A Match to Remember

It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen a football match. So I guess I’ll try and claim a little vicarious satisfaction out of this post. These days, most critics and so-called pundits seem eager to sound the death knell for entertaining football as we know it. With football becoming a market by itself with the players and merchandise on sale these critics are only too keen to pronounce that football has finally lost its sheen. But once in a while a game comes along that serves to prove them wrong and redeem the beautiful game that is football. The Champions League final of 2005 between Liverpool FC and AC Milan was one such match.

I was at home then. Unfortunately the match was being broadcast only on the paid channels. So we decided to watch it at ‘The Cellar’ at Radisson SAS. The four of us Viju, Chirag, Vivek Thomas and myself arrived well before time. The place was packed and a Filippino band was playing some obscure pop songs, mostly dance numbers. The music wasn’t all that great, but they finally made up for it with a beautiful rendition of Hotel California, complete with the superlative guitar solo at the end. Of course the fact that they had a cute female on the vocals came as some solace. We were soon joined by Rohit Sumanth and his brother Rahul, Monisha, Abhishek and Mohit, none of whom I guess were all that crazy about football.

To get back to the topic, the game finally began at about 10.30 pm. It was billed to be a lackluster affair, the two teams replete with world-class defenders. But then, with likes of Shevchenko, Kaka and Milan Baros playing there was some hope for the lovers of good attacking football. The game kicked off and who could’ve asked for a better start. With only about 30 seconds of play Milan went ahead, the goal coming from the most unlikely of sources, their captain and stellar defender, Paolo Maldini. Milan kept up the tempo throughout the first half, very unbecoming of an Italian team, and by half-time deservedly gained a three goal lead, thanks to two good finishes from their Argentine forward, Hernan Crespo, ironically on loan from Chelsea, Liverpool’s perennial Premiership rivals.

At that point I remember Chirag telling me that he felt the final score-line would read 3-2. Liverpool, according to him was too good a team to be written off that easily. I could only laugh at him and state my feeling that the score-line could only widen in the second half, if the veritable difference in class was any testimony.

But then the second half started and it was pretty evident that Rafa Benitez had done his job in the break, for Liverpool was now surging forward with a spring in their step. Within the space of six minutes they pegged their way back to 3-3. First it was a headed goal from their captain and playmaker Gerrard. Then a fantastic strike from the Czech midfielder, Vladmir Smicer. Then came a controversial penalty which was converted by Alonso, after the ball rebounded from the hands of goal-keeper Dida. Those six minutes were probably one of the games most telling spells, akin to Manchester Uniteds two minute spell against Bayern in the 1999-2000 Champions League final. But then the goals were going to stop there, for Liverpool was quite content to sit back and soak the pressure for the rest of the game. Milan, on their part could not make that incisive run to break apart the Liverpool defence and the game moved into extra-time. Here Milan had most of the chances but the writing was pretty much on the wall. When a world-class striker like Shevchenko misses a straightforward chance then it’s pretty obvious that fate isn’t on Milan’s side. The game drew to a close with the two teams still deadlocked at 3-3.

I for one am not of the opinion that a good game of football should finally be decided on a game of chance more than anything else. But then a penalty shootout is probably the only reasonable way to bring the proceedings to a decisive end. In the ensuing shootout three Milan players including the talismanic Shevchenko missed their spot kicks and Liverpool were crowned champions of Europe for the fifth time. The unlikely hero on that night was their Polish keeper Jerzy Dudek.

A game to redeem all games, a match to silence the critics, a match to remember for eternity; All these, except of course if you were a fan of the AC Milan football club. It was about 1.30 pm when we started back home. The Cellar, unfortunately, wasn’t a no-smoking bar and was filled with a perpetual cloud of cigarette smoke. Coming out, I was absolutely and completely reeking of smoke. Not wanting to confront my dad in the dead of the night in that state, I convinced Viju to stop the car at a 24 hr outlet and bought a can of deo, which I amply used on myself. That, I guess proved to be as decisive as Rafa Beintez’s half time talk for my dad never seemed to notice anything strange. Or maybe he did and never mentioned it. Anyway, I was too tired to worry about it and almost immediately hit the sack.