That was the best sport I have ever seen.
On a purely footballing level, it was exceptional. The two best teams in world football of the past three or four years (certainly since Ancelotti's team lost their legs and Rijkaard let Barca descend into a guapa circus) each played the best football I have seen this year. I've grown rather weary (although never bored) of seeing United thump poor Premier League teams. Against Barcelona they did enough but no more. This evening they combined the two: scintillating football against serious opposition.
Chelsea were the perfect match. Combining the long ball with the short, characteristic grit with all too rarely seen grace, they grew into the game over the two hours. Increasingly sharp, but still on the back foot when Lampard scored, they dominated the second half of normal time. In extra time the famous Chelsea fitness showed and they threatened to kill with every attack. The Cole brothers were awesome: Ashley out Evra-ed Evra, Joe out-Scholesed Scholes.
Deep inside every City fan is a core of bitterness. Some show it more than others. I would never sing 'Who's that dying on the runway?', but I do have that intuitive distaste for Manchester United shared by all City supporters. I've mellowed, and cut it down as I've grown up: the semi-final defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in 2002 left me as happy as I ever was as a thirteen year old. The part of everyone that is reserved for the purely tribal, the adversarial, the nostrism, is realised in flashes of glee when United lose. But I can't get past the fact that they deserved it. Chelsea may have scraped the better of the play this evening (yes more shots, but also less possession and fewer passes), but this is a remarkable United team. I know it's not a fair comparison, but I'm sure they would thump the 1999 team. And in that sense I'm pleased for football that it wasn't a domestic also-ran; Liverpool, Milan or even Barcelona who won the Champions' League. It is a competition for the best in Europe, after all.
More writing will follow more reflection.
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