I’m on my way to Athens tomorrow for the Champions League final and I’ll be blogging throughout the 48-hour trip. For those of you who can’t be there I’ll try and give a feel of what it’s like at the stadium and around town, as thousands of fans converge on the city. If it’s anything like Istanbul two years ago it should be pretty spectacular.
Soccerlens predicts a “hard, grinding” match, much like the the FA Cup final by the sound of it, while Alberto Sithole at Sportingo seems convinced that Milan will win. What do you think we’re in for?
I’m hoping for another classic. I’ve been lucky enough to cover two of the most exciting European Cup finals in history for Reuters (Man Utd 2 Bayern Munich 1 in Barcelona in 1999 and Liverpool’s win over Milan in 2005). Having said that, I’ve also been there for one of the worst (Milan’s penalties victory over Juventus after a goalless draw in Manchester in 2003).
I’ll be with you as of mid-afternoon on Tuesday in Athens, provided my last-minute bucketshop plane ticket turns out to be valid. We’ll see…
Kevin Fylan, Berlin
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So we were all wrong: Jermaine Pennant is the surprise choice in a 4-5-1. Zenden on the left. Kewell on the bench.
- Posted by Kevin FylanOff catch my train to Liverpool now which is good cos I can bearly sit still.
Enjoy the game, sing your hearts out and lets all dream of number six.
- Posted by CarraristotleTo carry on Jim’s theme
7. Milan have only won half of their Champions league games this season and while Liverpool were in Barcalona dominating the favourites Milan were limping past Celtic.
This is not the dominant team most pundits seem to think they are. It’s all based on the demolition of Man United who had a defence I would have fancied my chances against.
- Posted by CarraristotleCarraristotle - such wisdom as befits your title.
Incidentally (re: Five Times) my brother, who for the purposes of this blog I will refer to as “Iphicles”, has adopted a pub in Tokyo to watch the match. It’s one of those terrible English themed places, but as he put it, it serves bitter and they’ve agreed to stay open all night - for kick off at 4.45am….
One of my colleagues honestly just said I’d better be careful not to text him the result then…LOL
- Posted by HerculesI’m struggling to understand why Milan are favourites for the game. The more I think about it the more convince I am that Liverpool should win.
1. Milan are an old side and there has to be a question mark over whether they, as a team, can perform over 90 minutes or longer, particlualry if it’s a hot sticky evening.
2. They have the mental scars of Istanbul to overcome.
3. Liverpool have beaten Barcelona and Chel$ki on the way to the final - the two pre tournament favourites.
4. Milan haven’t exactly had a a rip-roaring season. They’ve only won 19 of 37 league games and even without their 8 point deduction would still be 25 points behind leaders Inter.
5. Without wantiing to put the mockers on Reina, Dida is a dodgy keeper.
6. Liverpool will have overwhelming support in the stadium.
The only downside is the referee…. their record with the 43-year-old officiating reads played three, won none, lost two, goals zero. By contrast, each of the five Milan games he has refereed ended in wins for the Rossoneri, with only one goal conceded.
- Posted by JimAs Liverpool tend to mark zones rather than individual players I think Mascherano will be there to break up the attack of however comes through the middle. This is good as most Milan attacks tend to come through the middle rather than having wide attacking players.
- Posted by CarraristotleIt’s funny how many fans have ‘Mascherano’ on the backs of their shirts. He’s only outranked by Gerrard on that score, from what I can see. It’s an interesting point about him keeping Pirlo quiet. I wonder if he’ll be asked to do that again, or if Rafa will tell him to look after Kaka.
- Posted by Kevin FylanI’ll be watching it at a pub in town, which has been adopted as an unofficial liverpool fans pub.
Its also the same pub where almost a hundred Liverpool fans went crazy on that eventful night in 2005.
Lots of singing, lots of drinks, it’ll be a mini-kop on the other side of the world from the real kop.
YNWA!
- Posted by Five Times