My life is measured out in European Cup Finals.
I bunked off school to see Milan beat Benfica at Wembley.
I watched Barcelona and Sampdoria train at Wembley the night before the game.
And Rob Hughes drove me to Old Trafford to see two Italian clubs play each other. Milan and Juventus knew each other far too well and it went to extra time and penalties. Shevchenko scored the winning penalty. As a huge Sheva fan, I was delighted to see that.
So I’ve only attended three finals.
The others I’ve seen on TV. And I’ve blogged a few of those.
Milito and Olic score the goals but are not big stars.
Both are grafters who often score the winner in a tight game.
INTER v BAYERN MUNICH is an Italian club with a Portuguese coach against a German club with a Dutch coach.
It will be a tight low-scoring game but I’m looking forward to it. It won’t be a classic, can’t be a classic, but I’m really up for it.
It’s at the Bernabeu and Arjen Robben and Wesley Scheijder are last year’s Real Madrid rejects. One of them will become a European champion on the pitch where they played their club football last season.
Can Bayern beat the mighty Inter? Yes. Will they win? I don’t know. Both clubs have just won a domestic double. Inter have better players but Bayern may have more bottle in a one-off game. Mourinho knows how to organise and nullify. Van Gaal knows how to organise and nullify.
Both teams are tightly structured and make very few mistakes and a lot will depend on who handles the event better. Temperament will be very,very important. I fancy Julio Caesar as a keeper who can make the save that wins the game. But I’ll be surprised if Julio Cesar has much to do.
My rule-of-thumb in big games is : when in doubt , go for the team with the better goalkeeper. The most important player in a football team is the goalkeeper. I’ve always believed that.
Balotelli played a storming game for Inter when they won 1-0 at Siena, who were already relegated. Both teams went for it and it was that rare thing, a Serie A game played at Premier League tempo. Diego Milito scored the vital goal.
Balotelli will not start. But he may have a part to play. If he comes on, watch him closely.
He’s the kind of big, athletic, spectacular player who would ignite the sleeping upper tier at the Emirates. He wants to escape the racism of Italian supporters.
Arsenal’s final was in Paris four years ago.
I wrote some pieces on the biggest final in Arsenal’s history, including :
Preliminary thoughts on Paris and Barcelona
Arsenal’s dramatic final in Paris
18 minutes of a fantastic European Cup Final
Arsenal would have beaten Barcelona 3-1.
For some unfathomable technical reason, I can’t link to those last two…..