20 east

WOW!! What a game.

It had everything, didn’t it?

• First all English Champions League final – and what an advert for the game
• A classic “game of two halves” – first half all Man U, second half all Chelsea
• Extra time
• Penalties – what a terrible way to have to end any game
• Handbag throwing
• A red card – Drogba being a silly-billy in his last game for the club
• Great saves during the game
• Great saves in the penalty shoot-out
• Ryan Giggs breaking Bobby Charlton’s record of appearances for Man U
• Bobby Charlton walking up to collect a winners medal
• 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash
• Tears – heartbreaking for John Terry (who only needed to score a penalty for Chelsea to win). He’s now lost 3 Champions League semi finals and a final, poor sod.
• Another goal for Lampard’s mum (who died not too long ago)
• Goal line clearance – John Terry again, keeps Chelsea in the game
• Two shots hitting the posts – Chelsea’s luck not with them obviously
• Ryan Giggs scoring his penalty
• Ronaldo making a meal of his penalty – and missing
• Avram Grant looking like his world has just caved in
• Alex Ferguson with a very wet smile on his face
• Tevez, surprisingly playing like a wally most of the second half but thankfully scoring his penalty
• A pitch that didn’t spoil the game
• Abramovich seemingly enjoying himself in a Moscow stadium
• No obviously dodgy decisions
• Platini doing his “sad face” – “happy face” routine when handing out the medals to winners and losers. He had EXACTLY the same faces when doing the UEFA Cup medals not long ago!

All in all, very enjoyable for a neutral. I feel genuinely sorry for Chelsea who impressed me far more than I thought they would but you can’t take anything away from Man U. In a way this game was the nouveaux-riche Blues versus the landed-gentry Reds and in the end the class, experience and tradition came through. But it was close, really close.