Jagged Visions of My True Destiny

The day is upon us. So much about today, and I'm on a tight schedule this morning so I'm just picking the most interesting things - The Mirror, for instance, is completely ignored because every link I clicked seem to involve Mark Lawrenson being a curmudgeon.

Kevin McCarra on The Guardian blog  has a messy piece, where he seems unsure what he's trying to say.  Near the end of it he says

Odd as it sounds, United, who are now England's record-holders with 19 League titles, are somewhat underrated.

but spends the rest of the article doing precisely that - underrating us:

The quarter-final was tidy, with Chelsea defeated home and away. If there is more efficiency than glamour, Ferguson's side has still maintained its reputation in the Champions League.

Because our 6-1 semi-final victory against Schalke over two legs with essentially 2 different teams was efficient and mundane wasn't it?

And then he spends the article telling us how great we'll have to be to beat Barca, before telling that Barca aren't that good.  

Barney Ronay, in the same place, on the other hand, manages to entertain and remain consistent, even if he is tipping Barca to win.  His piece acknowledges the truth that few care to: that Barca can be a bit dull - the 90 minute or so periods where they pass the ball among the back four for instance... (there's a burger metaphor running throughout the article, just before you wonder in this quote):

Mainly it is those blank, dead periods of the match, the mental disintegration of the opponent achieved though great yawing interludes of ball deprivation. Suddenly, watching Barcelona, you feel a bit like a Steakhouse Angus yourself, jaded by repetition, grey-tinged, encased within a prison of engineered perfection.

Daniel Taylor has an interview with Hernandez. The story of the first contact with the club is kind of cute:

Hernández was suspicious at first. "I had never heard of Jim Lawlor," he explains. "I didn't know who he was." The card told him it was Manchester United's head scout, but there is no trace of ego about the young Mexican, no sense that he always felt destined for a moment like this. "I didn't believe it. In Mexico, the agents put the badges of all the big clubs on their business cards. I was thinking: 'OK, another one of them, hey?' I turned to my father and said: 'Don't joke with me.' But that was when I saw him crying. That was when I knew. That was the moment I realised it was really true, that it really was Manchester United."

The rest of it pretty good, including the strange story of the secrecy the deal was done in.

He also reports from Sir Alex's press conference yesterday:

The oddest moment at Ferguson's press conference came courtesy of a Chinese journalist pointing out that the game kicked off at 2.45am in her country and asking whether it would keep everyone awake.

"It won't put you to bed, that's for sure," United's manager replied. "You'll need a sleeping tablet if you want that."

The game, he said, could have "a lot of goals", which lent towards the theory he will place the emphasis on attacking Barcelona this time and start with Javier Hernández as well as Wayne Rooney.

The Independent go with a Brian Kidd interview... He's tipping us to win:

"There are many reasons to believe this but the greatest one should be obvious to those who are saying that Barça only have to turn up to collect the trophy. United know about football at this level – and it is something they have confirmed with great timing. Just ask Chelsea. United are the Premier League champions because they were the best, most consistent team and don't you think this knowledge is going to give them a little confidence – and also make Barça think?"

Brian Viner in The Independent asks why people hate us and comes to the usual conclusion.  He claims to not be biased against us himself, but then comes out with this piece of ancient history which makes him sound otherwise:

It might not be the case that referees at Old Trafford are instinctively more generous to United, with the stopwatch and with penalty decisions, than they might be towards, say, Wigan Athletic at the DW Stadium. But when did Wigan players ever intimidate a ref like Roy Keane and his team-mates notoriously did the hapless Andy D'Urso?

 Henry Winter reports from the press conference:

“I trust the players and know they will do the job right. According to the bookmakers we are the underdogs. Anybody coming into a game of this nature doesn’t care what the betting says or experts say. What matters is the belief factor, tactics. It’s not about revenge for us for 2009 but personal pride we lost that game.’’

And finally Jamie Carragher is on hand to provide us with a bit of a joke:

The Champions League final is a game that can define a career. When you think of the true greats, they were elevated to exalted levels by doing something spectacular on this kind of stage. Take Zinedine Zidane, for example. He was a phenomenon who became a legend thanks to goals when it mattered for France and Real Madrid.

He, though, is not alone and you can almost tie the big names to one key moment. Steven Gerrard has Istanbul in 2005. The 1986 World Cup finals belonged to Diego Maradona. Ronaldo lifted Brazil to the 2002 World Cup, while Johan Cruyff won Ajax the European Cup in 1972.

Yes, you did read that right, he's just listed Stevie G with Maradona, Cruyff, Ronaldo and Zidane.  Makes me laugh.  Out.  Loud. (I didn't get any further, my sides couldn't take it)