Football and motivation

Motivation indeed helps a person do better & sometimes achieve something that is extremely difficult.

To support this I’ll give examples of 2 big events. In season 2011-12 of Spanish La Liga Barcelona was the toughest team to beat although Real Madrid won the Spanish La Liga that season. All Barcelona versus Real Madrid (El Clasico) matches were mind-blowing to watch as two best clubs played against each other. Both clubs had great football coaches. Barcelona had Joseph Guardiola & Real Madrid had Jose Mourinho. Although both coaches used to strategise a lot with their players before the game they also used to motivate them. Jose Mourinho had lost 5-0 against Barcelona & revenge was in his mind thus in one game against Barcelona he motivated his players by telling them Albert Einstein’s quote "One day he (Einstein) said that the only mechanical force more powerful than steam, electricity and atomic energy is will. That Alberto bloke was not stupid. With will you can achieve things." & Real Madrid defeated Barcelona in that match. I don’t mean that this was the only quote Mr. Mourinho is excellent with his speech & communication abilities & he may have surely used a lot of other motivational sentences but I’m only sharing on of them. Mr. Mourinho had even shown his humility by telling that he’s a normal motivator & he is the same manager who lost 5-0 to Barcelona but in my opinion he was too humble in that after match press conference.

Just like the above Chelsea football club had entered the finals of Champions League 2011-12 by defeating the Champions League’s top contender Barcelona in the semi-final match to play against Bayren Munich who had also defeated Spanish giant & another top contender of Champions League Real Madrid in the semi-final match. Bayren Munich had an upper hand as the final was in their home ground & they had a more experienced coach of around 66 years of age who had more than 2 decades of managing experience & had won a Champions League with Real Madrid in 1997-98. Unlike him Chelsea football club were with an interim manager, also an ex Chelsea football club player Roberto Di Matteo. He was assisting Andre Villas Boas who was sacked because didn’t Chelsea perform well under him. Some other problems Chelsea had were that they had to play without some of their very good players (Midfielder - Ramires Santos, Defender – Branislav Ivanovic, Midfielder – Raul Jose Meireles & Captain & defender John Terry) as they were all suspended. Chelsea football club’s captain John Terry was given a straight Red Card in the semi-final game against Barcelona for kneeing Alexis Sanchez. These factors made Bayren Munich favourites to win. Another factor was Chelsea football club weren’t performing well in English Premier League, their standing was 6^th whereas Bayren Munich’s was 2^nd. Chelsea football club had enormous pressure to win as without a win they cannot play in next Champions League season as they aren’t in the top four of their league.

Before the Match Chelsea football club’s interim & former Chelsea football club’s player Robert Di Matteo had shown some video clips to all his players. The video clips had messages of the player’s family members wishing them to win the game. This charged the players & gave them tremendous emotional strength & motivation. Although Chelsea football club played away & Bayren Munich at home, Chelsea players looked calm & cool whereas Bayren Munich players looked nervous.

In the match Bayren Munich got many chances to score goals. They got 20 corner kicks & 1 penalty (missed by Arjen Robben) but were unable to take its advantage whereas Chelsea football club just got one corner kick & striker Didier Drogba headed a great corner kick of midfielder Juan Mata to score an equaliser in the 88^th minute which pushed the game to Silver goal.

No goals were scored in the extra time & eventually the match moved to penalties. Bayren Munich’s captain Phillip Lahm won the toss & took the penalty side where it had maximum Bayren supporters again Bayren had advantage but Chelsea scored 4 out of 5 & Bayren Munich scored 3 out of 5, thus Chelsea football club won the 2011-12 Champions League.

It can be Chelsea football club’s luck or Bayren Munich’s bad luck but in my personal humble opinion Roberto Di Matteo’s motivation worked. He also looked calm & serene throughout the game.