Absolutely stunning result. Totally delighted, especially as it looked like it was going to go sour when they scored. We got off to a good start, we were assertive and positive for the first ten minutes and my good feeling about winning the game looked like it would be vindicated. How a game can turn on its head in a short period of time - their goal had been coming and they had only been going full throttle for 3 minutes. Only Carra, with a WORLD CLASS block, kept it at 0-0 before the goal came.
And what a poor goal it was. You could see how completely and utterly furious Rafa was. Whether it was Gerrard, or Riise and Arbeola or all three of them, he wasn't best pleased and neither was I. The blame has to be pinned on Gerrard. He tried to be too cute and clever. Instead of putting the ball (and Zambrotta) into the stand, he tried to kill the ball and break out. Not there, not with the stakes so high. He has to do better. To be fair to Zambrotta it was an excellent cross. Arbeloa was caught on the wrong side and Riise was out of the picture too, when maybe he shouldn't have been. But it should never have come to that. Not in a million years. It was a good header too. Horrible little gobshite that Deco though.
It was at that point I noticed something else. That referee was a complete and utter c***. I have rarely seen such a poor, biased display. Every little ****ly 50/50 went the way of the home team. Luckily we had enough to get by him and his clueless mates, but had we lost the game I would have hit the roof.
We rode the storm out and we had chances ourselves. Bellamy in particular should have done much, much better with a header in the side netting. Should have buried it. When we equalised it was ebcause we were quick and sharp. Victor Valdes will be livid with himself. It's certainly an odd thing to do - he should have pushed it away. Instead we profited. Great celebration as well, I nearly wet myself.
The second half was one way traffic and it was pleasing to see us take Barca on on their own patch. We ought to have been in front before we were when Kuyt missed an easy header. No excuses, you quite simply have to be scoring those. We had a nervy moment when that handballing little ******* Saviola scraped his way through but luckily enough his shot was average and Reina made a stop of sorts (not his greatest night) and Arbeola (who looks like he's going to be a good signing on this showing) made the crucial block.
We deserved our lead when we got it. I nearly fell off my perch when I realised than it was Riise who had scored. RIGHT foot! It was just one of those nights. We had a few scares toward the end, all through our own (or the c*** of a ref) poor decision making. Barca were poor tonight, there's no unity and I EXPECTED to win tonight. We really should go on to win this tie but we've thought that in the past. (Leverkusen)
Very pleasing stuff.
