Six minutes of madness stand out in 2005

[Nebraska Red]

Yahoo

 

Sat 24 Dec, 1:16 AM

 

 

 

LONDON (Reuters) - Every so often the unrelenting commercial forces of modern-day football are blown away by events in a match which have nothing to do with the boardroom but everything to do with fantasies nurtured in the playground.

 

On May 25 in Istanbul, Liverpool and AC Milan produced a magical, momentous Champions League final that turned the dreams -- and nightmares -- of tens of thousands of fans into reality while totally defying logic to become the most outstanding and memorable football occasion of the year.

 

 

"We lost it in six minutes of madness," Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti famously said after Milan, 3-0 up at halftime and in total control, conceded three goals in six minutes early in the second half as Liverpool forced a 3-3 draw before winning 3-2 on penalties.

 

It was a fitting 50th European Cup final and the most dramatic finale to a European club season since Manchester United beat Bayern Munich 2-1 in injury time to win the Champions League in 1999.

 

Liverpool's victory, albeit won under Spanish coach Rafael Benitez and with only two English players in the side, represented a huge success for English soccer which is increasingly in danger of losing its national identity.

 

Billionaire American tycoon Malcolm Glazer and family took control of Manchester United and immediately saddled the club with hundreds of millions of pounds of debt as part of their purchasing strategy.

 

Angry fans reacted by forming a breakaway club which has started life in a minor league, but because most major English clubs are listed on the Stock Exchange and so, theoretically at least, permanently up for sale to the highest bidder, football in the birthplace of the game remains a volatile mix of sport, business and culture.

 

Another billionaire, Russian Roman Abramovich had a year to remember as Chelsea won the English League title for the first time for 50 years.

 

He also, somewhat less publicly, celebrated the success of CSKA Moscow when they became the first Russian side to win a European trophy, lifting the UEFA Cup with a 3-1 win over Sporting Lisbon in May.

 

EUROPEAN INQUIRY

 

Abramovich's links with CSKA through one of his former companies were regarded as significant enough for UEFA to investigate them, and illustrate yet again how the sport is changing.

 

An inquiry has been established by the European Union, with the support of FIFA and UEFA, to examine how football is run in Europe, taking a close look at some of its more unsavoury aspects.

 

Multi-club ownership, match-fixing, illegal gambling, money-laundering, growing racism, continuing hooliganism, the influence of agents and the growing demands of some of Europe's richer and more ambitious clubs, are all taxing the game's rulers -- but whether anything will change is doubtful.

 

China's young Super League faced collapse unless match-fixing and other scandals were tackled, Asian Football Confederation (AFC) chief Peter Velappan warned in May.

 

FIFA president Sepp Blatter has a favourite saying that football must retain its human face and mistakes are part of the game but, with the World Cup finals in Germany next June fast approaching, FIFA have missed a chance to help rid the game of some of those mistakes.

 

An experimental system using microchip software to help determine whether the ball had crossed the line fully for a goal was used at the Under-17 world championships in Peru in September, but plans to use it at the World Cup have been shelved.

 

Instead, as ever, decisions will be left to linesmen and referees, who proved once again that they are just as fallible as everyone else.

 

Referee Robert Hoyzer was jailed for more than two years after accepting money to influence the outcome of matches in Germany's biggest football scandal for three decades.

 

He will now be watching the finals behind bars as the world turns its attention to Germany and sees how Trinidad & Tobago, Angola, Ivory Coast, Ghana, Togo and Ukraine -- who all reached the World Cup for the first time -- fare against the giants of the game.

 

GOALKEEPER MURDERED

 

One former giant of the world game sadly will not be around to see the finals though, as George Best, the greatest player to come out of the British Isles, died in November aged 59 after years of alcohol abuse.

 

Benin's 18-year-old goalkeeper Samiou Yessoufou was murdered after his team lost to Nigeria in the African Youth championships in January and Utrecht defender David Di Tommaso died in his sleep aged 26 last month.

 

Former African Player of the Year George Weah ran for president of Liberia and only just failed to bring off a victory.

 

On the pitch in Africa, Egypt's Al Ahly went 55 matches without losing, one of the longest unbeaten runs of all time until Saudi Arabia's Al Ittihad defeated them 1-0 in the opening match of the FIFA Club World Championship on Sunday.

 

In South America, Brazil returned to their imperious best, going into the hat for the World Cup draw last Friday as world champions, Copa America champions, Confederations Cup champions and hot favourites to win a record sixth world title next year.

 

They finished top of the two-year, 10-team, 18-match World Cup qualifying marathon on goal difference from Argentina in October.

 

Sao Paulo were crowned continental champions with victory in an all-Brazilian Libertadores Cup final against Atletico Paranaense in July, qualifying for the club world championship in Japan.

 

The outstanding individual feat, however, belonged to Argentine forward Carlos Tevez who inspired Corinthians to the Brazilian championship title in December in a tough environment for an Argentine given the football rivalry between the two countries.

[Siang]

that 6 mins will no doubt be lifelong storytelling scene...

 

but for me 2004-2005 season, many memorable moments stand out for LFC...

 

Mellors' goal v Arsenal at Anfield...

 

An Anfield steward giving Rafa a bear hug after the Olympiakos game or was it the Arsenal game...

 

the Anfield crowd from the CL q-finals onwards..

 

the TV scene showing 20k plus koppites, arms raised together with their scarfs etc singing a loud and hollowed YNWA during half-time in Istanbul..

 

Carra going mad after Dudek saved from Shevchenko...

[owenthomas]

"Liverpool's victory, albeit won under Spanish coach Rafael Benitez and with only two English players in the side, represented a huge success for English soccer which is increasingly in danger of losing its national identity"

 

i don't understand that part - everyone who took part in that night are fookin' Scousers!

Posts merged:

Siang - while i understand there were plenty of memorable moments last season, such as you mention, there surely is nothing - and i mean NOTHING - that comes close to what you must have felt during those 6 minutes?! SURELY TO GOD!? i near had a bleedin' heart attack!

[Paul B]

"Liverpool's victory, albeit won under Spanish coach Rafael Benitez and with only two English players in the side, represented a huge success for English soccer which is increasingly in danger of losing its national identity"

 

i don't understand that part - everyone who took part in that night are fookin' Scousers!

Posts merged:

Siang - while i understand there were plenty of memorable moments last season, such as you mention, there surely is nothing - and i mean NOTHING - that comes close to what you must have felt during those 6 minutes?! SURELY TO GOD!? i near had a bleedin' heart attack!

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Well Deitmar Hamman, who is, in a very real sense, German, may disagree.

 

But I know watchermean.

[RP]

I spent about 2 minutes out of those 6 in the bogs having a p***.

 

I suppose it was the most memorable p*** of my life though.