Four Argentines can do more than two

Football is not mathematics. Thank goodness it's not!

In this case, it's just the headline I've found to play around a little bit and signify that Inter, with four Argentine players from the start (Walter SAMUEL, Javier ZANETTI, Esteban CAMBIASSO and Diego MILITO), were able to get past Barcelona and their two Albicelestes: Lionel MESSI and Gabriel MILITO.

This match gives us so many things to analyse and talk about. For starters, lets get ready for another attack of the anti-MESSI brigade. They wasted no time. They were even having a go at Lio during the match. Saying he is not effective when he is well-marked and that when things are hot, he goes cold.

I'll be the one cooking the humble pie for them. If not this summer, it'll be eventually in 2014, 2018 or somewhere along the line. Wait...what am I saying? He already showed it time and time again last season scoring in almost everyone of the 5 finals Barcelona played. He is not a player that will shy away from the responsibility. He will ALWAYS keep trying. Things may work out for him or not, but he'll keep trying till the end.

A very heated debate is going on strong. It's the old MENOTTI vs. BILARDO football philosophy argument. All across the media in Argentina, you'll find the 'Líricos' (term used to describe those who like the beautiful football, the passing game, the attacking mentality) and you'll find a lot more 'Resultadistas' (those who only care about the result. Those who enjoy a defensive display more than they enjoy victory by 3 or more goals. Those who could even say that a 0-0 is the best result in football because it means that there were no mistakes made, because they say that goals are only scored when a defender or a goalkeeper makes a mistake in allowing a rival a chance).

Líricos vs. Resultadistas or Menottistas vs. Bilardistas will both go at it disguised as Barcelonistas vs. Interistas.

It goes without saying that I'm more inclined towards the way Barcelona plays. The way that Argentina tends to play a lot more often than not (though sadly it's been a while since we last saw us play or try to play like that). I'm not a fan of MENOTTI, but if I have to choose between those two ideas, then he gets my vote. Though I'm not radical at all.

It's an argument that will never end and those radicals are incredibly quick to slag off MESSI (and amazingly inserted as the top names in the broadcasting companies. I'm talking about Bilardistas here) and all they do is to create this anti-MESSI atmosphere amongst those fans who don't really think or analyse football. No wonder why Estudiantes fans reacted by painting the walls with messages against MESSI after he scored against them in the FIFA Club World Cup final. Estudiantes being the club where BILARDO was brought up as a player and then became a manager too.

I feel sorry for Lionel here. He was just a victim of a cold and cruel logic that do happens more often than not in football: IT IS EASIER TO DESTROY THAN TO CREATE. Period. There is no argument.

Inter, tonight, played without using the ball. I read the statistics after the match and whilst Xavi HERNANDEZ had 108 passes for Barcelona, Diego MILITO, topping the Inter chart for passes completed, had only 10. He was the only one with double-digits in that department.

I think it says it all.

That said, Inter went to the Camp Nou with a game-plan an executed to perfection. You may like it or hate it, but you can't deny they set out to play a game like that. To frustrate Barcelona. To interrupt their flow. To block them in the final third of the field. And that's exactly what they did.

Like Chelsea did last season only to be denied by Andrés INIESTA's game-winning goal at Stamford Bridge (it was a draw, but it was the crucial away goal).

Tonight, Barcelona could have (should have?) gotten to the final had the referee not signalled a ridiculous hand-ball he saw from Yaya TOURE before Bojan KRKIC got the ball inside the area and scored with a great shot towards the first post. But they didn't and Inter got what they set out to acquire at the Camp Nou.

For much as I feel it was another victory for a kind of football I don't like, I can't help but to feel extremely happy for the four Argentines at Inter. Especially for Javier ZANETTI, captain of a thousand battles, and for Diego MILITO, the most underrated striker in the world. If it's true that facts are way above merits in football, then the indisputable fact here is that Inter advanced to the Champions League final because Diego MILITO scored that third goal in the first leg.

Without it, Barcelona would have advanced with the away goal PEDRO scored at the Giuseppe MEAZZA.

I'm sure there are plenty more to talk about after this match and I'm sure you'll be discussing it in our comments' box.

Then why should I keep writing...give us your thoughts.

Oh...and one more thing: SAMUEL was brutally good tonight. What a wall!