Roberto Di Matteo's love of football was among the revelations during extended coverage of the Champions League final
They say that on the big occasions it is often the first to settle who prevails and with a significant head start on their rivals Sky Sports were all-conquering in this regard. A panel of Jamie Redknapp, Ruud Gullit and Graeme Souness were knee deep in the real business long before those watching on ITV had reached the third act of Keith Lemon's LemonAid. Gary Neville is Sky's prize asset and as such was wrapped in cotton wool until as late as possible. When he made his first appearance – moments before people may have been thinking of switching over to ITV for the start of their coverage – he went straight for his weapon of choice – the tactics board –while Redknapp, Gullit and Souness looked on like bored schoolkids watching a geography teacher run through a presentation about volcanoes.
There were revelations (of sorts) in Sky's coverage. The Chelsea squad had been gathered to play a game where they pull the name of a team-mate out of a hat and reveal his best and worst traits. John Terry pulled his own name, referred to himself in the third person and decided that the best thing about himself is that "he's good looking" – a Derek Zoolander moment for the Chelsea captain.
But for the most part it was left to Redknapp, Gullit and Souness to eat up the time. Gullit, in particular, brings an air of aloofness to his analysis which suggests he thinks avoiding answering the question is the name of the game. Roberto Di Matteo, he insisted, "really loves football" – a reassuring revelation for anyone who was wondering if the Chelsea manager might be a bit bored by the prospect of having to sit through yet another match. As it turned out, it was the rest of us whose love of football was tested by 85 minutes or so of the ensuing contest.
Thankfully most of the pre-match inquisition on Sky could be dealt with by saying "a lot" over and over again. "How much does this mean to Chelsea?" Geoff Shreeves asked frequently. "How surprised are you at Bertrand's inclusion?" Jeff Stelling wondered of his panel.
Strangely it was the broadcasters who seemed to struggle most with Ryan Bertrand's inclusion, in particular how to pronounce his name. ITV's Gabriel Clarke took the most elaborate approach, opting for a pronunciation that made the youngster sound as if he was a Parisian wedding planner rather than a 22-year-old from south London.
This was as avant-garde as ITV got as Adrian Chiles ran through his usual repertoire of telling his guests the answer before asking them the question. "Gianfranco, you're a bag of nerves. How do you feel?" he inquired of the Chelsea legend Zola.
But Chiles came into his own with an interview with Frank Lampard where he quizzed the midfielder on a bout of ear-flicking among the Chelsea players shortly after André Villas-Boas's dismissal earlier this season that had particularly enraged Roy Keane. Roy, Chiles assured Lamps, has mellowed a bit in the meantime.
"I think even Frank agreed the timing wasn't right," Roy chipped in back in the studio, providing ITV with the revelation of the night – the rumours of Keane's mellowing have been greatly exaggerated.
On the pitch, we were made to wait for the real drama as Neville and ITV's Andy Townsend struggled to find positive ways to describe Chelsea's display. When Didier Drogba scored Clive Tyldesley reminded us what happened the last time Bayern conceded a late equaliser to an English club in the Champions League final – something he has never failed to mention in the 13 years since Manchester United's triumph.
Gullit sensed a higher power. "A miracle," he said of the goal. Now just try illustrating that on a tactics board. Read More
انسخ الكود التالى و ضعه فى موقعك او مدونتك.
