Weon

The Champion’s League is arguably the biggest club trophy in the football world. The cream of european football (and The Arse) compete all over the continent to take home the classic trophy. In days gone by, Liverpool were the ultimate european team, winning it four times in seven years from ‘77 to ‘84. They had the chance to make it five in eight but lost to Juventus that tragic night in the Heysel Stadium.

Since then, the fortunes of Liverpool have been varied. They won the mickey mouse treble in 2001 but have never really regained the success their fans demand. Until last night.

The Reds travelled to Instanbul to meet hot favourites AC Milan in this years final. Their path to the final had seen them knock out teams such as Juventus and Chelsea but surely their luck would run out in Turkey?

Fifty seconds into the game it seemed that was the case. I’d suspected an early goal but not from Milan and not that early! “Uh-oh,” I thought, “here comes the thrashing”. Sure enough, Milan outplayed Liverpool for almost all of the first half. It looked set to be 1-0 at half time but then Hernan Crespo struck in the 39th and 44th minutes giving Liverpool a seemingly impossible mountain to climb.

The second half started fairly innocuously. Milan looked confident they had won, Liverpool looked like they were playing for pride. But eight minutes in, the most amazing 360 seconds of Liverpool’s season began with a Stephen Gerard goal. Milan looked puzzled but not overly concerned. They should have been because 120 seconds later, Smicer scored again to make it 3-2. Surely this wasn’t happening? Milan were shaking and suddenly Liverpool believed they could do it. Sure enough, in the 59th minute, Gerard is brought down by Gattuso in the area. How he stays on the pitch is anyones guess but Liverpool have an important penalty to take. Xabi Alonso steps up, places the ball, shoots, Dida saves but not well enough and Alonso puts in the rebound. 3-3.

The full ninety minutes pass and we are into half an hour of extra time. Liverpool have played well but now they look so tired and it is really just damage limitation. Milan press forward but can’t find a way through. After 120 minutes of the most amazing eurpoean final I have ever seen (even eclipsing ‘99) we are down to penalties. This is the second cup final in a week I have seen end this way and I don’t hold out much hope. But Milan miss their first penalty and Jerzy “Grobbelaar Legs” Dudek (who has been below average for the whole game) saves their second. Meanwhile, Liverpool have scored their first two and now are in the driving seat. Riise’s shot is saved but Smicer, in his final act for the Reds, slots it home. Shevchenko must score for Milan to stay in the competition. He shoots but Dudek saves. Liverpool are European champions!

I couldn’t believe it. I still can’t believe it. A side that has been really average in the Premiership has won the Champion’s League. I am pleased that an English team has won it and it’s a team that worked for it rather than trying to buy it (can we all say Chelski?)

Will Liverpool be in it next year? If they are not allowed in to defend the title, it is a travesty. Will Gerard stay with the reds? I think that depends on whether they will be allowed to defend their title. In the meantime congratulations to Raj, Baggus, Will, Rob and all the other Liverpool fans out there, and I say that with only the smallest hint of jealousy.

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 26th, 2005 at 11:52 am and is filed under Football. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.