Flip through the latest issue of Gulf Weekly.
A friend of the Whisperer who runs a sports venue in Juffair has been trying his best to cheer up some of his regular customers with his sparkling wit and banter in recent weeks. There were few smiles to be found on the faces of Barcelona and Arsenal fans … until Sunday. “What a difference a day makes!” said Steve George of Wembley.
Reaching the Champions League quarter-finals and competing to win La Liga would hardly constitute a crisis for most clubs, but this is Barcelona. The same could be said for The Gunners who have enjoyed 16 seasons in the Champions League and now have supporters coming to blows in the stands over the issue of coach Arsene Wenger’s 21-year reign continuing.
On Sunday Lionel Messi scored his 500th Barcelona goal to send them top of La Liga with an injury-time winner against arch-rivals Real Madrid at the Bernabeu and earlier Alexis Sanchez scored an extra-time winner against Manchester City as Arsenal came from behind to win 2-1 and reach a record 20th FA Cup Final - and an eighth under Wenger.
If the fans of these two clubs think they’ve got problems, the Whisperer believes they should consider life as a fan of Leyton Orient. The London’s club’s 112-year stay in the English Football League has just ended after a 3-0 defeat at Crewe sealed their relegation.
Now that is misery.
