A (French) Revolution in the Champions League?
The Bourbons, returned to the French throne by foreign invasion, were, by 1830, the target of much popular resentment. Ghosts of the Revolution soon emerged: the tri-color was flown from the Notre Dame, the “Marseillaise,” with its call to action, “Aux armes, citoyens…” (to arms, citizens), was sung, and a Duc d’Orleans once again plotted against a Bourbon king.
When Maréchal Marmont, who was given charge of defending Paris, saw that his military allegiances were unraveling before him, he fulfilled Marx’s old assertion (“Hegel remarks somewhere that all great events and characters of world history occur, so to speak, twice. He forgot to add: the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce.”) by echoing verbatim the words of the Duc da La Rochefoucauld-Liancourt to Louis XVI on July 15th, 1789: “Sire, this is not a riot, it is a revolution.” *
Such words (and songs) may be soon repeated (if they haven’t been already) in the streets of Marseille, as its football club has shocked Inter Milan 1-0 in the UEFA Champions League last-16 round thanks to Andre Ayew’s header in stoppage time. The teams now head to Italy for the rubber match.
Phil Dawkes of the BBC explains in this report: “With the game seemingly destined for a goalless draw, Ayew beat the Inter defence to glance home at the death. Prior to that, the French side had toiled hard but looked short of quality in what was a drab encounter.”
This is Marseille’s first win in a Champions League knock-out since 1993, when they beat AC Milan in the final. With Basel also beating Bayern Munich and Moscow drawing with Madrid, it appears that no one is safe any longer, and some new teams could be making waves in Europe this year. Even as a Madrid partisan, I recognize this trend as a good one.
As to Marseille: Ye sons of France, awake to glory, Hark, hark! what myriads bid you rise!
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* Read more about the French Revolution here.
