- Mar 27, 2006
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I’ve got the tingles reading that mate. Couldn’t have put it better myself.Gotta admit I had the same feeling as you, re believing it was practically written in the stars for us to win that CL. As you said, we were pretty much out of it so many times. What was it, 3 games or so in the group phase & we were written off, no chance of going beyond the group, especially with the last game being away to the mighty Barcelona. Yet, somehow we bloody well did it.
Then there was the City match. We were supposedly done for as soon as the star revealed them as our opponents. And that's exactly how it looked, only for VAR to come to our aid to disallow (Sterling's?) goal. Bloody hell. On we went!
Then Ajax, well, losing the first leg at home. Can still clearly remember tuning in for the second leg, hearing Bob Marleys "Three Little Birds" blasting out in the stadium.
2 first half goals for Ajax leaving is without a chance in hell of beating them. 3-0, game over, right?
Hell no!
Cheeky little Lucas went and scored within 10 minutes of the restart. But still, no chance. Right?
Shit, 4 minutes later, the cheeky little bastard goes and gets us a second.
Still, half an hour left, surely it's too tall of an order to get that 3rd goal? 90 minutes comes & that's it, we're done for, right?
Clock ticking, into time added on, the ref is surely going to blow for full time.
Oh well, you know what? Maybe the stars weren't aligning for us after-all. We went there and gave it our best shot. At least we went down fighting.
And then, 90+6. Ref with whistle poised in his mouth BUT up pops little Lucas to somehow find the bottom corner. Cue absolute scenes. The players, the supporters, the guys in the studio. All going absolutely mental. Ferdinand screaming his head off, only pausing to check that Hoddle is OK & not having another heart attack. Jenas fighting back the tears. Unbelievable!
No way fate wasn't on our side now, surely? We had been out of that competition about 4 times, yet, somehow we're in the bloody final. Our name must be on the cup after such a run!
Then, as you said. After just 1 minute, we knew. The stars weren't aligned in our favour, the dream was over. Absolutely gutting in every way.
But, do you know what mate? Even just typing all of this out has made me realise that we were actually very lucky to be part of such an unbelievable journey. As heartbreaking as that final was, the route to it will remain with us until our last breath.
As much as we hope to become a European success once again in the future, there's also the chance that it may not come in our lifetime. So let's just ignore the sadness of the shitty final and, instead, embrace the truly remarkable journey that got us there.
Why? Well, because our club rose up & we actually dared to dream. And how often can we honestly say we've experienced that in recent history?
It's a fucking huge COYS from me!