Mounir Zitouni explains in his column what it takes to win the handle pot in Lisbon at the end. And he prophesies who is especially important.
When the starting signal for the decision in the Champions League is given at the end of the week, the starting conditions between the individual teams could not be more different.
The only thing that unites all the clubs is that no one has ever experienced such a situation. This means that there are no possible experience values for any of the clubs, or blueprints that you pull out of the drawer.
For all the teams, it’s a matter of getting involved with the unknown, predicting how things might go and then perhaps realising that you need to change your plans. That applies to FC Bayern as well as to Manchester City or Barcelona.
“We can’t do anything wrong” is therefore a better heading for “Expedition Lisbon” than “We have to do everything right”.
In other words, those teams that take an exploratory approach are at an advantage. The team that wants to stand on the winners’ rostrum on 23 August must be ready and able to deal flexibly with imponderables, whether on the field in terms of match events or external circumstances.
Most expeditions fail because the crew is not properly prepared for a particular event, be it extreme weather, imponderable terrain, unexpected opponents or technical problems.