OK, so I blew it. I sincerely believed Liverpool could bite like an English underdog and sting like an African bee, but the Anfield brigade on the Athens turf on Wednesday night had the teeth of a hot dog and the venom of a Watford hornet.

My first comforting thought after the spectacle turned into a debacle was that at least I did not have to fork out 2000 pounds, euros or dollars and watch the camouflage of a Champions League Final.

Suffering was painful enough from the couch. I cannot remember another final with just seven shots on target, four of them by the eventual losers. I cannot recall a match of such high hopes and importance where there was no individual excellence whatsoever. Not even one player from the 27 involved who shone, left a sporting mark or imprint on our imagination. Ninety minutes of sheer boredom up and down our spine. If Istanbul 2005 was unforgettable, Athens 2007 will be classified as one not to remember.

'I cannot recall a match of such high hopes and importance where there was no individual excellence whatsoever'


Even the drab 0-0 between Milan and Juventus at Old Trafford four years ago had a million more things to write home about - a penalty shoot-out, disallowed (legal) goal, drama, personal miseries and anecdotes. Athens was about blood and sweat, not even tears. I would have felt and written the same had Liverpool lifted the Cup. The end result did not matter, it was the class missing from the final which made it into a non-event.

Milan deserve credit for doing what was necessary to leave the stadium with the prize. Even the sterile new-old ceremony which UEFA president Michel Platini insisted upon restoring, was fittingly in the same mould and spirit of anti-climax.  At the semi-final stage, Milan were as close to perfection as can be expected from their ageing team when they disposed of Manchester United with style and romance. I feel they should be crowned not Champions League winners, but instead as European Semi-Final Cup holders.

Perfection is not enough, it goes together with timing. United reached their peak against Roma in April (7-1). Chelsea's most entertaining effort came in the same quarter-finals, at Valencia, from 0-1 to 2-1 in the dying seconds. Liverpool peaked even earlier, in the first KO stage at Nou Camp, where they disposed of Barcelona 2-1.

Athens was light years away from those exhibitions of exciting, sexy and inspiring football. Liverpool were defeated, but we the fans were the main losers. Once a year we expect the most prestigious club tournament to come up with the goods and provide a spectacle worth all the hype and anticipation. We  can draw a depressing conclusion that aesthetics is not part of the game plan any more. Determination and efficiency, discipline and organisation are more important than elegance and freedom of expression.

Managers and coaches are great tacticians but not daredevils. They fill their teams and dreams with too many has-beens (Bolo Zenden, Pippo Inzaghi – both awful) and too much mediocrity (Jermaine Pennant, Dirk Kuyt – how wrong could I have been about him?) It happens everywhere these days – in the World Cup Final, In the FA Cup Final, the Champions League Final.

It’s a trend; knock-out tournaments are the refuge of the aspiring but not inspiring. They are the wet dream of clerks and the woodchoppers. They are at the stage where ecstasy and fantasy are being kicked, bashed and derided by sheer pragmatism. We should neither condone nor accept it. But the sooner we realise this, the less we'll expect and the quicker we'll recover from Athens 2007, where a cliffhanger turned into hangover.