All blue in Istanbul – 06/10/2023 – Juca Kfouri

Istanbul is home to the impressive Blue Mosque, built in 1609 with six minarets (towers) and predominantly blue tile mosaics — which is not a redundancy because the polished ceramic plaques, despite the name, are not necessarily the color of the sky.

The interior of the mosque is never shaded by the imposing external building, 43 meters high, and there are no images in it, as Muslims do not worship them.

They could well make exceptions for the Catalan Pep Guardiola, the Belgian Kevin De Bruyne, the Norwegian Erling Haaland and for İlkay Gündoğan, the German midfielder of Turkish origin.

The Turks had the privilege of witnessing the consolidation of Manchester City as one of the greatest football teams of all time, such as Santos by King Pelé, Real Madrid by Argentine Alfredo Di Stéfano, Milan by the Dutch trio Rijkaard, Van Basten and Gullit, Guardiola’s Barcelona, ​​Xavi, Iniesta and Lionel Messi or Johan Cruyff’s Ajax, not necessarily in that order, except for the Brazilian team that tops the list, due to the simple (?!) presence of the King, and nine out of the teams national teams, such as Brazil in 1958 and 1970, Holland in 1974 or Hungary in 1954, which I have read about but not seen.

In the world of results, the English blue team needed to win the European Champions League to perpetuate itself, although the quality of its art was enough for that, regardless of winning the Orelhuda.

Of course, the clash of the year came against Real Madrid in the semi-finals, and England’s eighth victory, with five draws, to crown the treble was something of an odds and ends. But football is football, and you never know.

The first half was chess and Italian marking, without a boom, admirable, ball thieves to the point of unnerving cold Citizens, who even lost De Bruyne (what karma!), injured, as in the lost final in 2021.

The 0-0 only pleased the Milanese, snipers.

The second half showed another game.

City insisted until Rodri scored the consecrating goal. Ederson followed him later in the spotlight by making two great saves and a miracle.

Pep Guardiola collects his third Champions League and, if he couldn’t conduct the usual football recital in the final, he managed a team that also knows how to resist when the opponent, like Inter, sends it to all or nothing.

Planeta Bola thanks the Citizens of the world of football.

OUR CHAMPIONS

Those who don’t have the players, because they export them, or the lawns, due to lack of zeal, or the money, which requires the sale of labor and grass, will have to settle for Libertadores.

The balance sheet, one round away from the end of the group stage, reveals a Brazilian eliminated, with the right to humiliation, Duilio Monteiro Alves’ Corinthians, and probably six qualified, with Palmeiras in the overall lead —the result of correct planning, by giving up three points in the exhausting altitude of La Paz, and the good football that should guarantee five wins in six games.

The fact that only Alviverde and Athletico Paranaense were guaranteed early qualification shows that things are being more difficult than the optimistic projections before the tournament starts. And Flamengo’s likely only second place surprises the hasty predictions.

One day, who knows, we’ll learn.

PRESENT LINK: Did you like this text? Subscriber can release five free hits of any link per day. Just click the blue F below.