#7 UEFA Champions League Final: May 21, 2008: Manchester United vs Chelsea: Moscow
Soccer in the top ten? That’s un-American. Well to be fair, I wasn’t in America at the time.
I have always loosely followed Soccer, noting who played in the championship games but that’s about it. I do enjoy World Cup or Euro Cup games, mainly when two countries play each other. But I was over in Europe for a month and everywhere I went I heard about soccer. So a big group of us decided we were going to watch it in a bar and take in the atmosphere.
We were in Florence at the time and were lucky enough to find an English-speaking bar. I know you might say well, they speak English that hardly counts as getting the atmosphere, but the two teams featured in the game were from England so we knew plenty of English people would be descending on the bar.
We got to the bar roughly an hour before the game started; the bar was a two level bar with 3 big projectors broadcasting the game. The entire bottom section was reserved so we staked out some seats on the second level of the bar and quickly ordered a tower of Heineken (roughly 5 liters). By 10 minutes until kickoff there were barely any spaces left.
So the game featured Manchester United Red Devils and Chelsea Blues. These two teams just finished 1 and 2 in the English Premier League. Going into the game I knew who Christian Ronaldo was, one of the top 3 players on the planet, and the goalie was the German national goal keeper. So as you can tell I didn’t know much.
In Moscow it was pouring rain but that didn’t put a damper on all the cool pre-game festivities and traditions of soccer. The game got under way and you could feel the intensity of the game in the bar. The bar was probably about ¾ for Man U. Most of my group and I were in this majority.
Early on in the game, there was a nice pass into the box in which Ronaldo headed in for the first score and the bar erupted. Man U held onto the lead for roughly 20 minutes until Chelsea tied it up. The rest of the game remained tied at 1-1 with each goalie making some fantastic saves in big moments.
The game headed into overtime. They didn’t explain the OT rules on the TV so we weren’t sure how long the extra period would last or if it was sudden death. This just added to the anticipation and excitement as we didn’t know if the game could end at any moment. As this tension kept building the OT ended at the 30 minute mark and all was left was a shootout.
So the Red Devils were allowed to shoot first and each team traded goals their first two attempts. Then Ronaldo stepped up, and as I previously said he is one of the top 3 players in the world. So what happens? He misses. Both teams then go on to hit their next two attempts each. Chelsea now has John Terry, team captain, steps in to attempt their 5th and final shot, they hit this goal and they win the UFEA cup. MISS!!!! Man U is still alive!
Man U steps up, and hits their shot. Chelsea matches. Man U hits again. Chelsea needs this goal to tie, and the German goalie Van der Sar SAVES the shot and wins the title for Manchester United!!! The bar goes nuts!!! I am high fiving and hugging people I don’t even know and can’t understand a word they are saying anyways.
After hanging out in the bar for awhile longer watching and enjoying the celebration, we made our way to the streets where people everywhere are just as ecstatic as we were in the bar.
I now follow soccer a lot more regularly after this experience. I tried to watch as much Euro Cup as I could. Obviously with the time difference and the fact that I work it made it hard to watch. I still try and catch scores and games when I can; I just truly enjoy soccer more now.
If you ever get a chance to watch soccer in Europe I highly recommend it. I hear what I saw is nothing compared to World or Euro Cup where countries play against each other, but this was still an experience of a lifetime.
Soccer in the top ten? That’s un-American. Well to be fair, I wasn’t in America at the time.
I have always loosely followed Soccer, noting who played in the championship games but that’s about it. I do enjoy World Cup or Euro Cup games, mainly when two countries play each other. But I was over in Europe for a month and everywhere I went I heard about soccer. So a big group of us decided we were going to watch it in a bar and take in the atmosphere.
We were in Florence at the time and were lucky enough to find an English-speaking bar. I know you might say well, they speak English that hardly counts as getting the atmosphere, but the two teams featured in the game were from England so we knew plenty of English people would be descending on the bar.
We got to the bar roughly an hour before the game started; the bar was a two level bar with 3 big projectors broadcasting the game. The entire bottom section was reserved so we staked out some seats on the second level of the bar and quickly ordered a tower of Heineken (roughly 5 liters). By 10 minutes until kickoff there were barely any spaces left.
So the game featured Manchester United Red Devils and Chelsea Blues. These two teams just finished 1 and 2 in the English Premier League. Going into the game I knew who Christian Ronaldo was, one of the top 3 players on the planet, and the goalie was the German national goal keeper. So as you can tell I didn’t know much.
In Moscow it was pouring rain but that didn’t put a damper on all the cool pre-game festivities and traditions of soccer. The game got under way and you could feel the intensity of the game in the bar. The bar was probably about ¾ for Man U. Most of my group and I were in this majority.
Early on in the game, there was a nice pass into the box in which Ronaldo headed in for the first score and the bar erupted. Man U held onto the lead for roughly 20 minutes until Chelsea tied it up. The rest of the game remained tied at 1-1 with each goalie making some fantastic saves in big moments.
The game headed into overtime. They didn’t explain the OT rules on the TV so we weren’t sure how long the extra period would last or if it was sudden death. This just added to the anticipation and excitement as we didn’t know if the game could end at any moment. As this tension kept building the OT ended at the 30 minute mark and all was left was a shootout.
So the Red Devils were allowed to shoot first and each team traded goals their first two attempts. Then Ronaldo stepped up, and as I previously said he is one of the top 3 players in the world. So what happens? He misses. Both teams then go on to hit their next two attempts each. Chelsea now has John Terry, team captain, steps in to attempt their 5th and final shot, they hit this goal and they win the UFEA cup. MISS!!!! Man U is still alive!
Man U steps up, and hits their shot. Chelsea matches. Man U hits again. Chelsea needs this goal to tie, and the German goalie Van der Sar SAVES the shot and wins the title for Manchester United!!! The bar goes nuts!!! I am high fiving and hugging people I don’t even know and can’t understand a word they are saying anyways.
After hanging out in the bar for awhile longer watching and enjoying the celebration, we made our way to the streets where people everywhere are just as ecstatic as we were in the bar.
I now follow soccer a lot more regularly after this experience. I tried to watch as much Euro Cup as I could. Obviously with the time difference and the fact that I work it made it hard to watch. I still try and catch scores and games when I can; I just truly enjoy soccer more now.
If you ever get a chance to watch soccer in Europe I highly recommend it. I hear what I saw is nothing compared to World or Euro Cup where countries play against each other, but this was still an experience of a lifetime.
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