Dragons reign supreme

So maybe the final scene of the story will not please the overly religious.The Dragon triumphing over the Archbishop but in football,good guys and those who deserve victories almost always win even if they're not your regular icons of piety and sanctity and FC Porto won the Europa League in such a beautiful manner that,betting against them would bother on the strange and simply unfair.
For a team that looked like being pushed out of the Portuguese footballing limelight just last season after losing the title to Benfica,the blue and white striped team came back with a huge bang and they took back the Portuguese title with a stunning 27 wins and 3 draws. In their European campaign,they scored a whooping 42 goals in the entire Europa League run-out.
However,the huge stash of goals were just rewards for the hard work,belief and high work ethic that was brought in by history-making coach,Andre Villas Boas.The protege of Jose Mourinho and Bobby Robson showed the drive characteristic of the latter but showed a lot of restraint and coolness of the former and in just one season,he turned a downcast side into a sumptious footballing meal and it didn't take millions of euros.All it took was a change in mentality and a replacement for Raul Meireles.He brought in the much-maligned Joao Moutinho from Sporting Lisbon and that was that.Porto blazed Portugal and in UEFA's second tier competition,they set a standard that wowed us all and reminded us of FC Barcelona in a Portuguese version.From qualifying to the final,the Dragons were always high and above the opposition but it was in the knockout stages that their real class became evident as they adapted to every situation and showed a rare breed of second half invinciblity and renaissance only teams like the treble-winning Manchester United side possessed.
Cue the tough tie against Sevilla where they won away and scored when it was necessary to get past the Spanish side in the home leg.The home ties against Spartak Moscow and Villareal showed how deadly Villas Boas' side was after the break.Attitude? Yes but they also had the men to do it.Rolando was a rock at the back with Moutinho and Fernando giving them the shield Guarin needed to cook the potion for Hulk,Rodriguez and Varela (when he played) to cast and for Falcao to materialise in an absolutely magnificent fashion.He struck 17 times in the competition and deservedly,he scored the winning header in last night's final after Guarin had cooked another spell but this time he passed the wand to Falcao in the form of a delightful cross.
Keyboards,keypads and pens will type and write and go on and on with their superlatives about this Porto side but in truth,they have earned it and they stand on the brink of another treble should they win the Portuguese Cup on May 22.This side may not be rigid as Mourinho's winners in '03 and '04 and they may even show smirks of complacency or vulnerabilities at the back but one thing is clear:
The Dragons of Porto have set the opposition ablaze and they reign supreme now.