Henry, a red-card villain of 2002, is coming in on a different theme this year. Despite scoring a consolation goal, Henry’s Barcelona were recently stuffed 4-1. Henry has often been injured this season and rarely gets a start for Barcelona; his club side that’s been comprehensively defeated in the league to Real Madrid and lost their Champions League semi-final tie to Manchester United.

He should come into Euro 2008 hungry.

The Spanish commentary to the first Ribery goal: “Por favor.” Please.

Here’s a link that might work better (that Daily Motion link kept freezing on me) with all 4 of Bayern’s goals from the game.

Here, after Ribery’s first goal, the German commentary turns French: “Formidable, incroyable , superbe, Monsieur Ribery.”

But while the naming of the tournaments is a bit of a mess, the product on the pitch has been good quality. The buzz from the Liverpool-Arsenal second leg is only just starting to dissipate, and the first leg of Liverpool-Chelsea is tomorrow. Barcelona host Manchester United Wednesday.

Who among the French players will be making the cut and earning starting berths in these semi-finals? Henry might not be able to play. What about Thuram and Abidal? Abidal has been critical of his own form, and evidently put in a request to be benched.

If Patrice Evra turns in yet another good performance for Manchester United, and Abidal doesn’t make it off the bench for Barcelona, would that have any bearing on their chances for France this summer? I can’t discuss French leftbacks without a mention of Gael Clichy, a fantastic player who’s a joy to watch; winning the ball and bombing forward, but Evra, at this point, has surely earned a chance to play for France.

Will Makalele be first choice for Chelsea? His chances are better than Malouda’s. Will Anelka figure for Chelsea? Everything is aligned for Nico to score the goals to secure a couple European cups.

Gabriele Marcotti has piece on Domenech on SI.com. Journalists sympathetic to Italy, and Gabriele is Italian, tend to strongly dislike Domenech; which is one of the things I like about Domenech.

We had links to highlights in Daily Motion, but they quit working. Here are some pictures from the game.

1. France’s great hope, Karim Benzema, has an injured left ankle – Replaced by Trezeguet (Trezegol?)
2. Arsenal’s impeccable right back Bacary Sagna – Replaced by Reveillère
3. The World’s best player as recently as 2003, Thierry Henry – Replaced by Loic Remy
4. France Captain Patrick Vieira has a sore thigh muscle, and is “very frustrated.”
5. Sebastien Frey – Replaced by Nice goalkeeper Hugo Lloris
6. Perennially crocked, but hugely talented, Louis Saha
7. Marseille midfileder Mathieu Valbuena

Domenech says he should have picked 45 players instead of just 39, to cover the two games. I’m reading through the Domenech interview on L’Equipe; here’s a good question:

Entre un joueur longuement blessé et un autre qui ne joue plus en club, qu’est-ce qui est le plus grave?

Between a player long-term injured and a player who’s not playing for his club anymore, which is more serious?

Le manque de temps de jeu n’est pas le plus important, les blessures sont plus gênantes. Un joueur qui manque de temps de jeu s’entraîne quand même, il peut se préparer. Celui qui est blessé pendant les six derniers mois, ça fait réfléchir. C’est difficile de l’amener vite en compétition.

The lack of playing time is not most important, the injuries are more awkward. A player who misses playing time is still training, he can prepare. Those who are injured during the last six months, that makes one reflect. It’s difficult to quickly bring him into competition.

Who did the interviewer have in mind when he asked that question? And who is Domenech referring to: injured for the last six months?

Patrick Vignal, our man at Reuters, expects Trezeguet and Anelka to start up front. Now that should be an absolutely mouthwatering prospect. Anelka is into the idea.

Laurie, who’s planning to attend the France-England friendly, is an Anelka supporter, and why not? Here’s a guy who was known universally, fairly or not, as “L’Enfant Terrible;” roughly translated, a spoiled brat, just a few years ago. Those days are gone. I’m still smarting from the assist he had to set up Chelsea’s winning goal over Arsenal yesterday. The current version of Anelka is a combination of blinding pace, brilliant skill, and perfect attitude.

And Trezeguet is just one of the Davids who could be returning like a prodigal son.

Jeff: When you’re at a small Domenech press conference, obviously there are several French reporters there, but how big is the contingent of reporters writing in English? Do you also write stories in French?

Patrick: When I’m at a small Domenech presser, there are not many reporters writing in English, usually at least three, from the main news agencies (Reuters, AP and AFP) but rarely more. I occasionally write in French. I’m French but my mother’s English and I’m comfortable with both languages.

Jeff: How would you describe your writing style? Writing a fan site is terribly biased – we’re advocates for our team; and newspaper columnists feature their opinions in their writing. Your writing isn’t biased in the same way, but you still convey enthusiasm and opinion in your writing. France supporters are following Karim Benzema closely. After Lyon’s first leg against Manchester United in the Champions League Round of 16 you described Benzema as “an exceptional player” and wrote:

Now this is the kind of stuff we eat up. Coming from Reuters, not the first place to turn for hyperbole, it says something to see him described as an exceptional player.

Patrick: On writing style, at Reuters, we are asked to do exactly what you seem to like, which is not to be biased but not to be boring either. If a match is thrilling or a player truly exceptional, we can say so. Bits of colour, descriptive and relevant background are encouraged. We try not be too dull and dry. The blog [http://blogs.reuters.com/soccer/] is a place where we have even more freedom.

I asked for his personal opinions about the France team for this summer.

Patrick: France have an exciting new generation coming up and should be a major threat at the 2010 World Cup. Euro 2008 might come a bit too early for Benzema and company but they are so talented that you never know. I think Benzema has what it takes to become just as special as Ronaldo (the Brazilian one) when he was in his prime. Ben Arfa is different, not as complete and more of a winger. He’s not yet the finished article (Benzema almost is) but has great potential.

That will not happen. France won the 1998 World Cup playing Italian-style defensive football and have continued doing so since. So the days of the 4-2-2-2, 4-3-1-2, 4-2-3-1 or anything with plenty of defensive players and no more than two strikers are not numbered.

I told Patrick that I thought the Vieira-Makalele partnership should be saved for testimonial matches, but he differed.

Patrick: Patrick Vieira and Claude Makelele should both play at Euro 2008, providing both are fit. In the future, we could see a more attractive formation with a playmaker, who could be either Ribery or Nasri, playing behind two strikers (or maybe even three, but that may be too much to ask for).

A few nuggets in there from Mr. Vignal. We thank him very much for his contribution to the site, and look forward to reading his stories on Les Bleus in the buildup to Euro 2008 and during the tournament this summer.

Another no-brainer for Domenech has to be Karim Benzema. Bernard Laporte metioned Benzema in his recent quotes. Laporte was also talking about Ribery’s comments that he didn’t fancy playing in France again. Laporte is far from alone in his interest in Benzema. The player is of the highest quality, and should be standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Ribery leading France to glory this summer.

Domenech is also counting on Thierry Henry this summer. Henry really did a job for France in Euro 2008 qualifying, coming up big in crucial games near the end. His health is a question mark, so it’s a bit of a concern that Domenech is apparently relying so heavily on him. Those concerned about Domenech being inflexible (i.e., short on ideas), might be worried that Domenech will throw Henry into the first 11 regardless of his form.

Hold onto your old Adidas France jersey. It’s a collector’s item now that France has signed with Nike.

Or…well, maybe not yet. But in 2011, for sure. That’s when the contract starts, and it runs through 2018. In other words, for most of the Karim Benzema/Samir Nasri/Hatem Ben Arfa years.

The contract is worth 320 million Euros over its duration. That ain’t pennies.

The official announcement is kind of interesting. It devotes a paragraph to how great Adidas is, saying,

For nearly 40 years, Adidas has accompanied national football in its development and the France team in its international conquests.

A big loss for Adidas, no? But they do still have individual contracts with some of the France players, like Benzema, Nasri and Vieira. That’s something.

Think I’ll go put on my Adidas Zidane shirt now and think about forty years of history heading out the door.

There’s also a pirate site at myp2p that says they’ll be showing it as a MediaPlayer stream, so you can give that a try as well if necessary. Last I checked it was showing tennis in slow, choppy motion, but we can hope that changes as well.

I’ll be hanging around this site as I’m watching the game (crossing my fingers that I can see it), so feel free to stop by and leave comments.