Barca Bottling, Benitez Conceding, Benzema Brilliant

I have to tell you by Sunday afternoon I was exhausted from all the football I watched beginning Saturday morning. As planned, I took in the second half of the Everton vs. West Brom match and was pleasantly surprised to see an entertaining half of football by an Everton side that by all accounts looks to have a stranglehold on a UEFA Cup spot.

After that I watched the Middlesbrough thumping of title pretenders Liverpool. How does a squad travel to Madrid and thoroughly dominate for 90 minutes of Champions League football and then look so inept against a relegation fighting Middlesbrough? This blog came out strong in defense of Rafa Benitez last week. That post was written out of love and sincerity for Rafa. But the dude does not know how to compete in the EPL. Liverpool will finish 3rd or 4th and I believe they will watch Chelsea come within 5 points of winning the title.

Guus Hiddink has that team humming right now. Had Wigan equalized under Scolari that team would have folded and accepted another draw or worse given up all 3 points. Instead, they battled to the end and moved up to 2nd in the table. I can picture Chelsea winning the rest of their matches with 1-0 or 2-1 scorelines. Hiddink makes them the most likely English side to win the CL.

Think about it: He was able to take a less talented PSV Eindhoven side to the semi-finals. Now all he has to do is motivate a bunch of over-paid aging players that think they will revitalize their careers in Italy next season. What better way to prove to AC Milan that 32 is the new 24 than to win the CL?

Look at what is going on in Spain right now: Barcelona are bottling it. Just over a month ago I thought they were the surest thing in Europe to win a league and CL double. Scoring at will, controlling the midfield, keeping attackers as far away from Victor Valdez as possible (the weakest link on the team). And now they're only 4 points clear of Real Madrid!

What a match on Sunday. At 2-0 I was certain this was going to be a 4-1 or 5-1 Barca thrashing. And then the match really heated up and by the final whistle I was standing in front of the TV with nervousness watching two clubs I could care less about. That is what is great about football.

And I still had the Inter Milan vs. Roma match to soak up. Hernan Crespo and Luis Figo look like two players that could go forever. Crespo has never been a Mourinho favorite but I thought he was wonderful at Chelsea during his brief stint there. We all know how devastating he was for AC Milan and now at Inter when he gets a chance he seizes it. Not that long ago you could have made the argument that he was one of the top 4-5 strikers in the world. Kind of a shame this guy's career will come to a close and not many people will appreciate how terrific he was.

Manchester United won the Carling Cup on a penalty shoot-out and I couldn't care less.

The player that impressed me most this weekend was Karim Benzema. Slumped on my coach, spent from all the weekend's action I still managed to take in Lyon vs. Rennes. Benzema was great fun to watch. He is so clearly a class above everyone in that league. His pass that led to the Lyon goal was brilliant. He was all over the pitch. I think he'll end up at Real Madrid.

If Real Madrid do not sign Ronaldo - and I don't think he's leaving Man United - they will bring in Benzema to partner with Huntelaar. This will be the start of officially phasing out Raul - still and effective player but the club needs to start thinking beyond this legendary player.

I'm not totally sold on Huntelaar yet but he's scored some goals and looking more comfortable. If Benzema can make a smooth transition to Spain that partnership could be the future of football.

UEFA Cup: Should We Care?

Watching the UEFA Cup matches this afternoon with a non-football fan it was asked of me why these matches matter. After all, the importance of the Tuesday and Wednesday Champions League matches far outweighed any significance today's matches carried. This is a common question my non-football fans ask. And while I am not only an extraordinary blogger of football, an immense recreational league talent (were I actually on a recrational side) I am also viewed as a footballing fountain of knowledge. So, it is understood why I would be looked to for an explanation of why the UEFA Cup matters.

I told my friend that this is another competition that the clubs must qualify for. It serves as a goal for mid-table sides to strive for on their way to never becoming financially stable enough to compete for a Champions League spot. The UEFA Cup provides an extra means of generating revenue, fan enthusiasm and exposure for clubs from smaller footballing countries (Belgium, Russia, Scotland, etc.).

My friend - who happens to love American football - said, "So it is a second rate competition".

Well sort of. I told him that football has so many layers to it and that going into great detail about each layer so he would no longer ask me questions about such silly things like the UEFA Cup would exert more frustration on my end than would be worth the trouble.

I suggested he imagine the NFL set up another post-season competition where the 6-8 teams that were not good enough to make the playoffs were allowed in. And that in the actual playoff competition, the teams that lose in the "Wild Card Round" were allowed to play back into this second competition. The NFL could give the championship game a title such as the American Bowl or the Almost-Super Bowl.

We both agreed that this would be terribly lame and that no one would give a shit. So, why do people care about the UEFA Cup? I don't know that there is any overhaul this competition could be given that would raise its profile or make anyone outside of the fans of the competing clubs care.

By the looks of the lineup Aston Villa paraded out in their loss to CSKA Moscow not even a team fighting for a top 4 spot in the English Premier league cares.

Would Sevilla trade their back-to-back UEFA Cup trophies for a single Champions League trophy? Of course.

Do the players on St. Entienne and Olympiakos realize this blogger is struggling to continue watching their match because it has no contexual relevance in my life? A life that revolves around following The Beautiful Game? Of course they do.

I ask you dear reader, please tell me why the UEFA Cup - soon to be Europa Cup - matters?