Gilberto Silva anecdote by Michael Paterakis
June 17, 2009
From this fantastic article by Goal.com on how commentators can change the perception of a match:
Often these (wrong) interpretations of the football commentators tend to mislead the people. Goal.com Greece’s Michael Paterakis recounts one such incident, “In February I was in Spain for the Villarreal-Panathinaikos match in the Champions League. From the press galleries we were all agreeing that Gilberto Silva was Panathinaikos’ best player along with Giorgos Karagounis. I wrote that in my post-match player ratings piece. A few minutes later I received a call from my brother in Athens. He exclaimed, “Are you serious? Gilberto was the worst player on the pitch!†I later found out the commentator would often remark that the Brazilian was playing badly. That way he totally altered the reality of the game.”