You can start counting them now. We had about thirty seasons wondering “who will be this year’s ‘next George Best’?” and now the new Ronaldos will start clocking up. It doesn’t surprise me in the slightest that after a decent hour of football Nani has been proclaimed as the next Portuguese hope. I remember a friend of mine remarking that Russell Beardsmore reminded him of Best. Shortly afterwards that friend returned to his pint, yet to return with his head held high.
Lest we forget that the boy wonder himself frustrated in his first two and a bit years at the club. He then of course, turned into a Starship Destroyer of a player. Nani won’t, but he should still turn into something decent. Expecting him to reach Ronaldo’s heights though is asking too much. I look forward to seeing a few more goals like that one and am extremely pleased to see him score against quality opposition.
I am developing the opinion that Wembley is not our luckiest ground since it reopened. This is the kind of thing you should probably keep to yourself but we have limped through two penalty shootouts there in the last few months. Bit of a worry.
There aren’t many games where you lose but can relax focus on the positives afterwards. This is one of them; and while the sextuple is gone, you’ll have to excuse me for not being too distraught. We still have a team and they can still compete.