attentions to its lyrics. But looking through my collection of CL matches I heard the “Sie sind die Besten” line. I became interested what they sing, ‘cause before that moment I didn’t know really there are some non-English words (what a shame on me!) there. So I listened to, and even googled it. Words are very simple and the meaning is simple too, but now this song impresses me much more, and this is the power of the word =).

Ce sont les meilleures equipes,
Es sind die aller besten Mannschaften, the main event!
Die Meister, die Besten, les meilleures equipes, the champions!
Les grandes et les meilleures!
Eine grosse stattliche Veranstaltung, the main event!
These are the men, sie sind die Besten, these are the champions!
Die Meister, die Besten, les meilleures equipes, the champions!
Die Meister, die Besten, les meilleures equipes, the champions!

Note #3. The Man in the Net.

I ‘m a Bayern München fan, so the most interesting things, news in the football for me are those that are connected to Bayern (the exception is German National Team, it’s priority #1). And now with new coach coming to Munich there are a lot of news and rumours. We buy new players and it’s cool, we really need to fix some things in the team, but the question is whether these new players are the solution. I’m glad Gomez and Olic are coming to the team, I hope they will help us with the offensive play, I hope that Tymoshchuk will improve our defensive line. I think we need a defender: right-back or left-back (in addition to Lahm) and maybe centre-back, someone with the cool head, ‘cause Lucio – Demichelis duo terrified me often with its actions last season. But I don’t want new keeper and all rumours about Neuer don’t make me happy. We have our own keeper, young and talented, of course Rensing is not an example of full safety and “goalproofness”, but I saw a progress in his performance and I believe he can be excellent keeper. This year our defense was awful and it’s not right to blame only keeper. I can’t imagine that people like Kahn and Maier can’t see if someone has no quality to be a good goalkeeper, so really the problem is not with Rensing himself, the problem with his training.  So I don’t see why we need Neuer or any other keeper, if everything in defense line stays like it was last season, we’ll just “spoil” another keeper and that’s all. I’m writing this note and praying “please, do not sign new keeper, do not sign”, terrible!

Note #4. Whirligig.

I wrote that what I like in ManUtd is the permanence of Sir Alex Ferguson. His many, many, many years with the same team make me jealous. I wish we had such coach in Bayern. I mean not second Ferguson or Ferguson himself (God forbid!) but someone who knows what he is doing, who does it well and stay with us a little longer than one or two years. I don’t like all this “Klinsmann comes, Klinsmann goes away, Heynckes comes (but only for a month), van Gaal comes”. Well, maybe I just don’t like the coach changes at all. When I hear some player comes from club X to club Y I think, “oh, he’s now in Y-club”, when I hear some coach comes or goes away I think, “What’s the hell, what’s happened to this world”. So when Jol went away from Hamburger, when Labbadia changes Bayer for HSV, when Heynckes is coming to Leverkusen and Meier leaves M’glandbach, I feel a little crazy. Well, next season we’ll see how these things will turn out.

Note #5. Non-stop.

Now it’s time for national teams play another series of qualifying matches for WC 2010. I don’t know how it’s happened but Croatia vs. Ukraine confrontation I’ve saw at least three times. I didn’t watch the whole match every time of course, but I only turn on TV and then, voila, “Would you like to see this match?” It’s like magic. Fortunately, it’s not bad, and for me it’s more Olic and Tymoshchuk show, you need to know what people are going to play in your team.

Note #6. Dual personality.

In a few hours Finland vs. Russia match begins. And to watch it is a real challenge for me. On the one hand I want my national team to win; on the other hand as Nationalelf fan I don’t want it. Well, in case of German vs. Russia match I have no any doubts. I think that there is no any law that forces you to support certain side; you can make your own choice based on your preferences. You can live in Germany and like Ferrari, live in the Alps and hate skiing, live in Africa and like sushi… But now it’s not “if Russians win Germans will not qualify” situation, it’s just “it’ll be better if Russians lose some points.” So I think again how it’s unfair that they both in the same group and if the draw has been held after the Euro 2008 I would have had no reason for a headache.