The early final whistle in Athens yesterday just gave me a feeling of acceptance of what was happening before my eyes, as much as it was hard and sour to the throat to swallow. But as much as I felt choked with disappointment, the pride deep down of belonging to a family called Liverpool F.C. consolidated by a certain Bill Shankly since the late fifties came to the fore.
The exuberance felt three weeks ago after Dirk Kuyt's succesful penalty, yesterday was twinned by dignity. Liverpool F.C. has always transcended boundaries, hopes and imagination of its faithful and yesterday on football's biggest day got out another emotion off its members.
The build-up to yesterday was tainted by the priority order as seen by Michel Platini and co of how to distribute the tickets and then followed by the same procedure adopted by Rick Parry, where the ordinary fan who creates extraordinary nights was looked down at. As the countdown drew closer though, everybody put his deifferences to a side and commited himself to support the cause. I myself had so many different feelings knowing that we will be facing AC Milan, just two years after that epic final. I felt that revenge would spur their lads too much and we would be like the proverbial lambs going to the slaughter. The knowledge of having ousted Barcelona and Chelsea on the way eased my fears and convinced myself that the sixth one is really there for the taking.
Still, for the first forty minutes or so yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by the display the Reds were given. I wouldn't go as far as saying the lads just bossed the match but I have got no hesitation to say that Liverpool were defenitely the better side, created chances and the enormity of the occassion did not put any shackles on the lads' legs. In the midfield, Javier Mascherano was absolutely brilliant shackling Kaka, Xabi Alonso had his moments - a very decent shot at Dida's goal, the usual infiltrating passes and was getting the ball out of defence with elegance and class. Jermaine Pennant looked lively, very willing to take on players and intercepting loose passes, had Liverpool's first shot at goal and with a bigger target upfront his crosses would not have been wasted. Bolo Zenden, whilst being at the thick of the action never proved inspirational and was below his Chelsea performance. Steven Gerrard whilst not controlling the midfield as much as he liked mostly due to the position he was assigned was always there, being the captain and thrusting forward to hurt them.
Their first goal gave a true meaning of a sucker punch, whilst its lucky execution taking the form of a punch below the belt. In the second half, Liverpool had their chances but Dida was never asked to be heroic. Rafael Benitez, then gambled by taking Javier Mascherano off for Peter Crouch. Whilst taking Javier Mascherano, Kaka's shackles were removed in the process too and one pass to Filippo Inzaghi gave Liverpool a mountain to climb in less than ten minutes. Liverpool made some distance in those ten minutes but eventually the summit proved out of reach.
AC Milan got their revenge but the memories of Istanbul never got tainted. Whilst feeling dejected, our dignity at a dashed dream shines on and makes us look forward for what should be a busy Summer. The contract extensions to Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher without any circus surrounding them will be the best possible start to this Summer.
The exuberance felt three weeks ago after Dirk Kuyt's succesful penalty, yesterday was twinned by dignity. Liverpool F.C. has always transcended boundaries, hopes and imagination of its faithful and yesterday on football's biggest day got out another emotion off its members.
The build-up to yesterday was tainted by the priority order as seen by Michel Platini and co of how to distribute the tickets and then followed by the same procedure adopted by Rick Parry, where the ordinary fan who creates extraordinary nights was looked down at. As the countdown drew closer though, everybody put his deifferences to a side and commited himself to support the cause. I myself had so many different feelings knowing that we will be facing AC Milan, just two years after that epic final. I felt that revenge would spur their lads too much and we would be like the proverbial lambs going to the slaughter. The knowledge of having ousted Barcelona and Chelsea on the way eased my fears and convinced myself that the sixth one is really there for the taking.
Still, for the first forty minutes or so yesterday I was pleasantly surprised by the display the Reds were given. I wouldn't go as far as saying the lads just bossed the match but I have got no hesitation to say that Liverpool were defenitely the better side, created chances and the enormity of the occassion did not put any shackles on the lads' legs. In the midfield, Javier Mascherano was absolutely brilliant shackling Kaka, Xabi Alonso had his moments - a very decent shot at Dida's goal, the usual infiltrating passes and was getting the ball out of defence with elegance and class. Jermaine Pennant looked lively, very willing to take on players and intercepting loose passes, had Liverpool's first shot at goal and with a bigger target upfront his crosses would not have been wasted. Bolo Zenden, whilst being at the thick of the action never proved inspirational and was below his Chelsea performance. Steven Gerrard whilst not controlling the midfield as much as he liked mostly due to the position he was assigned was always there, being the captain and thrusting forward to hurt them.
Their first goal gave a true meaning of a sucker punch, whilst its lucky execution taking the form of a punch below the belt. In the second half, Liverpool had their chances but Dida was never asked to be heroic. Rafael Benitez, then gambled by taking Javier Mascherano off for Peter Crouch. Whilst taking Javier Mascherano, Kaka's shackles were removed in the process too and one pass to Filippo Inzaghi gave Liverpool a mountain to climb in less than ten minutes. Liverpool made some distance in those ten minutes but eventually the summit proved out of reach.
AC Milan got their revenge but the memories of Istanbul never got tainted. Whilst feeling dejected, our dignity at a dashed dream shines on and makes us look forward for what should be a busy Summer. The contract extensions to Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher without any circus surrounding them will be the best possible start to this Summer.
posted by jean paul at 11:32 am
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home