As a Liverpool fan there were few positives to take from last nights incredibly tense and exciting Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea FC at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow. The only good thing from our perspective was that Everton FC didn't show up uninvited and nick the trophy while the game was being played as their supporters are apt to do.
The Champions League Final is slowly becoming a spectacle on par with the Superbowl complete with ridiculous pregame and halftime shows last night showcasing men in tight red body suits with outrageous golden stars on their heads dancing around an enormous mesh bag of balloons made to look like a football that were released for the heavens to swallow.
Kudos to ESPN for showing little to none of that nonsense and keeping the focus on Football. I was also impressed that they hired Frank LeBouef (World Cup winner with France and former Chelsea player) and Shaka Hislop (Former Goalkeeper for many Premiership teams managed by Harry Redknapp) as in-Studio Pundits. Further Kudos to them (I can't believe I've used the word Kudos twice in one paragraph) for actually having their US Commentary team of Derek Rae and Tommy Smyth (2008 Grand Marshall of the NYC St. Patrick's Day Parade) in Moscow rather than a studio in Bristol, Connecticut. Three time Champions League Winner Clarence Seedorf (Ajax '95, Real Madrid '98, AC Milan '07) joined them in the commentary box for the first half which made for enlightening chatter if not also exposing some dodgy English from the Suriname-born Dutchman.
The tadpole like characters remained on the field during the walkout and lineup where all the players looked the part except Frank Lampard whose facial expression suggested he was fighting desperately against soiling himself. Not surprising considering his prolific scoring record owes everything to deflected shots, freekicks and penalties awarded thanks to Didier Drogba's equally prolific diving.
A cautious start by both sides to the most important game of the season and to many of the players the most important game of their careers was broken in the 26th minute by Cristiano Ronaldo. The Madeira-born Portuguese Winger headed in from Wes Brown's pin-point cross, shockingly unmarked and as Mr. Seedorf intelligently remarked, "the final has now started." The goal exposed Chelsea manager Avram Grant's tactical naivety as he played central midfielder Michael Essien at right-back to shadow Ronaldo and was nowhere to be found.
Chelsea equalized just before halftime due to some paltry United defending and you guessed it . . . a deflection that fell right into Frank Lampard's path gifting him the simplest of tap-ins. United were stunned while Fat Frank celebrated as if he had cured world hunger and solved the global warming problem in one fell swoop.
The Second half was relentless end to end football dominated by Chelsea as they came close on several occasions without ever delivering the final product. Ryan Giggs came on for Paul Scholes in the 87th Minute for his 759th appearance for United eclipsing Bobby Charlton as the clubs all-time appearance leader. It is also worth mentioning Giggs has won 10 league titles, 5 FA Cups and now 2 European Cups in his 18 years with United and he is only 34 years old. A few near fights were less than expertly controlled by the out of his depth Slovakian referee Lubos Michel. For the fourteenth time in European Cup history the the game was headed to overtime.
Overtime produced some interesting talking points but could not determine a winner. The main point being Didier Drogba's absolutely idiotic Slapping of Nemanja Vidic in front of the referee earning himself a deserved Red card and sending off. Chelsea were a man down and without Drogba's services from the spot as penalty kicks loomed.
The penalties were a tense affair even for myself. I couldn't sit down and could hardly watch even though I came into the this match hoping there was some way for both sides to lose. I was leaning towards Manchester United as I despise everything that Chelsea represent and stand for. It begins at the top with their arrogant Russian Billionaire owner Roman Abramovich who has spent $1.5 Billion assembling a team of mercenaries and has only recently come out and admitted he loaned the money to the club rather than giving it to them from the kindness of his frigid siberian heart as chelsea fans would have had you believe over the last five years. If he were ever to decide to leave the club they would all but dissolve into dust. Manchester United are also heavily in debt but there was never any secret about that.
The best of five penalty shootout was tied at two each when Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro, arguably the world's best player stepped up to take his Penalty. He ran up to the ball and inexplicably stopped for a full second as if caught in two minds about what to do. His shot was weak and easily saved by Chelsea's keeper Peter Cech (which is pronounced check and who is himself, Czech). Ronaldo's miss looked to be the end of Manchester United's dream as Chelsea's Captain John Terry stepped up to take their 5th and deciding penalty. Looking like Vin Diesel on the A Man Apart poster he no doubt had all the following mornings headlines running through his head proclaiming him the unshakeable man who took the deciding penalty and was the captain of the champions of Europe. His Spot Kick went woefully wide and any suggestion that it was a slippery pitch is a paltry and pathetic excuse as none of the other 13 penalty takers had any problem whatsoever. It was simply a lack of bottle from the man whose failures scandalously outweigh his triumphs on the international and European Club stage. He is the man whose tenure as England Captain saw them fail to qualify for the EURO 2008 tournament leaving the rest of the world to wonder how he was chosen as captain over Liverpool's Steven Gerrard who has proven time and again to have the mental fortitude for the big moments in the important games.
The Young Brazilian Anderson hit the next penalty for a revived Manchester united followed by Solomon Kalou for Chelsea. Ryan Giggs hit United's 6th penalty leaving it all to be done by Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka. Typically, the Frenchman stepped up and cracked under pressure having his weak shot saved by Van Der Sar and Manchester United are deservedly Champions of Europe.
Cristiano Ronaldo could do with thanking John Terry not only for gifting United the European Cup but also for sparing his own blushes for his penalty miss and no doubt sealing his name on the trophy for FIFA world player of the year!
This game was an absolutely brilliant advertisement for World Football (as opposed to American Football) but was not quite as exciting as the Liverpool-Milan final from 2005! I own the DVD if anyone hasn't seen it. It was the greatest game of football ever played!
TBG 5/22/08
