Russian Roulette

Exciting times - summer is here, the sun is shining, I am off to Orlando in 3 weeks time, Madhu is leaving the island in 2 weeks time (Good riddance from bad rubbish- just kiddingJ-) and sweet lord Manchester United are European Champions again. God does love me extra special. The evening of May 21 2008 will be etched in my memory for many births to follow. Edwin Van Der Sar –You f*cking beauty!

I was away at training and was cursing my luck (read my boss). If I was at work I would have had a word with him to sneak out half three to watch the game. As luck would have it the training manager was nice enough to let us all leave by the time the match began and we went over to K & S’s to watch the game-about 8 of us. 2 die hard Utd fans, 1 Loyal Chelsea fan, I closet United fan, I closet Chelsea fan , 2 neutrals and one old bugger who came for the cookies and coffee.

On to the game now, I was rather surprised and disappointed by Sir Alex not selecting Park and Saha even on the bench but as a loyal red devil we never second guess the boss. If he says United are from Republic of Mancunia rather than England I will believe him. The boss also sprang the customary surprise in the big game by playing Hargreaves on the right wing to counter the threat of Essien by playing Cristiano “The world’s best player by a country mile” Ronaldo on the left. Another master stroke by the gaffer as Essien was turned over by Ronaldo as frequently as an Aloo Paratha in a Punjabi dhabha. After dominating the possession for about thirty minutes with more than a handful meaning full attacks came the wonderful cross from Wes brown (with his left foot) to the leaping head of Ronnie. Essien was a mere spectator.

Chelsea’s only meaning full attack of the half resulted in goal by Lampard-one of the few occasions where a deflection set up a goal rather than it resulting in it. One-One at the break and the banter amongst us was increasing. I was so glad that I was watching the game with my mates for I would have definitely pee’d my pants if I was watching it alone. The second half was rather forgettable for United fans as Chelsea dominated possession and even hit the bar twice whilst United were lacklusture and tired. To be honest I never thought Chelsea would score even after having so much possession. Then came a moment in the game which in my opinion was absolutely pivotal, Giggs replaced Scholes and moved on to the right whilst Hargreaves moved to the centre with Carrick who as he often does went quiet when the tide wasn’t favoring United. But the lad has been great generally and I don’t want to be nit-picking. Giggs with his experience and Hargreaves with his calmness slowed the pace down and United were looking a far better team after that.

On to extra time which was surprisingly interesting given that the teams had played 90 minutes of hard fought game in the slippery turf on a rainy night in Moscow. Carvalho had a cramp and Chelski put the ball out of play. When play resumed Tevez chose to pay Chelski back with a taste of their own medicine when he chose to kick the ball far away rather than hand back possession to Cheleski, My friend AP always keeps saying that chelski are a dirty team and they always have a shot on goal at the pretext of returning the ball to the opposition in similar circumstances. The guardians of sporting play that Lampard and Terry are chose to confront Tevez and what followed was kinder garden stuff. Words were exchanged, abuses hurled but then the scum Didier drogba decided to do the unthinkable- He slapped Nemanja Vidic- We all know Didi is not the most intelligent man on the planet but even he should know you never lay your hand on Nemanja- He is one guy you don’t want to meet in a blind alley. Drogba gets sent off-It couldn’t happen to a nicer bloke-The man epitomizes everything that is wrong with modern day football- The man plays for money (which I don’t mind) but kisses his badge every time he scores when he has absolutely no love for Chelski and honestly believes he is better striker than Sheva- A final word-Sod off to Milan you dirty bastar* for that extra 1 million and please ensure that door doesn’t hit your fat as* when you are leaving.

On to penalties and like every good drama it had a wonderful and ironical climax-The world’s best player, one of the best dead ball specialist, lethal penalty taker misses the most important penalty thus far in his life- it brought back memories of Baggio in the 94 world cup. It had to happen and I called it right. Advantage Chelsea –terry to take the last kick and K and I had given hope. But my friend Chelsea supporting friend made the cardinal sin of moving away from his seat for he couldn’t take the pressure, we all know you don’t move from your lucky seat when things are going your way. JT slips (or didn’t he??) and misses the penalty as all English men seem to do on big occasions. VDS saves the penalty from Anelka after Giggs/Anderson and Kalou all get their penalties in and the rest as they say is history.

Manchester United had reached the promised land and now they are the best team in Europe. United celebrated crazily but deservedly. like only they could. I felt a little sorry for JT and ronaldo too for it could have been so different if JT scored. We popped a bottle of champagne at my friends place and I was signing “Championey Championey Ole Ole Ole “all night. My mind was constantly humming “Glory Glory Man Utd”

Take a bow you red devils- European Champions in the year we commemorate the fiftieth anniversary of one of the biggest sporting tragedies of them all-the Munich disaster. It had to happen- It always seems there is a god given right for United to win these big games.

Cheers
S
PS: Paul Scholes showed on the night what a class act he is. Whist the rest of squad was happy to mob VDS after he saved the penalty the man walks up to JT and gives him a hug. You sir are an absolute champion and the likes of Gerrard and Lampard are not fit to lace your boots.- Lampard and Gerrard –England’s golden generation-my arse