Seeing is not believing

Do you remember last years European Championship match between Germany and Italy when the director cut away from the action and the world saw a German woman apparently crying as the Pirlo inspired Italians booked their place in the final, only she wasn't crying during the match but before the match during the playing of the national anthems. Well something similar appeared to be happening in the Feyenoord v PSV match yesterday morning except  it wasn't tears we were being shown by shouting, waving, joyful Feyenoord fans.

The thing is that the cut away shots appeared to be from another match. The actual game, which the home side won 2-1, was being played out in a snow storm but the celebrating fans seemed to be watching a game in the wet. Not only that but the fans seemed to be reacting exactly the same way to both goals - very strange.

Anyway it wasn't just the action on the pitch that attracted so much attention but the punch-up in the tunnel afterwards.



Jermaine Lens, PSV’s goal scorer, waited in the tunnel for Feyenoord’s Joris Mathijsen and once the two came face to face, and Lens had grabbed Mathijsen's shirt, it degenerated into a brawl between both teams.

                                        A little Parisian bromance

You knew it would happen didn't you? PSG playing like a team of dogs until goldenballs comes on after 75 minutes, he plays the nights only three passes of real quality and then flicks the ball with the oustide of his right foot through to Chamtome who crosses for Swedish football God Zlatan to make it 2-0 at home to OM.

Sensing a Rio Ferdinand type of photo opportunity Becks launched himself at the gangly pony tailed Swede and saluted the home crowd. It had been an interesting diversion to a game which the home side were lucky to win. For most of the match, following OM giving the home side the lead via an own goal, PSG played like the Harlem Globetrotters but without the ball retention skills. As an advert for French football it probably didn't win over a whole camion load of new converts, it was Le Classique in name only but I thought Joey Barton  played well for the visitors as did Mathieu Valbuena, a player who I am sure would have been a success in the English Premier League.

To keep up the weekend flavour of local rivalries there was the little matter of the Milan derby which ended in an honourable draw.

It's a tale of local rivalries for the next couple of nights as well, tonight Spuds come to the Boleyn and this is a must win game for both sides. We are getting dangerously close to slipping into a relegation battle and with only three matches in March we need to get things going sooner rather than later. Tomorrow night it's another El Classico, this time in the Copa Del Rey at the Nou Camp in the semi-final second leg with teams level at 1-1 from the first leg.

Oh, and if you haven't had enough excitement on the football front by the time Wednesday night comes round there's the small matter of the German Cup Quarter Final between Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund. A lot of deep heat has been rubbed into aching limbs since the cup final last May which Dortmund won 5-2 to complete the double. Bayern are the team in charge this season and putting their rivals to the sword would be revenge for last season and set them up for another domestic double, with the real possibility that they could reach the Champions League final for the third time in four years come May.