Managers may come and go, but for the Scottish national side at least, some things remain the same – we’re talking here about a propensity to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, however unlikely (or undeserved for that matter) the claiming of three points had appeared.
As Michael Owen announces that he will call time on his career at the end of this season the usual barrage of warm wishes and plaudits from his fellow professionals have been flooding in. But in my mind there are two quite contrasting ways to look at the career of Michael Owen and in truth I don’t know which one I feel is more appropriate.
It would appear that reports of Barcelona’s demise were greatly exaggerated. Many had lined up in recent weeks to suggest that the Catalan stars were on the wane, their superiority been called into question by a poor run of results, and apparent loss of form of their talisman player, Lionel Messi.
On Monday night, if you listened ever so carefully, you could hear the sound of a nation of football fans collectively slapping their foreheads in despair. Brian McDermott was sacked by Reading.
It was billed as a footballing battle of epic proportions. Jose Mourinho claimed that the world would be watching Madrid and United, and he was probably right. Based on the amount of talk that the game has generated since, I think we can safely assume that it has lived up to all expectations.