The 3 musketeers

By: Nathan | April 25th, 2007

As I alluded to at the end of yesterday’s post, the CL is in great hands for years to come. No game could have made that clearer than yesterday’s gem at Old Trafford. The game was completely dominated by 3 players who are all under 25 years old….just incredible. While the media fixates on ranking player vs. player, what we saw yesterday was the team set-up allowing for the strength of their stars to fully shine. Few people on any team (Ronaldhino maybe?) are given the freedom of Kaka, he can choose to; play alone up-top, sit behind Gila or Pippo, or basically picks his wing of choice thanks to the midfield mesh of Gattuso and Pirlo that allow for his meandering artistry on the field. His deft touch with his head between Heinze and Evra was poetry. Not just the touch but the cut that allowed him to avoid the collision, settle, and pick his corner was precision.

As for Ronaldo, his speed and skill mesmerize, when he learns, or probably more accurately chooses to allow his teammates to make his job easier, he will actually become more intimidating. Scary thought indeed. He pressed a bit too much last night, and he actually looks a bit more at ease on the road without the constant expectations from 70,000 everytime he touches the ball. He is the man to be feared most in a week’s time. As for the Roon he has simply blossomed into an exceptional and well rounded player. The most telling sign of that maturity for me has been his complete committment to making Ronaldo feel the love at Old T. With his groundedness to realize that together they will accomplish MUCH more than apart, he has happily conceded much of the limelight to keep the high maintenance ego of Ronaldo at peace. His form in the last 3 CL games is even more noteworthy in the context of his previous CL drought. While undoubdtedly displeased with his personal CL form earlier this year, he soldiered on with the positive attutude as the team’s results continued, maintaining the positive outlook to know the goals would come, and indeed they have.

The best part of the story for 3 of these young maestros? We have another 90 minutes (maybe more?) of them on the pitch together next week. Fire up the TiVo people, these are the matches and players that help define the beautiful game to future generations and non-believers.