Thursday, May 26, 2005

Liverpool are European champions!

Well applied for a couple of jobs today and managed to get some beer bottled too. Fairly constructive day, went into town and got some sterilising stuff for the beer bottling. Also bought the new Magic Numbers single, which is fantastic and the b-side isn't bad either. Had lunch in the blue moon cafe with helen and mentioned I'd be watching the Liverpool match in the evening, she asked if I was a Liverpool fan, and looked quite puzzled when I said I wasn't. So I tried to explain that it was a really important match and it's great to have an English team in the final.

So I settle down to watch the match, and it couldn't be a worse start for Liverpool, conceding a goal in 50 seconds due to some terrible defending at set pieces. In fact the defence is shocking throughout the first half and AC Milan carve open opportunities with ease and at 3-0 down Liverpool look completely out of the competition. I muse that Chelsea would have faired much better, but then comes the second half and Steven Gerrard is an inspiration. He lives and breathes Liverpool FC and when he scored a goal to make it 3-1, he didn't celebrate like a player scoring a consolation goal but rather implored the crowd to get behind the team and fired up the team to start an onslaught on the Milan goal. Unbelievably 5 minutes later and the score is equal, AC Milan looked shell shocked and from that point the match became a little more edgy as both teams didn't want to concede a goal to loose the match. So it went to penalties and the Liverpool guys kept their nerve, whilst Dudek gave a Grobelaar-esque performance. An amazing way to win the championship and from a team I have never fancied to win the competition throughout it's entirity! I thought of my friend John, who is a big reds fan, and sent him a text. I received a reply from Turkey - he was at the match! What an experience -he'll never forget that.

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