lookupsport

Well it’s an old cliche to say it but the final really was a “game of 2 halves” not to mention extra time and penalties of course.

Manchester United dominated the first half with 60% of the possession and should have had the game wrapped up with Tevez missing two good chances.  However, failing to do so let Chelsea back in and when they went in at 1-1 the momentum had swung to Chelsea.

Now, I was neutral but having had a feeling that Chelsea would win it 2-1, and that Ronaldo would score first I made the mistake of putting £10 on it at 85/1.  Once Ronaldo had scored first, I was no longer neutral and when Chelsea came out firing on all cylinders in the second half, I was just praying that they would only score the one and make me a nice £850.

Unfortunately despite all the pressure, the closest they came was when Drogba and the Lampard hit the woodwork. So I was actually only a matter of inches away from glory - something my girlfriend has said before now…

Once it got to penalties I commented that it would be an Englishman who missed but I wa delirious when Ronaldo missed - by this stage any thought of winning money had disappeared and I was once again neutral, but it was a sweet moment to see the Ferret Faced Diver miss trying his stop start routine - it seemed that with Cech holding his nerve and not committing himself early that Ronaldo suddenly wasn’t sure where to place it.

So that set it up for Captain Fantastic but unfortunately my prediction prior to the start was true and he slipped and missed - for a man who is Chelsea through and through, I suspect it will take years of counselling to get over that.  A shame as he kept his club in it, with an outstanding first half display.

So Manchester United are once again European Champions, and overall probably deserve to be.  One final question though!  Why no victory parade?  Once again the establishment has given in to the mindless minority and following the UEFA Cup last week have deemed it too risky.

Couple of points to make here.

Firstly, it is a completely different situation with a whole city (at least the Red half) wanting to pay tribute to their team as they have done before over the years without any trouble.

Secondly, if we continue to legislate and ban things every time something goes wrong, no matter how small or how unlikely the chance of it happening again, it won’t be long before we will all have to stay at home wrapped up in cotton wool.  Adults should be treated as such and are capabale of weighing up the risk of their actions, whether its how much they drink, what they eat or how they want to support their ladder when cleaning windows.  Stop with the rules and regulations and let people make their own decisions. You cannot legislate for absolutely everything and accidents will happen even if you try and do so - although at least it does generate lots of jobs for civil servants of course!
There you have it - little bit of politics in a sports blog.  Whatever next.  I’m off  to rant about something else and have a great bank holiday weekend binge drinking, climbing ladders and mowing the lawn without the aid of a safety net.