On Tuesday evening, there were two matches. One was between a class act, a true leader and awannabe. The other was between two teams who are not Chelsea, and therefore irrelevant, something on the lines of that lawyer bloke from some village or other, remember him?
Madrid scraped through, helped by a referee who seemed to take his inspiration from our beloved Broadcasting Authority but since, as I've already pointed out, they're not Chelsea, who cares?
In the other match, there was a clear and undisputed winner. Not even the most biased of Lil'Elves, or the strangest of Peculiar Pundits, in their heart of hearts, can admit to any other conclusion but that Dr Gonzi answered the questions put to him on Bondiplus honestly and openly, combining his answers with a strong track record, giving formidable strength to his credentials as the better man to take the country forward.
Whether this will be sufficient unto the day, of course, is a moot point. When you have (self-proclaimed) guardians of our cultural standards whining and whinging obsessively about slapping a roof on the Piano project, oblivious of the barbarism of even contemplating such a thing, clearly intending to vote for their Darling Joseph because, poor diddums, they've not been given the adulation they deserve by us Philistines, then the fact that Gonzi is clearly the better man is not germane to the issue.
They want Darling Joseph and that's all there is to it, so there. That's as may be, and since, despite the Labour Old Guard's best efforts to the contrary, we live in a democracy, that's as will be if the majority want it to be, but seriously, is there anyone as blind as those who can't even spot that which is staring them in the face?
Are the environmentalists still going to bury their heads in the sand and ignore the opportunistic deals with hunters, the totally unnecessary power station that's going to "embellish" the South (that's assuming it ever gets built, which is hardly a slam-dunk) and the thinly-disguised promises of free rein to property developers and contractors?
Are the poor suckers who swallowed hook, line, sinker, rod and fisherman the lie about the PN sowing discord and slinging mud going to ignore the vicious tone of some of the comments below this blog and others like it, and the unadulterated torrents of slime that is poured over anyone who dares to venture the opinion that Muscat is not the bee's knees?
Don't take my word for it, just look at the arrogance inherent in these people and the way they express themselves, physically and verbally. For that matter, check out their Facebook page, such as that Gauci Cunningham chap whose bearded mush adorns a billboard telling us how Joseph is going to make a difference: that's one angry hombre, don't cross him.
They do so at their peril do they who ignore this, because once that Rubicon is crossed, as it was so very quickly not so very long ago, when Mintoff and his anointed one, KMB, were at the helm, there's no easy path back.
To give him credit, Joseph Muscat has given fair warning that he will not tolerate this sort of thing, but the mere fact that he was constrained to give it augurs little that is good for when push comes to shove and "Taghna Lkoll" starts morphing into "Taghna, taghna biss" and thence into "viva l-Labour, viva l-Labour".