AFTER the poetry comes the pragmatism. The joy, the movement, the mesmerising skill in Madrid was followed, 24 hours later, by a tourniquet applied to the UEFA Champions League in Milan and in Turin. That raises the question: Is there one game for Real Madrid, and just a parody for all the rest?
Caution is not a deadly sin in soccer, yet there is something lacking in the soul of Italian soccer that resorts to mean-spirited defence the moment its teams go a goal ahead. In the San Siro, Inter Milan eked out a 1-0 victory on Wednesday in an encounter with Valencia that ultimately turned sour. In Turin, Juventus took an early lead, attempted to do nothing more than hold on to it, and finished a wet, cold night, 1-1, against Barcelona.
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