It was a good game, in the end: neither the thrilling repeat of the stunning action from two years ago, nor the dull cancelling each other out that some feared. Just a good game of football and a fairly worthy final. Except, it has to be said, the winners were lucky to be in the competition at all and even slightly lucky to win it. Rafa Benitez, by common consent in charge of a stronger team this time than in 2005, was, ironically, slower in responding as the need for change became apparent. While Milan played well and sparkled in moments of brilliance, Liverpool actually ran most of the show – and perhaps that served to obscure the fact that they were unable to conjure up that final cutting edge and score when in the box. The idea to play wide, and thus bypass Milan’s strong but narrow midfield, was good: Pennant won the battle on his side and severely reduced Seedorf’s contribution by running the ball at goal, Zenden (and later Kewell) less effective on the opposite side. However, neither player managed to get their crosses quite right and gave Kuyt and Gerrard little to work with. On the opposite side Mascherano was giving Kaka problems, but a surge from the Brazilian, stopped by a foul by Alonso, at least yielded the decisive free kick. Pirlo’s kick would have been saved by Reina had it not been for a deflection off Inzaghi’s elbow. Hardly a classic goal, potentially even handball, but Inzaghi celebrated as if the world had just witnessed the second coming of Maradona. By the time Benitez made a decisive change, letting Mascherano give way for Peter Crouch and allowing Gerrard to step back towards the middle, it mainly played into the hands of Milan. Crouch had had little time to make an impact before Kaka utilised the opening left by Mascherano and fed a nice ball to Inzaghi, who showed that he may have been born offside, but when he does manage to stay onside he can score nice goals. A few minutes later Liverpool got a goal back: a Pennant corner flicked on by Agger to Kuyt, who headed it in. The last minutes saw a frantic team struggling to turn the evening into a repeat of Istanbul after all, but the goal remained of the consolatory variety. At least Dirk’s father, ill with cancer, got to see his son score in a Champions League final – my thoughts to them both.
Now there really is only one question left to be solved. Of course, rules in Italy may be different, and Berlusconi tends to view rules as optional guidelines anyway. But, having learnt from the West Ham situation that ownership of players is a problematic issue, in terms of conflicts of interest and third-party agreements - what are we to make of Kaka’s statement, made on a shirt worn under his team shirt, that he ‘belongs to Jesus’…?
AC Milan
Dida, Oddo, Nesta, Maldini, Jankulovski (Kaladze 79), Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf (Favalli 90), Kaka, Inzaghi (Gilardino 88).
Subs Not Used: Kalac, Cafu, Serginho, Brocchi.
Booked: Gattuso, Jankulovski.
Goals: Inzaghi 45, 82.
Liverpool
Reina, Finnan (Arbeloa 88), Carragher, Agger, Riise, Pennant, Alonso, Mascherano (Crouch 78), Zenden (Kewell 59), Gerrard, Kuyt.
Subs Not Used: Dudek, Hyypia, Gonzalez, Bellamy.
Booked: Mascherano, Carragher.
Goals: Kuyt 89.
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)
2 comments:
that's called faith and love.
do you know any of them?
there's no better declaration of love from a football player than to have his love printed on his undershirt.
...and bless him for that. No doubts about the sincerity of his heart-felt convictions.
I, however, was simply making a joke - a sense of humour being another useful thing in life. My joke, apparently, was so obvious that I have heard it from other sources as well, as for instance James Richardson in the Guardian football Podcast... you heard it here first! ;-)
http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/05/29/football_weekly_36.html
Post a Comment