What a match, what a final!! Liverpool stage one of the greatest comebacks in Champions League history and win the trophy in Istanbul. They came to the match as underdogs with nothing to lose, heck they finished 4th in the EPL last season and this season they finished 5th! They haven't won their league since 1990 and some might say that a team that hasn't won their league or even finished 2nd aren't worthy enough to be champions of Europe. But who cares?!! Liverpool have won the hearts of neutral football fans the world over this season by being the underdogs and winning against much stronger teams like Milan, Chelsea & Juventus.

Milan went ahead in the very first minute, when vetaran defender Paulo Maldinin scored the fastest goal in the Champions League to put his team ahead. Two strikes by Chelsea's on loan striker to AC, Hernan Crespo, meant that Milan would go to the half time break leading 3-0 and people were saying that the cup was already won, Chelsea have extracted some kind of strange revenge by having their onloan striker score two goals to beat Liverpool, who beat the London club by a single controversial "goal". But whatever half time talk that coach Rafa Benetiz had with his players seemed to work. In the space of 6 staggering minutes, Liverpool equalised through Steven Gerrard, Vladimir Smicer & a penalty by Xabi Alonzo. The 32 year old Smicer, who played his last game for Liverpool is going to French club Lens, with whom he first established himself as a good player in the late 1990s. The game went to extra time but nothing could seperate the two. So on it was to penalties and Milan missed 1 & Liverpool goalie Jercy Dudek saved two to make sure that his club were back among Europe Elite clubs.



As wonderful & romantic the win was, the real clincher is that Liverpool won't be back to defend it next season!! Since they only finished 5th in their domestic league, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United & Everton will take part in the premier European competition. UEFA denied the right for England to have 5 teams in the tournament saying that it wasn't that important for the defending champions to play in the next year. This will be the first time that the defending champions will not be around to defend it. But does any Liverpool fan care at the moment. NO! They are soaking in the glory and revelling in the great comback that proves once and for all what a great game football is.



Song for the day - "We Are The Champions" - QUEEN

I was so tired the entire day yesterday, plus we had a really bad weather situation. For two days the sky was cloudy and it was threatning to rain but it just didn't happen. There seemed to be electricity in the atmosphere and I could almost taste the raindrops. What a let down! Travelling in this weather is bad but staying at home is shit too. I was sweating buckets right after I had just taken a bath. My cousin Satish had come with our aunt from Trivandrum and they were too tired to drive back so they stayed at my parents home. I tell you the day was swelltering, so we kicked back after lunch and I introduced him to the music of Jesse Cook. My cousin had obviously not listened to anything by Cook before and he was suitably impressed enough to note down several song titles and enquire as to where he could buy the CDs.



This was what I wanted to have all day and I did just around 6 pm. Ahhhhhhhhhh

Stealing an idea from someone else's blog seems to be a rather good thing to do. Mike Boon has something know as Friday Five, where he lists five things in common every friday on his blog. I have decided that I am not going to do it every Friday but whenever I am hit by inspiration to actually list 5 things in my mind. I am going to call it Roshan's Five. On occasion it may also be a list of 10 as well. So here is today's Roshan's Five:

Top 5 Names that is also the name of a country or city

• Kathy IRELAND


• Matt HOLLAND


• INDIA Arie


• JeremyLONDON


• PARIS Hilton

Michael Ryder is a right winger for the Montreal Canadiens. At 6'0" & 196 pounds the Bonavista Newfoundland native, born on 03-31-1980, was acquired on 01-01-1998 by the Canadiens in the 1998 draft in round 8 (216 overall). Going at 216 had to be a humbling experience for Ryder, a player who was ranked considerably higher (149 spots higher according to the NHL's Central Scouting Service that year). But as it has been for his entire career, size was a factor. Ryder appears smaller and certainly was thinner back in his draft year. Then again, being in contention for the Calder Trophy as the league's top rookie certainly helps ease the hurt. Ryder has paid his dues. He played two more years of junior before turning pro in 2000-01 and struggled through the minor-league ranks, where he was demoted to the ECHL -- twice. Yet somewhere in that slide to near bottom in hockey's long-standing pecking order, Ryder found himself and his game. Today, the soon-to-be 24-year-old not only has made the jump to the NHL, he's starring in it.






Song for the day - "That's Right" - JESSE COOK