Champions League Final - A question of belonging

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.

Attendance: 74,000
Referee: Herbert Fandel (Germany)

The Nightmare Final and The Revenge Thriller

As soon as it became clear that Liverpool was one of the teams in the Athens final we knew that there were only two possible scenarios left – on one hand an all-English, indeed all-North-of-England, final which has had the authorities in Greece and England in nervous trepidation since it became apparent that it was at all possible; on the other hand the biggest revenge drama in European football of the century. Yes, it’s a young century. We now know that we are to be served with the latter, as AC Milan have an opportunity to get back at Liverpool and claim the trophy. Looking at the form of the teams we can expect a cracking game.

Liverpool versus Chelsea was a long, harrowing battle which seemed like it would go on forever until the world stopped. Had the rules been different, say, you have to play until either team scores a golden goal, however long it may take, we might still be watching them now. I had backed Chelsea, simply because of their unnerving ability to close a game down and snatch a goal from nowhere in the last minute. Liverpool, while much more aggressive and creative than in the first leg, also closed down well on their side, however. Terry and Carragher, two draconian defenders placed at opposite poles, fiercely guarding their treasure. Rob Smyth wrote in the Guardian that this was a display of English football at its most… well, English. Basically. Lowest-common-denominator football, reckons Rob, risk-free and defensive. I concur. Even the tough battles for the ball were not very interesting. And since this was in fact a European game it was “like showing an episode of EastEnders at the Cannes film festival”. Quite. Of course, if I had assumed that Chelsea would grind a victory out of this, a re-evaluation of the situation became necessary when the war turned into firing squad execution. Anfield, despite 120 minutes of admirable noise, had been unable to guide their team to scoring another goal, but would surely be instrumental in unsettling even the sturdiest of Chelsea veterans. Especially since Liverpool boast a penalty king in goal. And thus it was that Pepe Reina put an end to a long evening by saving two penalties.

The all-English semi-final was certainly less compelling than the mixed one; Manchester United against Italian teams have been great fun lately. This time, however, they did not so much inflict a sound thrashing than receive one. San Siro, noisy, at times shaking, and the heavens obliging with enough water to fill an Olympic size swimming pool set a perfect stage for entertainment. Players falling over, unable to see the ball… funnily enough Manchester United, who, one might suppose, would be better used to harsh weather conditions, seemed the only ones disturbed. Milan were mighty and did exactly what Man U did to Roma, even if this did not turn into a goal scoring circus: omnipresent aggression and creative cooperation. They seemed to be everywhere at once, never let their opponents pass a ball in peace and were confident in their attacking moves. Even United’s star players were unable to get into the game; Paul Scholes, in an attempt to play clean, was nowhere near it. The role of midfield terrier, so convincingly played by Darren Fletcher lately, was entirely taken up by energy bundle Gennaro Gattuso, who also found time to fire up the audience. So, again I was wrong – I had expected Man U to come through, even if we knew the San Siro game would be tough, perhaps because the images of the previous games were in my head. But things can turn around, this was Milan’s night and Liverpool are up for a hard time. What fun it will be.