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Thursday, May 03, 2007

Brazilian Genius


Milan is a long way from São Paulo. But on a rainy Wednesday night, it was the man from São Paulo who showed his class and led the Italian team to a Champions League final in Athens against Liverpool.

For the last few years, Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite (or Kaká) has been one of the best players in the world. However, his intelligent play and clever positioning has often been dwarfed by the tricks and jigs of Ronaldinho. Ronaldinho may have finally scored his bicycle kick goal for Barcelona this year but he is clearly a shadow of his former self. Instead, Kaká has added a spark of genius into an aging Milan team badly in need of inspiration. His two goals against Manchester United last week were perfect examples of his immense talent -- the first was a precise shot placed at the end of a pacy clever run and the second was pure genius, where Kaká made a goal out of nothing. He headed, flicked and headed the ball again past a stagnant Manchester defense to score with such ease. And on Wednesday night, he scored again with a precise left shot but this time he volleyed the ball into the bottom corner of the net.

The above picture is a beautiful shot. I have no idea who took it but I found it on Soccernet's photo gallery . Kaká always looks up to the heavens after he scores a goal but the lighting in this shot makes it more special. Because it appears this time that the heavenly light seems to be shining back down on him. Poetic!

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