You can always rely on Uefa not to let common decency cloud their judgement.

In the wake of last Tuesday’s bomb attack on the Borussia Dortmund team bus, you would have imagined European football’s governing body would have been totally focussed on the welfare of the German team’s players.

Sadly, all Uefa cared about was getting the game played as quickly as possible.

“A few minutes after this attack and the only question that was asked was: ‘Are you ready to play?’ As if we had thrown a beer on our coach. The date was imposed on us,” Dortmund manager Thomas Tuchel said.

“We were informed by text message that Uefa was making this decision. We would have liked more time to take stock. We will not forget it. It is a very bad feeling.”

At a time when they should have been offering Dortmund their unconditional support and help, Uefa were only worried about the implications that postponing the match would have on their fixture list. How thoughtful of them.

There is every chance that Dortmund would actually have agreed to play the game less than 24 hours later, as an act of defiance if nothing else. But the choice should have been theirs. Tuchel, his staff and the players should have been allowed to sit down, discuss and decide if they were up to the task.

As it happened they weren’t. The players went through the motions against Monaco but you could clearly see they were not fully focussed, and the 3-2 defeat was all but inevitable.

Uefa had the opportunity to show they are an organisation that cares. Instead they achieved new heights of insensitivity, showing utter contempt for the footballers involved. On both teams to be honest.

Of course, it is hard to take any positives out of a terrorist attack, but surprisingly there was one – the way Dortmund and Monaco supporters pulled together.

Rivalries between the two sets of fans were completely put aside to the extent that Dortmund supporters offered free accommodation to Monaco fans who didn’t have the money for an unexpected overnight stay in Germany.

Uefa were only worried about the implications that postponing the match would have on their fixture list. How thoughtful of them

Twitter was awash with Dortmund fans prepared to give their opponents a bed for the night. And then the social media platform was buzzing with pictures of the two sets of supporters, thrust together in adversity, enjoying each other’s unexpected company.

I dread to think how last Tuesday’s attack will change football. But I take plenty of consolation from knowing that the game has such an irresistable ability to bring people together.

Over and out for Barca

Let’s not beat around the bush – Juventus were thoroughly excellent on Tuesday night. Their game plan was perfect and they made Barcelona look decidedly average as they beat them 3-0.

As you would expect given Barcelona’s exploits in the previous round, many people are warning that the tie is not over. They came back from 4-0 down against Paris Saint-Germain to win the second leg 6-5 after all.

But that sort of staggering comeback isn’t going to happen again for a couple of reasons. For starters, anybody who watched that 6-5 win will have taken notice of where PSG went horribly wrong. Namely by defending like Malta in 1983. In December. Against Spain.

A more significant reason this tie is all but settled is Barcelona’s opponents. No offence to PSG, but Juventus are a whole different kettle of footballers.

We are talking about an Italian team with an Italian manager and an Italian mentality. If there is any nation on earth capable of producing a team that won’t give away a three-goal first leg advantage, it’s Italy.

Sorry Barca fans, but comeback lightning is not going to strike twice in the same place.

A long six years

Sheffield United finally got promoted to the Championship last week after six long and depressing years wallowing in the football backwaters of League One.

I won’t bore you with personal tales of joy and celebration, mostly because I actually find it embarrassing that it took us so long to ‘bounce’ back.

But there is one interesting twist in our promotion tale worthy of mention and it concerns our manager Chris Wilder.

He only took over at Bramall Lane at the beginning of this season, and leading the club to promotion at the first attempt was a great achievement. Even more remarkable, however, is that last season he led Northampton Town to promotion from League Two. This makes him the first manager in nearly three decades to secure consecutive promotions with two different clubs.

But there is a final quirk to the story. Sheffield United secured their promotion last Saturday… with a 2-1 win over Northampton at their Sixfields stadium. And that came almost exactly a year (364 days to be precise) to the date that Wilder secured Northampton’s promotion to League One… by winning at the Sixfields stadium.

Wilder obviously likes a bit of symmetry in his life…

sportscolumnist@timesofmalta.com
Twitter: @maltablade

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