The Devil In Me

I have heard no reports of crowd trouble, is this correct? Hope so.

The suntan drained from my face as soon as I saw the team sheet for this game. The mighty Reds have a history of conceding early in Europe and if that happened it would all be on. I honestly believed they were about to age us unnecessarily. It is a delight to report that I was wrong.

They were immense and completely dominated the game straight from the get-go, making chances all over the place. Granted, Ronaldo would have probably scored some of them but Carrick’s through balls and Park’s trickery both deserve great credit. Giggs also put in a long overdue performance.

The penalty miss finished Roma off in spirit, but if they had scored it would have counted as one of the larger injustices in the history of mankind. It was a fine tackle from Wes.

Carlos Tevez single-handedly brought the diving header back into fashion and then all we had to do was cheer on Gary. He could barely keep the smile off his face and when Rio threw him the armband I nearly burst into tears. Manchester United are a club who do things the right way. Speaking of which, De Rossi’s professional foul on Rio in the second half was a disgrace, ultimate cynicism.

I have just finished watching the highlights of Barca and while they do look undefendable they also look like a team you can attack against. I have high hopes that these will be good games. Either way the final will certainly be a case of the irresistible force against the immovable object. Who said the draw was fixed? Who cares? The Reds go marching on.