Oh to be in Rome….or maybe not

I can’t wait to watch the mighty Man Utd take on beautiful Barca tomorrow night in the Champions League final. It’s a little sad for a man of 56 but there you go. Some pleasures stay with you for life I guess.

The first thing to admit is that we’ve got the Final that most football fans would have wanted to see. Whilst there was some sense of pride in seeing three Premiership teams in the last four again, I don’t think the world would have welcomed a repeat of last year’s Man U v Chelsea final – even though Chelsea can consider themselves serious unlucky to be on the receiving end of the most hapless refereeing performance I’ve seen at this level of the game. Fact is the Blues had their chances to win the tie from open play and never took them. Barca took their one; life’s a bitch. We had to endure a dour Arsenal v Barcelona final only recently and another wouldn’t have been any fun. Arsenal v Chelsea was played out in the League following the semis and it was hardly a contest. No, Man U didn’t just outplay Arsenal they outthought and outfought them in a crushing performance and they are rightfully in the final as this country’s best side. And the side in my view with the best chance of simply outgunning the best other team in the whole of Europe.

Sadly I shan’t be there.

It’s a little ironic as we have a home in Italy but we are back here in the UK at the moment chasing work and a sponsorship evaluation project has come through which needs my full focus.
It’s a great opportunity – what do you do?

Last year it simply wasn’t feasible to traipse over to Moscow. When Man U played Bayern in ’99 a good friend had tickets sourced etc but it needed a three day visit to attend the match and I couldn’t afford that time away from The Rugby World Cup project I was managing for BT ...

Back in ‘67 I watched the glorious victory over Benfica on the TV at home with my dad, who as a closet City fan, spent most of the match moaning about George’s long hair and selfish attitude on the pitch. Even though that was the greatest hairstyle any guy has ever sported and what about that goal dad?

Ah well.

I’m never destined to watch my team perform live in this Final I guess. But whenever I don’t attend, it seems they seem to do pretty well without me. So tomorrow I’ll be watching alongside my football-mad seven year-old grandson, who I’m proud to say is a total Man U/Ronaldo fan (Brighton section) and Gooner supporting son-in-law, probably commenting on Puyol’s ridiculous hairstyle (even if he doesn’t play). Just when did I transform into my father?
Probably when I lost all my own hair.

I hope I’ve not tempting fate but I‘m looking for Man U to win a thriller without my presence yet again. Berbatov to come off the bench to clinch the last minute winner. Tragic hairstyle though.

Paul Leonard

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More stream of consciousness nonsense at www.pastapaulie.wordpress.com

The Semi Final Shoot Out...by Geordan Murphy

Sunday’s game was really tough but a great experience. With time to reflect I can truthfully say that no one would want to win or lose that way - but I really feel we deserved the result.

Being the team captain was slightly surreal. I have been at Leicester for 12 seasons and never expected to skipper the side. It was undoubtedly an honour and what’s more, I really enjoyed it. That said, as captain, I felt I had little to do except try to say the right things at the right time. Our side is an interesting mix of players; many have a lot of experience, so they didn’t need a great deal from me and our youngsters are confident – and justifiably so – which made my job relatively easy. I just didn’t expect us to be on the pitch quite as long as we were.

I still can’t quite believe how Sunday’s match turned out and having spoken to friends and relatives after the game, neither can they. Taking part in a shoot out was odd but even odder was how we all felt afterwards. Everyone seemed bewildered. It was strange. When any match is decided by shoot outs you always feel the outcome could have gone either way and I genuinely feel sorry for Cardiff - but that said, had they won I would have felt robbed. The atmosphere on the coach home was different too. The trip back to Leicester was over 3 hours and usually under those circumstances you would expect to have a team beer back on home turf, however, despite the joy of winning, everyone headed straight home. Our focus just moved to the match this weekend and all the preparation we have to do – and the training schedule we knew faced us…