UEFA Champions League Final Preview
Star Date: 28th May 2022. Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Star Date: 28th May 2022. Venue: Stade de France, Paris
Hello and welcome to what I hope you will enjoy as a refreshing take on the endless other written previews available for this majestic European Final in the city of both lights and indeed love. What follows will be a heavily Red tinted perspective of what winning “Old Big Ears” (or just “Big Ears” or the more continental “Cup with the Big Ears”) means for your humble Liverpool supporting narrator, as well as a diary of sorts as I will also narrate the denouement to the English football season (from 7th May onward), and a season in which the Reds will fulfil every possible available fixture on their calendar when they set foot on the pitch of the Stade de France on 28th May.
4th May 2022
Against all odds, “Los Blancos” (The All Whites) of Real Madrid have tonight beaten Manchester City in the second leg of their semi-final, and in a game whereby they had just 1 shot on goal in the 90 minutes of normal time before The Matrix split in half for a crazy 2 minute spell in injury time, and from it being an all English European Cup Final in Paris, it’s now to be the romantic clash of the All Reds and the All Whites, a repeat of the same final 4 years ago in Kiev but rather more pleasingly, a repeat of the 1981 European Cup Final in the same city of love. But we’ll get to that later, as we shall with these intermittent diary entries that will catalogue both the Reds and the Blues of Manchester City, as despite their horrific, and frankly absurd defeat this evening in Madrid, the Reds and Blues remain separated by just 1 point at the top of the Premier League with 4 games of the season to go.
But first, we need to go gathering cups in May.
Chapter One
“That’s nice! That’s McDermott! And that’s a goal!”
Being as I was far too young to remember Liverpool’s first 3 European Cup triumphs in 1977, a year later and then in Paris in 1981 against tonight’s opponents Real Madrid, I only have the imprints on my personal memory of watching these storied games over and over, and over again on videotape. Being a Liverpool fan, of whatever vintage, mine, or those pesky fresh faced youngsters all over social media, the banner noted above is a part of your cherished Reds education. As is the iconic BBC commentary of Barry Davies on that incredible Roman night on 25th May 1977 when in the city of Rome, having defeated St Etienne of France and FC Zurich of Switzerland, Liverpool thoroughly and deservedly defeated Borussia Monchengladbach 3–1 to claim “Old Big Ears” for the very first time. Local born Terry McDermott’s sublime goal was added to by an “unlikely scorer” in fellow Liverpudlian Tommy Smith before a late Phil Neal penalty sealed the glory that was Rome, 1977.
A year later, the Reds unbelievably retained their European crown with a 1–0 win over FC Bruges of Belgium at London’s Wembley Stadium. It was a dour game of very few highlights aside from that one glorious moment, perhaps lasting 45 seconds, when Graeme Souness’ inch perfect pass found his Scottish International teammate Kenny Dalglish and with the goalkeeper advancing and closing down the goal angle, “King Kenny”, in the footballing vernacular “dinked” a beautiful lofted shot into the far corner of the Bruges net. And then set off like a March Hare! One of my sporting memories most treasured possessions is Dalglish haring toward the Liverpool fans behind the goal he’d just scored in, and leaping over an advertisement board as he did so. It was as joyous a celebration as you could wish to see, as was his trademark enormously wide smile, and the King’s goal on that Wembley night in 1978, biased though I may be, remains one of the most skilfully greatest goals ever to grace a European Cup Final and for the second season in a row, captain Emlyn Hughes held the gigantic “Cup with the Big Ears” aloft to a Red hearted roar of sporting delirium inside England’s capital city and national stadium.
On their way to the 1981 European Cup Final (lest we forget: against tonight’s opponents Real Madrid and in Paris), the Reds defeated Finnish Champions Oulun Palloseura 11–2 on aggregate (scoring 10 in the home leg at Anfield), before beating Scottish Champions Aberdeen 5–0 on aggregate in another of those pleasingly footballing historic “Battle of Britain” clashes. Graeme Souness would add a second hat-trick of the competition (to go with his 3 goals against Oulun Palloseura) in a 6–1 aggregate demolition of Bulgarian Champions CSKA Sofia in the quarter-finals before the Reds faced their stiffest opponents hence far in the semi-finals, the West German Champions Bayern Munich. 44,543 attended the 0–0 first leg stalemate in Liverpool and, as the apocryphal stories now so widely told of the time, the Germans felt they were as good as in the Final. Leaflets were printed and distributed at the imposing Olympiastadion in Munich with easy driving directions to Paris and the destination of the final in just under a month’s time. Alas, for the fans of Bayern Munich, they hadn’t accounted for the enthusiasm of local boy Howard Gayle, the tenacious man marking of another Liverpudlian local boy Sammy Lee, or the goal prowess of legendary (and much missed) midfielder Ray Kennedy, who’s goal, his AWAY goal, counted double, and it was the Reds of Liverpool who triumphed on the away goals rule.
So it was the Reds of Liverpool who would travel to Paris for their third European Cup Final and the third in which their opponents would be dressed in all white. Alas the final itself was a damp squib of an affair in which, like FC Bruges in 1978 there were very few highlights of which to speak of. The numerous times I’ve watched this final on videotape over the years has left me with resounding memories of the game being physical, ill tempered and a crackly almost faraway television commentary of a dreadful spectacle of a game being decided in one mad moment by a left wing back affectionately nicknamed “Barney” or “Barney Rubble”, after the Flintstones cartoon character. At 0–0 and with just 8 minutes left on the clock, Ray Kennedy’s long throw reaches a marauding run from Alan Kennedy (not related) who slams the most beautiful of left foot volleys high into the Real Madrid net and “the unlikely man again” had indeed done it again, and would do so again in just 3 years time, but for now, in 1981, Liverpool had won 3 European Cups in the space of just 5 years. Liverpool born Phil Thompson hoisted that beautiful trophy to a Parisian night sky coloured all Red, and some familiar names would be cradling “Old Big Ears” again in just 3 years time.
7th May 2022
This evening Liverpool drew 1–1 with Tottenham Hotspur and regained top spot in the Premier League by just 1 goal difference goal. The 2 best teams in club world football are separated by goal difference and whilst the Reds drew and Manchester City play their game in hand tomorrow at home to Newcastle United, they are currently at the summit of English football once again. The ugly truth from tonight’s game is that the Reds looked tired and leggy at times and had to rely on the raw energy of their Columbian magician Luis Diaz. 1–0 down with a quarter of the game gone, Diaz’s raw enthusiasm drove Liverpool forward and if luckily via a deflection, their much needed equalising goal. It’s a point gained considering the below par performance, and of course it’s 2 precious points dropped.
Over to Manchester City.
8th May 2022
Manchester City 5 Newcastle United 0
‘Twas a stroll in the intermittent Mancunian sunshine for the blues of Manchester as a limp, insipid and frankly apathetic Newcastle United rolled over. It’s a numbers game now: 2 late goals gave the score line a more realistic look and with 3 games to go Manchester City have a 3 point lead at the top of the Premier League as well as an additional cushion now of scoring 2 more goals than the Reds hence far in the season and they now have a goal difference over the Reds of 4.
Kevin De Bruyne was magnificent today as his side collected a valuable and possibly crucial 3 points.
Chapter Two
“LIVERPOOL ARE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS!. WHAT JOY!”
I was just 12 years of age when in 1984 Liverpool entered the quite literal lions den of the Stadio Olympico in Rome, scene of their first European Cup triumph 7 years earlier, but this time to face not only the Italian Champions AS Roma, but in their own Olympic Stadium too. My memories are mostly of those prized videotapes of my youth but I do distinctly remember watching this game with both of my parents, and well past the usual allotted time for bed. Apocryphal stories abound once more, but two have always rather pleased the competitive child in me. Firstly, as per the title of the book in the image at the bottom of this chapter, as the Reds lined up in the tunnel ahead of the cauldron and cacophony of noise from almost 70,000 in the equally almost exclusively partisan home Italian crowd in a European Cup Final, they collectively and cheerfully sang a Chris Rea song entitled “I don’t know what it is, but I love it”, and much to the consternation of their Italian opponents! In a pre kick-off walkabout on the pitch earlier, Reds captain Graeme Souness encouraged his team to walk directly in front of AS Roma’s most vociferous of footballing “Ultras”, and this they did. Graeme Souness has often said since it was simply to show that despite this being an actual home game for the Italians, and in a European Cup Final to boot, he and his team were ready for the fight.
This was no ordinary team.
And Graeme Souness was no ordinary leader.
En-route to their 4th European Cup Final in just 8 years, this Joe Fagan inspired team swept all before them in a season (until more recent times) that seemed the stuff of fantasy or “PlayStation Football”. League Champions, League Cup Winners and individual and team records tumbling like dominoes all around them, this 1983/1984 Liverpool team were something very special indeed. In the European Cup itself, 2 goals each from strikers Michael Robinson and Kenny Dalglish eased the Reds past the Danish Champions Odense 6–0 on aggregate before a famous goal from Ian Rush saw off the challenge of Spanish Champions Athletic Bilbao in a tight and slender 1–0 aggregate score line. Rush would score home and away as the Portuguese Champions Benfica were brushed aside 5–1 on aggregate (and a famous 4–1 away win at the Estadio da luz) in the quarter-finals before scoring yet again in the rain sodden away leg of their semi-final with Dinamo Bucharest of Romania. With the aggregate score standing at 2–1 in favour of the Reds with just 5 minutes of the semi-final remaining, Rush scored yet again in an incredible, record breaking personal season for the Welsh striker, and ensured his team would have the chance of an unprecedented European and Domestic treble of trophies.
Again I only recall the game itself via the historic and archived highlights or the full game I have on DVD. The explosions of both colour and fireworks are continual before the game, and a game that matched the colour, flair and white hot intensity from a largely, save a few thousand hearty and heavily outnumbered Reds fans, heaving, demanding and vociferous partisan Italian crowd. Captain Souness was physical in midfield, Craig Johnston energetic and providing the team with width and pace and an even sided game was indeed even half-way, with Roberto Pruzzo’s soft back header on 42 minutes equalising Phil Neal’s scruffy, but invaluable opening goal on 13 minutes. A goalless second half necessitated a further 30 minute period of extra-time and with no further goals whatsoever, and the score still level at 1–1, the fate of the European Cup rested on the lottery of a penalty shoot-out.
Steve Nicol blazed his penalty high over the bar, Agostino Di Bartolomei scored, and after the first penalty each of 5, AS Roma were 1–0 up. Enter Liverpool’s eccentrically lovable Zimbabwean goalkeeper Bruce Grobbelaar! His “spaghetti legs” (feigning wobbly, nervous thoughts) became legendary, as did his fiddling with the netting and generally slowing down the entire penalty kick process and, as legend would have it, disturbing the nerves of the Italian penalty takers. Phil Neal scored, as did Ian Rush and Graeme Souness scored with the greatest penalty kick you ever did see, but Grobbelaar’s antics forced misses from Italian legends Bruno Conti and Francesco Graziani, leaving that “unlikely man” again, Alan “Barney Rubble” Kennedy to score the winning penalty.
Against all conceivable odds, the Reds had defeated AS Roma in their own backyard, and for the greatest prize in all of European football.
Graeme Souness lifted the European Cup aloft like a gladiator, one handed, pointing with his free hand to the hardy bunch of Reds fans in the stadium, and the all Reds of Liverpool had their hands on a 4th European Cup and, against yet another team represented in an all white kit.
This quixotic trend continues to this day.
10th May 2022
In front of over 41,000 at Villa Park, Liverpool struggled early on but with the introduction of their captain Jordan Henderson and a man of the match performance from Sadio Mane, they secured all 3 points in their 2–1 away win at Aston Villa. Now level again with Manchester City at the top of the Premier League, just a goal difference of 3 separate the two north west footballing giants. My match report is linked below, as is a collage of Twitter reactions.
Over to Manchester City tomorrow.
Aston Villa 1 Liverpool 2
Ugly win keeps the Reds in the Premier League title chasemedium.com
11th May 2022
Wolverhampton Wanderers 1 Manchester City 5
Kevin De Bruyne scored a 17 minute hat-trick and 4 goals in just 53 total minutes as Manchester City regained a firm lock at the top of the Premier League again. City were 3–1 up inside 25 minutes and the game petered out from there into a stroll and a commanding 3 point lead at the summit of English football, as well as a positive 7 goal advantage difference with just 2 league games to play. In truth, the Blues of Manchester could and should have won by far more than 5–1 and they look in ominous form.
Bugger.
Chapter Three
“In Memoria E Amicizia”
Numerous books have been written.
Verbal accounts taken.
Prosecutions.
Convictions.
Prison sentences.
Reprisals.
Families ripped apart.
Friendship offered. Partly accepted.
But the stain of what became instantly known as the “Heysel Stadium Disaster” will rightly stay in the wider consciousness forever. For those unaware of the events of 29th May 1985, 39 mostly Italian football supporters lost their lives when a wall collapsed as the collective mass rushed away from missiles and threatening Liverpool fans attacking them. Stories abound of the infiltration of other English fans at the very height of the hooliganism epidemic seeking yet another fight, of Italians and Liverpool fans seeking individual revenge for the stabbings and violence meted out before and after the previous years final in Rome, and there is huge evidence of the crumbling nature of the stadium itself with holes smashed into exterior walls allowing access into the Belgian Capital’s stadium.
Easy access tickets. Forged tickets. Tickets readily available for the supposed “neutral” part of the stadium. Away from the horribly distressing television pictures of a weight of humanity beneath a fallen wall, fireworks and fire crackers are exploded regularly and I distinctly remember seeing a fan waving a gun/starting pistol in the air.
It was a horrific night.
Unbelievably, the game went ahead.
The Italian Champions deservedly won 1–0 with a disputed penalty and Liverpool were rightly banned by UEFA from all European competition until 1991/1992.
14th May 2022
Another cup final. Another triumph in the lottery of a penalty shoot-out. But Jordan Henderson did his trophy lifting dance/shuffle, and an old man cried.
My match report linked below:
Jurgen Klopp’s “Mentality Monsters” triumph again
Luis “The Kid” Diaz lights up Wembley as the Reds win their 8th FA Cupmedium.com
Chapter Four
“It’s wonderful! It’s marvellous! It’s 3–3 in the European Cup Final”
Liverpool were allowed re-entry into European competition in the 1991/92 season but it would be a decade before they qualified for the now rebranded “Champions League”. I still call it the European Cup, and will continue to do so. 4 years into a new Millennium and despite achieving qualification for the Champions League/European Cup, the Reds parted company with French Manager Gerard Houllier. It was a painful, if inevitable parting, and in his stead came Madrid born Rafael Benitez. Rafa floundered with a team of duds (except the spine of Sami Hyppia and Jamie Carragher in defence, Steven Gerrard and Didi Hamann in midfield and the lone running energy in attack of Milan Baros). Rafa would add Xabi Alonso and we’d all fall in love with the youthful Spanish playmaker, but we could also see the obvious: this was a below average Reds team at the very best. Liverpool struggled in the League Championship but reached the League Cup Final (3–2 defeat to Chelsea), but in the European Cup, they were saving their very best performances, if not always results, for the grandest stage of them all.
The Reds were drawn in Group A of the newly formed group stages before the traditional two legged knock-out cup ties and unluckily lost away to eventual Group winners Monaco via a disputed and badly adjudged penalty and had to beat Greek side Olympiacos by 2 clear goals at Anfield in the group’s final game to qualify for the knock-out stages. Brazilian all time great Rivaldo had given Olympiacos a shock 1–0 half-time lead, thus requiring the Reds to score 3 without reply in the second half. 2 minutes in, Florent Sinama Pongolle grabbed an early second half goal but with 9 minutes remaining the Reds still needed those 2 clear goals to qualify. Enter Neil Mellor, first with a priceless goal to make the score 2–1 and then 5 minutes later, he supplied the cushioned headed pass into the path of captain fantastic Steven Gerrard, and he unleashed a right footed piledriver that flew into the Kop End goal. Having already given up hope, I screamed like a wild banshee when that beautiful shot rippled that beautiful Anfield net (eliciting wild complaints from my neighbours) but as the colour TV commentary of the night proclaimed:
“Oh you beauty! What a hit son. What a hit!”
The Reds drew Bayer Leverkusen of Germany in the first knock-out round, and their conquerors at the quarter-final stage 3 years previously. Luis Garcia, John Arne Riise and a late goal from Didi Hamann gave the Reds an impressive 3–0 lead in the home leg but I groaned loudly when, with just seconds remaining, Franca scored a possibly vital late away goal. It wasn’t to be, and Liverpool played even better in Germany in the return leg with Luis Garcia bagging a pair of goals in another 3–1 win and a 6–2 aggregate demolition of their nemeses from 3 years before. The quarter-finals saw the Reds matched with another of their European Cup conquerors, and the first time they’d played Juventus competitively since the horrific events at the 1985 Final. Backed by an Anfield crowd of 41,200, the Reds stormed into an early 2–0 first leg lead through goals from Sammi Hyypia and that man again, Luis Garcia, but for the groan above surrounding the Bayer Leverkusen away goal, see here for the headed goal from Fabio Cannavaro in the second half, and a crucial away goal to take back to Turin despite a 2–1 Italian loss. The second leg in Turin is often overlooked in the annals of Liverpool history, but the 0–0 draw that signalled a 2–1 aggregate victory, and progress to the semi-finals, was both an immense and incredible achievement.
A rag tag team containing Djimi Traore, Igor Biscan, Antonio Nunez and Anthony Le Tallec had made it all the way to an all English semi-final with Chelsea. The first leg at Stamford Bridge was a non-event, ending 0–0, and perfectly setting up the most incredible of Anfield European nights a week later. An almighty goalmouth scramble on 4 minutes saw Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech bringing down onrushing Liverpool striker Milan Baros but with the referee playing on, Luis Garcia, that man again, scored the tie’s only goal, and the goal that would ultimately send the Reds to the final in Istanbul. Controversy has reigned supreme since: Should it have been a penalty? Would Petr Cech have been sent off? Did the ball cross the line? The goal was christened a “ghost goal” by defeated Chelsea Manager Jose Mourinho, but his side had a number of good chances to equalise, thus having an away goal counting double and thus on their way to Istanbul instead. With Rafa Benitez seemingly playing left back for most of the second half and patrolling the touchline like a frustrated chess player trying to plug the attacking advance, the Reds held firm as Anfield exploded with joy as their heroes, their most unlikeliest of recent historical heroes, reached their first European Cup Final in 2 decades.
This is how the 2005 final transpired, on a balmy Turkish night thousands of miles away, and far closer to home:
I was supposed to be working from home on the day of the final but I distinctly remember spending the entire day in the back garden and either enjoying the May sunshine or pacing around like a lunatic. I was as nervous as a kitten in the weeks leading up to the final but the day itself was manic tension. Living with long term girlfriend (codename “Buns”), at 6pm I/we put our young son to bed for the night before I was left completely alone to watch the 2 hours of TV build up and I remember this like it was yesterday: for some unfathomable reason I sat cross legged in front of a giant screen (for its time) and simply shook with nerves. I couldn’t see how this Reds team could possibly compete with the mighty, in form, and mercurial Italian Champions AC Milan. From their Brazilian goalkeeper Dida, you also have an all star and all time defensive unit of fellow Brazilian Cafu, Dutch central defender Jaap Stam and two legendary Italian defenders in Paulo Maldini and Alessandro Nesta. The midfield quartet comprised of Gennaro Gattuso, Kaka, Clarence Seedorf and the beautiful skills of Andrea Pirlo, with Argentinian Hernan Crespo and Ukrainian striker Andriy Shevchenko in attack.
Managed by Carlo Ancelotti and current manager of this Saturday’s opponents Real Madrid, his 2005 AC Milan team was a thunderous footballing sight and heavy, heavy, heavy favourites.
GOAL! AC Milan 1 Liverpool 0 (Paulo Maldini 1 minute)
Right from the kick off a nervous looking Liverpool retreat with the ball before Djimi Traore gives away a soft free kick on the edge of the penalty area. The genius that is Andrea Pirlo sweeps in a simple curling free kick that veteran captain Paulo Maldini gleefully volleys past Jerzy Dudek in the Liverpool goal.
Inside just 50 seconds, the Reds are 1–0 down against the all white dressed Italians from Milan.
GOAL! AC Milan 2 Liverpool 0 (Hernan Crespo 39 minutes)
In a game thoroughly dominated by the Italian Champions, the Reds are forced to make an early substitution as the frustratingly injury prone Harry Kewell has to be replaced by Czech Republic International Vladimir Smicer, but they can’t achieve a foothold in the game at all. In a rare attacking position, Luis Garcia forces a slipped Alessandro Nesto into handling the ball inside his own penalty area but the Spanish referee Manuel Gonzalez waves away vehement shouts for a penalty. Immediately the ball is cycled throughout the all white dressed AC Milan players until it reaches the nexus of Kaka, Shevchenko and Crespo. First Kaka lifts a delightful pass to his Ukrainian team mate who immediately looks up to pass a square ball to Crespo who slots home a second goal effortlessly. It was cruel on the Reds, and in the words of ex Liverpool striker John Aldridge commentating for local radio, Liverpool already needed a “minor miracle”.
5 minutes later it would get a whole lot worse.
GOAL! AC Milan 3 Liverpool 0 (Hernan Crespo 44 minutes)
There would be no doubt about the third goal, and a goal which many commentators the world over concluded was the end of the game, and a European Cup Final which hadn’t even reached half-time yet. Kaka received a pass on the famed footballing cliche of the “half turn” and as he swivelled his body shape he beat the limp challenge of Steven Gerrard before unleashing a perfect curling pass that split the Liverpool defence wide open for Hernan Crespo to lift a delicate shot over the onrushing Jerzy Dudek. Two sublime pieces of footballing skill and theatre had ensured the ball travelled 2/3rds of the length of the pitch in just two touches of the football, sealing a 3–0 half-time lead that John Aldridge would announce, on local radio, that the game was now officially “over”.
As you can imagine dear reader, I was not in the best of moods at the half-time break! “Buns” came sheepishly down the stairs with a hand rolled gift and asked me if the football was as bad as my long face signified. Resolutely, she had decided not to watch the final tonight as we weren’t on particularly good terms at the time and I think she feared the worst long before kick-off. We spent the half-time period in the kitchen, mostly silently, making teas and coffees for each other before she would depart back upstairs to the sanctuary and quiet of the bedroom. As she departed I requested two things at full-time (1) The biggest hand rolled gift she could possibly roll and (2) A ginormous hug because, well, I feared it would be 6–0 or 7–0.
Or worse.
GOAL! AC Milan 3 Liverpool 1 (Steven Gerrard 54 minutes)
In the 9 minutes that led up to Gerrard’s beautiful looping header from a John Arne Riise cross, that gave hope if nothing else that a comeback may be on, AC Milan were incredible. Djimi Traore made another horrendous error, Jerzy Dudek made a smart save from a thunderous free kick, and the Italians could and should have been completely and utterly out of sight and on their way to the 6–0 or 7–0 score line I feared. Instead, on 54 minutes Xabi Alonso fizzed a pass to John Arne Riise who twice attempted a cross, the second of which gave Gerrard and his Reds team a barely deserved goal. Retreating to the centre circle to re-start play, Gerrard the captain urges the massed ranks of Liverpool fans in every part of this spacecraft looking stadium in the middle of literally nowhere to give their all. He needs them.
The team needs them.
The five minutes of utter mayhem has begun!
GOAL! AC Milan 3 Liverpool 2 (Vladimir Smicer 56 minutes)
Often overlooked in the lead up to the second goal just 2 minutes later is the faintly ridiculous fact that arch professional and Brazilian footballing icon Kaka can be found adjusting his shin pads and socks rather than closing down a promising attacking move from a Reds team with the bit between their competitive teeth. Xabi Alonso is again involved. His simple pass is cycled to Vladimir Smicer from substitute Didi Hamann and the Czech International hits a swerving speculative shot from 25 yards (John Aldridge can be heard on commentary saying “hit it”) and Smicer duly obliges. Dida in the AC Milan goal gets his fingertips to the ball and should save it but doesn’t, and suddenly, and from absolutely nowhere, it’s game on.
GOAL! AC Milan 3 Liverpool 3 (Xabi Alonso 59 minutes)
It’s all Liverpool now and a real sense of the proverbial “now or never” brilliantly typified by Jamie Carragher. He would later cramp in both legs and limp around diving into challenges to take the final into a penalty shoot-out but way before this, and with Liverpool flowing with the momentum of the moment, he’s charging forward from his defensive position into a flying attacking winger! His incisive pass is instantly flicked into the direction of his marauding captain Steven Gerrard by Milan Baros and now in the penalty area and clear on goal, is dragged down cynically (and oh so very Italian!) by Gennaro Gattuso. It’s a penalty to Liverpool and Gattuso must be sent off, but isn’t even yellow carded, but within a spell of just 5 crazy minutes the Reds have a chance to level the final at 3–3 and there’s still half an hour to play!
Xabi Alonso’s penalty is saved by Dida but he rams home the rebound and the “Miracle of Istanbul” is about to be written.
Back at home, and with still that 30 minutes of normal playing time still to go, two things happened that I can’t account for and which still make me smile to this day. (1) The pre match nerves had drained away after going 3–0 down and I was as calm as a still river at half-time. 15 minutes into the second half and I was shaking like a leaf once more. (2) After Xabi Alonso slammed home that rebound to make the score 3–3, Buns came tearing down the stairs, naked as the day she was born, screaming
“IT’S 3 FUCKING 3!”
I’ll retain the pleasing memory of number 2 above until my dying day.
AC Milan dominated the two further periods of 30 minutes (normal and then extra-time) before the lottery of a penalty shoot-out yet again decided the fate of a European Cup Final. After the miraculous recovery from 3–0 down as well as being utterly outplayed, out-thought and thoroughly second best, it was immediately apparent after Jerzy Dudek saved the final penalty from Andriy Shevchenko that this result was written in the stars. Mere minutes earlier, and with just seconds left of extra-time, Dudek made a double save from Shevchenko that defies logic, physics and your very own lying eyes. The ball simply has to go in the Liverpool net, especially so the second chance, but the Polish goalkeeper somehow pulls off one of the saves of all time and simply nods afterward as though it was the easiest thing in the whole world!
It was that kind of night. Dudek saves the final penalty from Shevchenko, the Liverpool players rush in unison towards their unlikely hero, and unbelievably the immediately named “Miracle of Istanbul” is complete.
Furthermore, this is Liverpool’s 5th triumph in the European Cup and for that honour, they got to keep this particular original “Big Ears” trophy forever more. And, lest we forget, this is the fifth time the all Reds of Liverpool have won a European Cup against a team dressed in all white.
Anyone notice a pattern emerging?
15th May 2022
West Ham United 2 Manchester City 2
It’s the hope that kills you!
With the half-time score at the London Stadium 2–0 in favour of the home team “Hammers”, there was a glimmer of light that the loss needed to be inflicted upon Manchester City to enable the Reds any chance of winning the Premier League title, was to be today. Alas, a second half own goal added to an early half goal from Jack Grealish, and Manchester City even missed a late penalty that could’ve won the game! The 1 point leaves Manchester City 4 points clear at the top of the table and a healthily positive goal difference of +7 clear of the Reds.
Over to Liverpool.
17th May 2022
This evening, and just 3 days after their glorious FA Cup winning triumph in the sweltering Wembley Stadium sunshine, a much changed Liverpool strolled to as comprehensive a 2–1 victory can be in the south coast rain showers of Southampton. The Reds were imperious even in spite of the wholesale changes made by Jurgen Klopp, played the game almost exclusively in the Southampton half of the field and deservedly collected all 3 precious points.
The equation is now simple: Manchester City hold a 1 point lead at the summit of the Premier League with just Sunday’s final fixture of the season to go. The Blues also hold a goal difference of 6 over the Reds but I can’t see goal difference playing any part now. Manchester City win? They’re Champions. If they draw and Liverpool win, the title returns to Anfield.
The only aspect that’s changed is the now redundancy of the goal differential and should it come into play, if Manchester City lose to Aston Villa and Liverpool draw at home to Wolverhampton, then the team managed by the ex Liverpool duo Steven Gerrard and Gary McAllister will have to mastermind a ridiculously outlandish and heavy victory on the champions elect.
My match report, posted on 18th May 2022 is linked below, along with my usual half-time and full-time Twitter musings:
Southampton 1 Liverpool 2
Easy win on the south coast and the title dream is still alivemedium.com
Chapter Five
“If you can meet with triumph and disaster, and treat those two imposters just the same”
Football, like many sports, is full of irony, karma and mis-fortune, as well as that indefinable abstract quality of the razor thin line between triumph and disaster. Two years on from that footballing miracle in Turkey, the all Reds of Liverpool faced off once more with their all white foes from AC Milan. Both teams had traversed tricky passages to the 2007 final in Athens: Milan had impressively dumped out Celtic, Bayern Munich and Manchester United whilst Liverpool had famously beaten Barcelona before easing past PSV Eindhoven and then English foes Chelsea in a nerve shredding penalty shoot-out in the semi-final once more. Both teams were much changed too as well as keeping the spine of the team(s) that had faced each other 24 months prior. AC Milan had a wealth of additional Italian players now in the guise of Massimo Oddo, Massimo Ambrosini and the attacking threat of Filippo Inzaghi. For Liverpool, the changes were far more cosmopolitan and a real upping of the quality of the starting XI and a team that would threaten to finally challenge for the Premier League title back in England. In came Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina, Danish central defender Daniel Agger, midfield enforcer Javier Mascherano and two Dutch Internationals, Bolo Zenden and Dirk Kuyt. Two Englishmen would also heavily feature, Jermaine Pennant started the match, Peter Crouch did not, and should have done so.
Crouch’s omission (until a 78th minute substitution) wasn’t the reason for the Reds losing this European Cup Final. Until the award of an incredibly soft free-kick on the edge of the Liverpool penalty area, Jermain Pennant, Dirk Kuyt and Xabi Alonso were particularly effective for a Reds team that had utterly dominated the opening 44 minutes of the first half. If only they’d avoided the award of that soft free-kick and got to half-time with the score still level at 0–0, but sadly, they didn’t. Andrea Pirlo’s tame free-kick deflected off Filippo Inzaghi and past a stranded Pepe Reina in the Liverpool goal, leaving a dominant Reds controlling the final trailing 1–0 at half-time.
I remember a second half being far more even but Liverpool slightly edging the play and, if Steven Gerrard had taken his chance when one-on-one with AC Milan goalkeeper Dida, it could have been an entirely different outcome. Instead, the teams shared 2 goals in the final 8 minutes with first Filippo Inzaghi rounding an advancing Pepe Reina before slotting home the killer second goal on 82 minutes, and Dirk Kuyt raising last second hopes for those with a Liverpool Red heart. In an almost replica from 2 years ago, the team that had dominated and played the better, more attacking and fluid football had lost. Saturday’s Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti had finally won a European Cup Final against Liverpool and the spell of Liverpool always defeating their rivals if dressed in all white had been broken.
11 years later and now under the tutelage of German Jurgen Klopp, the Reds returned to a Champions League/European Cup Final with a team on the cusp of real greatness. Tonight’s opponents Real Madrid were their partners for a bizarre final in Kiev in 2018, and like the “revenge” often attributed to the AC Milan players of 2005/2007, there is a 4th May 2022 Mo Salah personal quote and noted air of revenge for Saturday, the reasons for which we’ll get to it in the later paragraph. Firstly, the Reds progressed through the group stage unbeaten, topping a group containing Sevilla of Spain, Spartak Moscow from Russia and Slovenian side Maribor. In the knock-out stages, the Reds scored 17 goals as they despatched FC Porto (5–0 on aggregate), Manchester City (5–1) and AS Roma (7–6). Klopp’s massively impressive team, although still in a rebuilding phase, included the attacking trio of Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, a midfield of Gini Wijnaldum, Jordan Henderson and James Milner and 3 of a back defensive 5 that were fast becoming stalwarts in the wonderful team being assembled by the loveable German in 2018. Virgil van Dijk was flanked at wing back by Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, but horrendous defensive failures would cost the Reds dear, as well as setting the “revenge” table for this years final.
Everyone’s favourite cartoon villain Sergio Ramos deliberately slammed Mo Salah to the Kiev turf on this (in)famous night in 2018 and it had the desired effect: with Salah injured and substituted, Liverpool didn’t have a Plan B without their talisman and red hot striker, and they crumbled without him. They say the truth shall set you free, and so with that in mind the ugly truth of this 2018 Champions League/European Cup Final is that the all whites or Los Blancos of Real Madrid, this Saturday’s opponents and, at the time of writing, within the gunsights of Mo Salah and ripe for revenge, thoroughly deserved their 3–1 win 4 years ago. The Reds were a pale shadow without Salah and whilst the game was 60/40 Real Madrid in the first half, the impending defeat was in the mail.
That the defeat was so sportingly horrific only magnifies the despair of losing the chance to hoist “Old Big Ears” aloft in triumph. Loris Karius, Liverpool’s German goalkeeper, was cruelly and horribly at fault for 2 of Los Blancos 3 goals and the other was a magnificent overhead kick from Welshman Gareth Bale, as well as being from another universe. Still the Reds equalised Karius’ opening error that gifted Karim Benzema the game’s first goal on 50 minutes with Sadio Mane’s close in volley just 4 minutes later, but 8 minutes later they trailed to Bale’s otherworldly wonder goal and they simply had no answer, even at just 2–1 down. A TV commentator described Bale’s second, Madrid’s 3rd, and the game’s final goal of a bizarre night, as a “howler”, and it was. Bale shot speculatively from over 30 yards out, the ball swerved mid flight but was still a regulation catch for a goalkeeper. Karius fluffed and fumbled it into his own net, and the jig was up.
In 2018, the all whites of Real Madrid had defeated the all reds of Liverpool, thus surely putting to bed the returning theme of Liverpool always playing and only winning European Cups against teams dressed in all white.
Or had it?
22nd May 2022
At half-time today things were looking increasingly expectant that the Reds would go on to lift the Premier League title, and with 20 minutes to go the expectancy was palpable. Liverpool were locked 1–1 with Wolves whilst Manchester City had just conceded another goal to Aston Villa and were 2–0 down at home, and on a day of expected coronation for the English Champions. The Reds of Liverpool needed a goal to snatch top spot, and with just 20 minutes of the entire season remaining.
The goal(s) came but they came after a burst of 3 goals in just over 5 minutes from the defending Champions and now English Premier League Champions again. Just 1 point and a handful of goals would separate the 2 English club football giants, and you can read my fuller breakdown of both of these games in the match report below:
Don’t dream it’s over
It’s Manchester City’s title, but the Reds head to Paris for the biggest club football final in the world.medium.com
Chapter Six
“It’s Liverpool’s night. Silverware is the currency of success in football. And Liverpool have just hit the Champions League jackpot”
I watched the finals of 2007 (angry) and 2018 (apathetic) alone, but a year later I had the pleasure of watching the all English final against Tottenham Hotspur with my “Brother Andy” as well as my entirely disinterested teenage son! Andy and I dragged my son to sit between us for the trophy lift (and Jordan Henderson’s dance) and whilst the two of us had tears in our eyes, there was one surly teenager who couldn’t have given a hoot if he had one to spare!
But we’ll get to that shortly.
2019 was the first all English final in 11 years, and both teams had experienced a wild ride before meeting in the magnificent Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. Tottenham squeaked past Inter Milan in the group stage before overpowering Borussia Dortmund in the first of the knock-out stages. Then came two consecutive two legged European cup ties for the ages. First, an all English affair with Manchester City they won on the away goals rule after a last minute Raheem Sterling winning goal for Manchester City was ruled out by VAR. If that wasn’t dramatic enough, they were effectively out of the competition until a last kick of the game from the boot of Lucas Moura, and fully 6 minutes into injury time, nestled in the Ajax net, and Tottenham had once again snatched victory from the jaws of defeat, winning again on the away goals rule, and progressing to the 2019 final.
The Reds of Liverpool lost a surprising 3 games out of 6 yet still progressed from the group stage in second place behind Paris St Germain. A famous 3–1 win in Munich was followed by a 6–1 aggregate demolition of FC Porto in the quarter-finals before they’d lose a game they were largely in control of in the first leg of the semi-final with Barcelona that would leave them needing yet another European miracle under the Anfield floodlights. A Lionel Messi inspired Barcelona left their Camp Nou home with a 3–0 first leg advantage with which to travel to Liverpool for the second leg, and 90 minutes of football largely seen as academic. The tie was over, surely? Step forward Divock Origi, a quickly taken corner, two goals from substitute Gini Wijnaldum and over 50,000 Reds in that famous old stadium who couldn’t believe their lying eyes. Again. But the truth shall set you free, and the inhabitants of that world famous old stadium had seen the truth: Barca buckled and went under from the pressure of the men dressed in Red, and the hordes screaming them to victory from the side lines. From 3–0 down and out of the competition, the all reds of Liverpool won 4–3 on aggregate, and would now face the all whites of Tottenham Hotspur in the final.
The final itself wasn’t a great spectacle but it had the most glorious of beginnings and ends. Barely reaching the end of the first minute of play and the Reds were awarded a penalty, and Mo Salah slammed home a penalty that gave him a modicum of revenge for a year earlier. And with just 3 minutes of the final remaining, a Liverpool corner reaches the calm decision making feet of Joel Matip who squares a simple pass into the path of Divock Origi. His beautiful and powerful cross shot beats Hugo Loris in the Tottenham goal, and thus the all reds of Liverpool have beaten the all whites of Tottenham Hotspur 2–0, securing their 6th European Cup/Champions League.
With 10 minutes to go, and the score still at a precarious 1–0, I wandered into the garden for a stress relieving smoke. Brother Andy followed soon after but barely a word was said. Resuming our seats, Origi scored that goal, we went wild with delight, and I believe my son is still shaking with the horror of seeing two grown men run around a room with sheer delight and tears in their eyes!
But the moment of the trophy lift, and him being by my side (if entirely disinterested), will be a selfish memory I’ll keep and treasure forever.
Now, how about that all red/all white conundrum, eh?
Chapter Seven
“Revenge is a dish best served cold”
Old Klingon proverb
So we have the all reds of Liverpool facing off once again with the all whites of Real Madrid. Here’s some pun intended final thoughts and thank you for reading:
(1) Completing these final thoughts on 27th May 2022, the rumours continue to circulate on the injury situation and fitness of Virgil van Dijk, Mo Salah, Fabinho and Thiago Alcantara, and all four players who would be guaranteed to be in Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI if fully fit. Thiago remains a serious concern, for me if no-one else!
(2) It’s the romantic final in the city of love. With a combined 19 European Cups/Champions Leagues between them (Real Madrid 13 — Liverpool 6), 5 final appearances and 5 separate team victories in the past decade alone, both Los Blancos and the Reds believe themselves to be European Royalty.
(3) Real Madrid have won their last 7 European Cup/Champions League finals. Their last defeat in a final? In 1981. In Paris. Against a famous team dressed all in Mighty Red.
(4) Revenge is already in the air. Mo Salah and his infamous and very deliberate exit from the 2018 final at the hands of Sergio Ramos still rankles, and rightly so. This particular writer thought it a tad too presumptuous of the Real Madrid players to cavort around at the final whistle of their semi-final victory with shirts proclaiming “14” as if they’d already won the final. I rather hope that display of irrational bravado comes back to bite them. Hard.
(5) If the 4 injury returnees all start, then Alisson Becker in goal makes 5, Andy Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Ibrahima Konate complete the defensive line with Virgil van Dijk and the attacking 3 picks itself with Mo Salah, Sadio Mane and Luis Diaz. It’s a record setting team for the ages.
(6) Being the armchair quarterback and mixing my sporting metaphors, Liverpool have to stop Toni Kroos and Luka Modric from playing and they certainly have to ensure that Vinicius Junior doesn’t “turn the team around” with his lightening pace. He may float from wing to wing and so Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have to have stellar defensive nights. Los Blancos biggest threat of course is striker Karim Benzema and I see Konate being the physical presence and van Dijk the sweeper behind to ensure he doesn’t continue his faintly ridiculous form in the competition this season.
(Lucky 7) Revenge for 2018? The All Reds versus the All Whites? European Royalty? Trophy dances?
Ghosts of Alan Kennedy?
I just hope the Reds have one last mighty and glorious performance in them in this, an already mighty and glorious season.