Liverpool's red-letter day and Arsenal's red-card despair

2003 - Milan 0 Juventus 0 (Milan win on penalties)
I had a hangover from the night before as I settled into my buddy's leather sofa to watch this. The Milan -Inter semi-final had been tense and the evil empire of Juventus loomed large in the final.

My first thoughts as the game kicked off? Wow, the pitch at Old Trafford looks beautiful, flat, smooth and well manicured! Juve looked less so - seemingly more intent on keeping Andriy Shevchenko and Manuel Rui Costa underwraps and stifling Milan than going out and actually trying to win the match. Shevchenko did score and I will always maintain that it was a goal - but strangely it was ruled offside. In retrospect I can try to attribute some of it to Moggipoli but I doubt his influence reached that far into the game.

Gennaro Gattuso was his usual bulldog self, bulldozing everything that moved in a jailhouse shirt. One shot from him from within his own half had to be palmed away by Gianluigi Buffon. David Trezeguet hung around in the box and off the backline waiting just waiting for a scrap. He got none. At the other end, Filippo Inzaghi ran and ran and ran some more but did nothing. Once Massimo Ambrosini came on for Rui Costa I knew it was going to be penalties.

That livened things up and fittingly Sheva stroked home the winning spot kick. Everyone celebrated, I was finally fully awake - albeit in a warm fuzzy way. At this point hilarity ensured. Christian Brocchi, who hadn't played in the final and had done precious little the whole tournament, grabbed the trophy and paraded it around Old Trafford as if he had single-handedly won the damn thing. The bemused look on Paolo Maldini and Inzaghi's faces were priceless - not to mention the one of pure joy on little Christian's. I laughed so hard. I'm still laughing right now.

2004 - Porto 3 Monaco 0
First Arsenal somehow managed to lose 3-2 to Chelsea in the quarters. Then Milan let Deportivo wallop four past them to lose 5-4. So, needless to say, I was more than a little disenchanted at watching Porto take on Monaco. I was still pining and had little interest in watching either. But watch I did - and I was glad.