Recent converts to the Premier League may not even understand how far Chelsea FC have come over the last fifteen years or so. I haven’t been to Stamford Bridge since about 1993 (when I pitched up there with my brother-in-law for a match against Wimbledon), and it has changed more than any other still-standing Premier League stadium. We stood for that match on broken bench seats at a stadium with vast, crumbling open terraces and a greyhound track. Chelsea were, at the time, an average, mid-table side, without a major trophy in over twenty years, but the sequence of events that followed (Matthew Harding’s prototype fan-turned-millionaire, and Ken Bates’ sale of a debt-ridden club to Roman Abramovich) would be better told elsewhere, but there can be no doubt that they inhabit a different universe to anything that they could have imagined 1993. One suspects, from the reaction to Avram Grant’s appointment and to his sacking, that Chelsea’s supporters have swallowed the hubris lock, stock and barrel. Since more or less the day that Abramovich arrived at Stamford Bridge, a level of charmlessness has descended like a blue fog over the place, and levels of expectation there now are so high that nothing short of being the Premier League champions or the European champions now seems to be good enough for them.

Grant is well known to be a friend of Roman Abramovich – indeed, it was widely reported at the time that it was this kinship that was the primary factor in his appointment into the manager’s chair. This is that point at which one becomes entitled to ask questions over the competence of those running Chelsea FC. Grant was not an unknown entity to them – his behaviour hasn’t changed since he assumed the position so, if his character was integral to him being offered the role in the first place, it shouldn’t be a reason for his dismissal eight months later. Chelsea had, considering the difficult start to the season that they had, a very successful season. Arsenal or Liverpool would more than happily swap their seasons for the season that Chelsea had, yet there is no talk of Arsene Wenger getting the sack and even talk of Rafael Benitez leaving Anfield has died down over the last couple of months or so. Whenever one starts to think about Chelsea, the only conclusion that one can arrive at is that money has proved to be the lead in the water to these particular Romans. Their levels of expectation are now so distorted that they cannot even tolerate levels of success that aren’t high enough, never mind failure. One can only wonder what exactly it is that they do want, and contemplate the sobering fact that winning is never likely to make them happy.

Roman probably wants what they call a “return” on the £600m that he has ploughed into the club, but he has already had two Premier League titles (double the number that they managed in the 98 years before he arrived there in 2003), and the insistence on constant success seems to betray a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the game, especially when (this season at least) success has been so very, very close. He may well want Chelsea to play more attractive football than they have been playing, but the fact that they didn’t last season cannot be completely lain at the door of Avram Grant. The players were players that he inherited from Jose Mourinho (only Nicolas Anelka was a major signing during his spell in charge, and it would be highly debatable whether he had any say in Anelka’s arrival at Stamford Bridge anyway), and the only options available to Grant would have been to make them play an unfamiliar system, take risks and lose matches or stick to the system that was already in place, which would at least give them a chance of hanging onto Manchester United’s coat tails. Because of the way in which Chelsea suddenly entered into football’s oligarchy (and I’m not making a comment on the rights or wrongs of it, though regular readers can probably take a guess at my opinion), they are never going to be “popular” (even Arsenal, the least tainted of the Big Four, aren’t particularly “popular” – that’s the price of success in football), but I would be surprised if Abramovich, as one of the world’s richest men, gave a tu’penny damn about “popularity”.

The two most successful club sides of the last twenty years are the two clubs that have stuck by their managers the longest. One would expect that someone within the game might have noticed this at some point, but apparently not. As ever, football has it the wrong way around. Clubs hire managers too quickly, and then sack them straight away when they (as they inevitably will, if they are hired in haste) fail. Perhaps it would be better for clubs to treat such an important position as the manager with a little more respect, take their time over who they appoint and then actually show them a little respect and actually let them manage. I can think of no other business in which the manager’s position is so quickly undermined. It’s a small wonder that so many football clubs fail. Going right back into the history of the game, the instant successes have been the exception rather than the rule, and even those that have been successful immediately (such as, for example, Herbert Chapman at Arsenal) did so on their own terms, with directors who had the confidence to let them create a club in their own image. Chelsea are already being linked with big names such as Frank Rijkaard and Guus Hiddinck, but the question that remains is this: which manager, that understands the need for continuation, wishes to build a legacy and isn’t there primarily for the cash, would want to manage Chelsea at the moment, given what is known about what goes on at Stamford Bridge? This, after all, is a club that allows its chief executive, Peter Kenyon, to lead the players up to collect their medals after the European Cup final and then sacks its manager five days afterwards, even though they only lost on penalties to the team that only a lunatic would suggest aren’t the best in Europe at the moment. If Grant can secure himself a more stable job elsewhere (and I’m not including Manchester City, where a similar sort of madness is going on), he might find that being sacked by the basket case that is Chelsea Football Club will turn out to be the best thing to ever happen to him.

Switzerland – What Are Expectations Like? Well, not as low as they are for their co-hosts, Austria. Switzerland have had a reasonably favourable draw and have got half a chance of getting through the group stages, though there won’t be too many people staring in disbelief if they do get through. Their key match is their opener against the Czech Republic – if they win that, they’ll have an outstanding chance of making at least the last eight.

How Did Their Qualifying Campaign Go? They qualified automatically as hosts. Their recent friendly results have been mixed, and in their 2-1 defeat against England at Wembley, they showed that they have more nous than many people give them credit for.

What’s The Coach Like? Kobi Kuhn played for most of his career with FC Zurich and made one appearance for Switzerland in the 1966 World Cup. He was appointed the Swiss Under-21 team coach and then to the national team manager’s job in 2001. He hasn’t always been very popular (his defensive tactics against Ukraine at the last World Cup cost Switzerland a game that they could and probably should have won), but he has taken them to the finals of two major tournaments prior to Euro 2008, which is a significant achievement for a country the size of Switzerland.

Which Players Should I Look Out For? There’s a surprising amount of quality in the current Swiss squad, with players such as Arsenal’s Phillipe Senderos and Raphael Wicky (a recent convert to MLS – he has just signed for Chivas USA), but the potential star man is Alexander Frei of Borussia Dortmund. Frei has scored thirty-two goals in fifty-six matches for the Swiss national team, and has the experience to maybe get them through the group stages.

Czech Republic – What Are Expectations Like? The Czechs seem to be fulfilling the age old stereotype of being tournament “Dark Horses”. They won’t much fancy having to play Germany in the group stages, and their opening match against Switzerland is a tricky one. They may also struggle to find a replacement for Pavel Nedved (who rejected a call up to the squad after retiring from international football a couple of years ago) and Tomas Rosicky (who’s injured). They are, however, also blessed with having Petr Cech – possibly the best goalkeeper in the world – playing for them.

How Did Their Qualifying Campaign Go? About as well as could be expected. They finished above Germany in top position in Group D, and were unbeaten away from home. What could, with the Republic of Ireland being in their group, have been a tricky campaign turned into a stroll in the park. Their only defeat was a 2-1 home defeat by Germany.

What’s Their Coach Like? Karel Bruckner has been in charge since 2001 and will step down after the tournament. He has overseen a complete transformation of the Czech team, including seeing them lose unluckily in the semi-finals of Euro 2004.

Which Players Should I Watch Out For? Well, the 9’7 Jan Koller of 1FC Nuremberg is difficult to take your eyes off, but he’s thirty-five now and is past his best. Milan Baros will lead the front line, though doubts remain about his fitness and consistency. Zdenek Grygera of Juventus is a good wing-back and has been linked with several Premier League clubs.

Portugal: What Are Expectations Like? High. Too high, possibly. Cristiano Ronaldo has obviously had an outstanding season, but as they showed at the last World Cup, they are prone to lapses in discipline which prove to be expensive. One suspects that this is a team that does not sit comfortably with the notion of high expectation.

How Did Their Qualifying Campaign Go? Actually, they made a bit if a dog’s breakfast of a group that they should have won comfortably. They only lost once (away to group winners Poland), but drew six of their fourteen matches, and were reliant on a tense 1-0 win against Armenia and a 0-0 draw against Finland to get through.

What’s The Coach Like? Luis Felipe Scolari is one of European football’s more easily recognisable coaches, but he’s not as popular in Portugal as he was. He is, ahem, “bullish”, and one suspects that his lack of fear in making “bold” decisions occasionally crosses the line into making decisions that are rash or ill-advised. Likely to quit after the tournament ends.

Who Should I Watch Out For? Well, Ronaldo is the obvious one, but I would suggest that Deco is the real one to watch. To the extent that this can happen with someone that plays for Barcelona, Deco is a criminally under-rated midfielder with the ability to unlock the best defences in the world. If you have to have to keep an eye on Ronaldo, keep an eye on how he is (or isn’t) getting on with Chelsea’s Ricardo Carvalho after the latter’s crunching tackle at the end of Wednesday’s Champions League final.

Turkey – How High Are Expectations? Not terribly, this time. Turkey failed to qualify for Euro 2004 (missing out to Latvia) and the 2006 World Cup, and this team doesn’t seem to have the strength in depth that their 2002 World Cup team had. In a tight group, they may need to beat Portugal to get through, and this may be beyond them.

How Did Their Qualifying Campaign Go? Not terribly well, actually. It looked as if they were going out until they surprisingly won 2-1 in Oslo against Norway, and then wrapped things up with a 1-0 win against Bosnia in their final match. They lost just twice, but dropped other silly points, most notably in a 2-2 draw away to the group whipping boys, Malta.

What’s The Coach Like? Fatih Terim is the Godfather of Turkish football, having taken them from being amongst the also-rans of European football in the 1980s to qualifying for the finals of Euro 96. He also coached Milan and Fiorentina, and was called back after the relative disaster of failing to qualify for successive tournaments. He likes to play attacking football, so this year’s Turkey team should be attractive to watch.

Who Should I Watch Out For? There’s a lot of experience in the Turkey team, with players such as Emre Belozoglu, goalkeeper Rustu Recber and Tuncay Sanli all in the squad. Striker Nihat Kahveci has impressed for Real Sociedad and Villareal in Spain, and those of an English persuasion may be interested to keep an eye on Colin Kazim Richards (who will be playing under his Turkish name of Kazim Kazim), who was born in London and had spells at Bury, Brighton & Hove Albion and Sheffield United before hitting the big time with Fenerbahce.

Group Prediction: This is a really difficult to group to call. How much will Switzerland be able to make of home advantage? Will the Portuguese be able to keep a lid on it and stay focussed? How much will the Czechs miss Nedved and Rosicky? I’m going to go for Portugal and Switzerland go edge through, though you could perm any two from this group. Even the Turks, who will be arriving in Switzerland with very low expectations, could get through, but I suspect that the quality of the Portuguese and home advantage will be enough to get Portugal and Switzerland through.

Stockport County vs Rochdale: If you’re under the age of about 40, you won’t be able to remember Rochdale playing in any division other than the basement of the Football League, though whether you call it Division Four, Division Three or League Two probably depends upon your age. Since being relegated into Division Four in 1973, they have barely troubled either end of the table (although they did have a close brush with the drop in 2004, and managed a play-off place in 2003. Celebrating their centenary appears to have had a beneficial effect upon them. They changed their kit from blue to their original kit of black & white stripes, and the new colours have been lucky for them, taking them up to a final position of fifth place in the league. In the play-off semi-finals, they beat Darlington on penalties after drawing 3-3 on aggregate. Stockport County’s glory days, such as they were, began in 1997 when they won promotion into what is now the Championship. They stayed there for five years before being relegated back, but the financial cost to a club that has always struggled for crowds in the shadow of the two Manchester giants almost sent them to the wall. Now owned by their Supporters Trust, promotion would be a bonus in a season in which the main aim has been to secure the long term future of the club. Stockport had to sell Edgeley Park to stay alive, and have this season launched an ambitious project to buy the stadium back. Their finish in fourth place in League Two was this season’s biggest surprise in a division in which, perhaps unsurprisingly, money talked very loudly. They beat Wycombe Wanderers 2-1 on aggregate to book their place at Wembley.

Prediction: The momentum appears to be with Rochdale going into Monday’s match, but Stockport have the players and did the double over Dale, so I’m going for Stockport.

Doncaster Rovers vs Leeds United: In League One, there’s another local derby displaced to north-west London between two clubs that have sailed close to the brink in recent years, though the ways in which they did this couldn’t be much more different. Doncaster Rovers have always been strugglers, with the town’s close proximity to Sheffield having a negative effect on their home crowds. Indeed, the very fact that they are here at all is little short of miraculous. They were relegated from the Football League in 1998, and shortly afterwards the main stand at their old stadium, Belle Vue, mysteriously caught fire. The club’s chairman, Ken Richardson, would later be imprisoned for setting it on fire himself in the hope of claiming the insurance money, but the fire almost did for Doncaster Rovers. It took them five years to get back into the Football League (through the Conference play-offs), and were promoted again in 2004. In 2006, they beat Manchester City and Aston Villa on the way to the quarter-finals of the League Cup, and moved to a new stadium, the Keepmoat Stadium, in January 2007. They finished in third place in League One this season, missing out on the second automatic promotion place with a defeat at Cheltenham Town on the last day of the season. This didn’t seem to bother them in the play-offs, however, as a 5-1 win against Southend United sent them to Wembley. Leeds United could have fallen a lot further than they have in the six years since their Champions League semi-final against Milan. Last summer, they were lucky to not be demoted to League Two or expelled from the Football League altogether, and the fifteen point deduction that they suffered was a compromise to keep them where they were rather than the arbitrary punishment that they have claimed. Had they kept the fifteen points, they would have been automatically promoted this season and, as it was, their strange exit from administration allowed them to spend heavily on new players this season, at least by League Two standards. They scored injury time goals in both legs of their play-off semi-finals against Carlisle United, and with the boat successfully steadied by Gary McAllister after the sudden departure of Dennis Wise to Newcastle in the new year, their position in the play-offs was comfortably obtained.

Prediction: It’s difficult to see past Leeds winning this. They still carry sufficient arrogance to believe that promotion is somehow their automatic right, and Doncaster have already shown their capability of blowing it when the pressure’s on in failing to go up automatically.

Bristol City vs Hull City: Or, the battle to see who will finish bottom of next year’s Premier League. Bristol City’s achievement this season has been exceptional. Promoted from League One last season, they have consistently confounded their critics in holding onto their place in the play-off positions and then refusing to be cowed by the obduracy of Neil Warnock and Crystal Palace, beating them home and away in the play-off semi-finals. Like many of the other teams involved in this year’s play-offs, Bristol City’s happiest days and saddest days have often not been too far apart. They were promoted into the First Division in 1976 and stayed there until 1980, having the temerity to finish in thirteenth place in 1979. They then, however, collapsed spectacularly, managing to get themselves relegated to the Fourth Division in record time and declaring themselves bankrupt in 1982. They then spent much of the 1980s struggling to get back on their feet, before promotion to the Second Division in 1990. Bristol City have always found themselves in a strange situation, with aspirations of greater things and a feeling of under-achievement that has been emphasised by their inability to break free from their local rivals, Bristol Rovers. Victory tomorrow would open up a little breathing space, at least. For Hull City, a few seasons in the top division would be a start. Kingston-upon-Hull remains the biggest British city never to have hosted top division football, and Hull may never have a better chance than tomorrow to achieve it. The club has had a largely anonymous history, rattling around somewhere between the Second and Fourth Divisions, but it was a financial crisis that gave them the impetus to improve their fortunes. In 1999 in looked likely that they would drop out of the Football League altogether, but an escape masterminded by Warren Joyce saw them safe, and in 2002 they left their dilapidated Boothferry Park stadium for the 25,000 capacty Kingston Communications Stadium. They were promoted from Division Three in 2004 and then from League One the following season and, although they narrowly avoided relegation last season, and this season they have been exceptional, climbing into the play-off places and threatening to snatch an automatic promotion place. In the semi-finals of the play-offs, they demolished Watford 6-1 over two legs.

Prediction: Bristol City only scored one more goal than they conceded this season and Hull have been the form team in the Championship over the last few weeks, leading me to believe that Hull will prove to be too strong for Bristol City this season.

At the other end of the spectrum, the adulation being heaped upon Manchester United was out of proportion with the scale of their achievement. United are, as I’ve said on here before, probably the best team in Europe at the moment, but we are currently living through an era when there is something of a dearth of talent in European football. They, in many respects, deserved to lose last night, but the hubris surrounding them has long since disbarred anyone associated with them from having a worthwhile opinion on how they’ve done. Consider this gem from Alex Ferguson last night: “”We deserved it. With the history of this club we deserved to get this trophy tonight”. It has long been a trick of Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester United supporters to decry the achievements of anyone else on account of their having “no history”, but this condescending attitude now seems to have filtered down to the management. It’s not beyond the realms of plausibility to say, “Well, Alex, you didn’t deserve to win it on the basis of your performance last night”.

Elsewhere, the game keeps rumbling on. The Football League has its play-offs this weekend, and there’ll be a full run down on here tomorrow about what will be going on this weekend. The end of the non-league season is in danger of collapsing into chaos. We’ve already lost Halifax Town, who will be starting again at the foot of the ladder after their expulsion from the Blue Square Premier (although there are two rival consortia currently bidding for the right to be the team for Halifax and play at The Shay next season), and Cambridge City’s right to stay in the Blue Square South is still in some doubt after the club failed ground grading for their stadium (although the club has a pretty good reason for having been unable to carry out the required improvements – they were using their money at court, wresting back control of the ground itself from the property developers that it had, as a judge eventually ruled, been illegally sold to), but even more trouble appears to have come in the Blue Square North, with poor old Boston United (to whom, having been demoted two division last season, and are now looking at another potential two division demotion) you can only say, “haven’t they suffered enough?” and Nuneaton Borough being threatened with the same sanction, having been forced into administration just before the end of the season.

There’ll be more about the parlous state of the game in the lower divisions on here over the weekend.

Actually, I’m starting to wonder who and where all these people that care so desperately actually are. They don’t appear to be the supporters of either club, since tickets sales appear to have been sluggish. I know enough football supporters to be able to say with a degree of confidence that any club worth its salt would be able to shift 21,000 tickets for a match of major importance anywhere in the world. Even if they have, eventually, sold out, how come Manchester United, a club with an average home attendance of 76,000, had any difficulties whatsoever shifting its allocation, even if the match is being played in Moscow. They aren’t the neutrals, who have been going about their ordinary business and might be slightly diverted this evening, though now more than when, say, England play in the World Cup finals.

The people that care the most about this are the media. England’s failure to qualify for the final of the European Championships will be costing the British media millions of pounds this summer, and this match is a chance to recoup some of this money. For the last couple of weeks, they have been telling us in no uncertain terms that this is the most important match in the history of English football, and they have an agenda for doing so. Now that England aren’t in it, Euro 2008 is about as important to them as the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy. Never mind that tonight’s match could only conceivably have any relevance to Manchester United and Chelsea supporters (and, pushing it as far as it could go, Liverpool, Arsenal, West Ham United and Manchester City supporters). This is THE BIG ONE and YOU MUST CARE. Except, of course, we don’t, much. I mean, I’m looking forward to it. I always look forward to the European Cup final. I wouldn’t be much of a football supporter if I didn’t, would I?

19.25: Right, we’re back back back! I’ve assembled a crack team of pundits, got a glass of delicious, cold, gin & tonic and got the teams to hand:

Manchester United: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez. Subs: Kuszczak, Anderson, Giggs, Nani, O’Shea, Fletcher, Silvestre.

Chelsea: Cech, Essien, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole, Makelele, Ballack, Lampard, Malouda, J Cole, Drogba. Subs: Cudicini, Shevchenko, Mikel, Kalou, Alex, Belletti, Anelka.

Here’s some music, to get you in the mood – “Blue Is The Colour” and “United Calypso”.

19.40: Here come the teams. Chelsea have eschewed their traditional white socks in favour of all blue, and United are wearing white socks. Petr Cech (who is reportedly of the opinion that if you dress brightly enough, strikers instinctively shoot straight at you) looks like he may have stopped off at Chernobyl on the way here this evening. Meanwhile, UEFA have released a large number of red and gold balloons. These colours just happen to be the corporate colours of Mastercard. What a coincidence!

19.45: “May the best team win”, says ITV’s Clive Tyldesley, as the teams kick off. Bollocks, Clive. Everyone knows that you support Manchester United.

19.50: Five minutes in and not a lot has happened, apart from the watching audience having been told about 11 times how important this all is. The pitch, by the way, looks in shocking condition. It looks like a patchwork quilt and was heavily watered yesterday, prior to torrential rain in Moscow this afternoon.

19.55: It’s still pretty average stuff at the moment. A lot of passes going astray from both teams – possibly on account of the pitch, possibly because English teams seem to be genetically pre-disposed to play at 100 miles per hour.

20.00: First shot of Roman Abramovich of the evening. I don’t want to sound rude or anything, but doesn’t he look a bit, well, simple to you?

20.05: No word yet from ITV on the fact that we have been playing for 20 minutes without either team having managed a shot on goal yet. United are the better of the two teams at the moment, by the way, but that’s not saying a great deal. First yellow card of the evening to Paul Scholes. Quite a nasty cut to the face, too, by the looks of it.

20.11: GOAL! Chelsea 0-1 Manchester United – Terrible, woeful marking from Chelsea. A cross from the right and Cristiano Ronaldo, who is about half a mile away from his marker, Michael Essien, heads into the corner of the net. Petr Cech, presumably assuming that Ronaldo has no choice but to head the ball straight at him, doesn’t bother diving for it.

20.15: Essien is being pulled all over the place by Ronaldo now. When did Cristiano Ronaldo become any good in the air? Didier Drogba’s down injured now. The poor love.

20.20: Great chance for Chelsea – Drogba heads back across goal from a good deep cross by Lampard and Ferdinand, under pressure from Ballack, forces a good save from Van Der Saar. The ball goes straight up the other end, and Cech pulls off an outstanding double save from Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick. It’s starting to warm up now.

20.25: Pause for thought – there are ten English players out on the pitch tonight. This is more than I would have expected.

20.29: Rooney crosses low from the left and Tevez puts the ball well wide – he didn’t really make much contact with the ball at all. A real chance to kill the game off there. The ball is straight up the other end, and Chelsea get a free kick on the edge of the penalty area. Rio Ferdinand picks up a yellow card. Ballack’s shot sails a foot or two over.

20.30: GOAL! Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United – Two deflections and – all importantly – a horrendous slip from Edwin Van Der Saar, and Frank Lampard can’t believe his luck, putting the ball into an empty net to level things up for Chelsea.

20.33: Half Time – Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United: I still suspect that United will win this. Defensively, the placing of Cristiano Ronaldo is pulling Michael Essien all over the place, and the gaps that he is creating are making plenty of space for Carlos Tevez. United had the chances to kill the game stone dead, but Chelsea had a bit of luck for the equalizer having not played particularly well. 1-1 is harsh on United, but there is all to play for. Back in fifteen.

20.49: The second half has started, and I made the mistake of not switching the sound off at half time. Perhaps surprisingly, ITV didn’t tell me anything that I couldn’t have been told by an orang utan with an eye patch and an Etch-a-Sketch. Alex Ferguson chases the referee out onto the pitch, complaining about, well, something.

20.55: Joe Cole is exceptionally angry at not having been a corner and runs twenty yards to tell the referee exactly why he’s so wrong. Lucky to escape a card, there.

21.00: Good chance for Michael Essien on the break, there, demonstrating the danger that he can cause if he breaks forward but, in loads of space on the edge of the penalty area, he shoots well over when he should really have done better. Midnight ticks over in Moscow.

21.05: Fifteen minutes into the second half, and Chelsea have been the better team since the break. The constant criticism of Avram Grant is something that I find somewhat baffling. I don’t know what he said at half-time, but it has made a hell of a difference.

21.10: It’s still all Chelsea. It looks as if they’re playing a bolder formation in the second half, with Essien pushing forward more, and creating more space in attacking positions. On balance, Chelsea deserve the lead at the moment, which probably means that United will score next.

21.15: The players are starting to suffer, as the end of the season kicks in. Makelele and Ferdinand both needed treatment, there, but they both seem to be okay now.

21.20: Into the last fifteen minutes, and… was that a penalty? Drogba’s header down looks like it might put Malouda in but the ball bounces wide as Malouda goes down under a challenge from Ferdinand. Nothing given, but I’ve seen them given for less.

21.22: Best chance of the second half for Chelsea – Didier Drogba curls a shot in from the edge of the penalty area and hits the outside of the post. There’s quite a lot of petulance and borderline simulation going on at the moment, too.

21.25: Seventeen shots on goal to Chelsea and eight to Manchester United at the moment, and United have done not much more than nothing in the second half. As things stand, it’s Chelsea’s to lose.

21.30: Less than five minutes to play, and Drogba shoots just wide for Chelsea. Ryan Giggs comes on as a substitute for his 9362th appearance, overtaking Bobby Charlton as their record appearance holder.

21.35: We are headed, surprise ending notwithstanding, for extra time. Manchester United haven’t been in this second half, but they’re still hanging on at 1-1. Two minutes of added time at the end of the match.

FULL TIME: Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United – A slightly disappointing second half, I have to say, after the excitement of the first half. United were second best in that half, but they’re still in it and the substitution of Scholes for Giggs might have made their midfield a little better balanced. I’m predicting Manchester United to win, but only because, well, that’s what United do, isn’t it?

21.42: No changes for the start of extra-time. Half a chance for United a minute into extra time, with Rooney just seeming to over-hit a poke through for Tevez and Cech collects. Substitute for Chelsea – Malouda off for Kalou.

21.44: For the second time, the ball is back off the United woodwork. Lampard shoots languidly from the edge of the area, Van Der Saar is again static and the ball comes back off the bar. Trust me – United are going to win this.

21.50: A good surging run from Essien (who has been the best player on the pitch since half-time), but the ball is nicked off his toe at the last. Nicolas Anelka is on for Joe Cole, for Chelsea.

21.51: Best chance since the second goal – Evra runs through and pulls the ball back for Ryan Giggs, but his shot is miraculously headed off the line by John Terry.

21.55: Almost half-time now. and the cracks are beginning to show. Both teams are starting to give the ball away rather a lot, and one suspects that either a moment of genius or a defensive disaster will win (or lose) the match.

22.00: Half Time In Extra Time – Chelsea 1-1 Manchester United. Not a lot more to say, as they’re going straight back out. I still think that United are more likely to score than Chelsea, but hasn’t that been the case all season?

22.05: Apart from possibly – just possibly – going bald, Ryan Giggs doesn’t look much different to how he did when he was eighteen or so. The commentators are all queuing up to praise him for his loyalty too, by the way. I’d suggest that it’s easier to be “loyal” when your team is in the Champions League every year and winning the Premier League every other year. Yellow card for Vidic for a foul on Anelka.

22.10: Six minutes to go until penalties, and it all goes off. Carvalho shoves Tevez and/or vice versa and suddenly everyone is involved. A red card for Drogba, and a yellow card for Ferdinand and Tevez. Stupid, petulant behaviour, and he might have cost them very dear here. Two minutes later, and they’re having difficulties getting him off the pitch.

22.12: Yellow card for Essien now, and every time the players go anywhere near each other, they’re taking kicks at each other.

22.15: Another two minutes of stoppage time in the second period of extra time, thanks in no small part to the brief slapping competition that took place. Looks like penalties from here now, though.

22.19: Penalties, then. Unlucky, Chelsea, I rather think. They hit the post and the bar and bossed the second half and extra-time until the cramp started to kick in, and Drogba’s sending off might prove to be very expensive. Back soon for penalties.

Penalties: Right then, five penalties each. The pressure’s on. Manchester United to go first.

Tevez scores – Cech sent the wrong way. 1-0.
Ballack scores – Close but no cigar, for Van Der Saar. 1-1.
Carrick scores – 2-1. I’m pretty certain that Clive Tyldesley has an erection.
Belletti scores – Van Der Saar the wrong way. 2-2.
Ronaldo MISSES – Take that, you bloody little cheat. He stopped his run up completely half way through, and Cech saves the penalty comfortably. 2-2.
Lampard scores – But only just. Van Der Saar gets one hand on the ball. 2-3.
Hargreaves scores – A perfect penalty into the top corner. 3-3.
Ashley Cole scores – Nani must score now. 3-4.
Nani scores – Cech gets a hand on the ball. Terry now to win it. 4-4.
Terry MISSES – Slips and the shot hits the outside of the post. Still 4-4, then.
Anderson Scores – Straight down the middle. 5-4.
Kalou scores – Van Der Saar sent the wrong way. 5-5. Giggs next.
Giggs scores – Easy. 6-5.
Anelka MISSES – Saved by Van Der Saar – 6-5 Final.

And Manchester United are the European champions for the first time since 1999. Scarcely deserved, I would say. Chelsea were the better team over the 120 minutes, and it is worth pointing out that, for the criticism that he has endured and all the rumours of discord within the club, Avram Grant has achieved something spectacular in taking Chelsea to being in contention for the Premier League title and to within literally one kick of becoming the European champions. If Grant gets the sack this summer, then we’ll have seen the acid test for whether Chelsea Football Club is sick or not. Manchester United, however, are deserved winners – although they are the best of a bunch that perhaps isn’t quite as strong as it has been in recent years. Whether they’ll have it as easy again next year is very much open to question. Still, next on the menu are the Football League play-offs and the European Championships. IT WILL NEVER BE FINALLY DECIDED WHO HAS WON THE FOOTBALL.

The tournament started with a warning that no-one seemed to heed. Greece rushed into a 2-0 lead in Oporto against the hosts in the opening match and managed to hold on to a 2-1 win. The major disappointments in Group A were (you guessed it) Spain. Yet again, the Spanish failed to get to the latter stages of the tournament. Having beaten Russia in their opening match, were held to a draw by Greece and beaten by Portugal, and those that accuse the Greeks of wilfully negative football should remember that the Spanish were knocked out by Greece on goals scored, having managed just two in four matches. In Group B, England had to recover from about as disastrous start as one could imagine. They played excellently for eighty-nine minutes in their opening match against France in Lisbon, although the writing on the wall was there when David Beckham missed a penalty when they were already 1-0 up. In stoppage time, a free kick from Zinedine Zidane and a terrible backpass from Steven Gerrard gifted France three points that they frankly didn’t deserve. In their second match against Switzerland, England toiled in the first half before relaxing to a 3-0 win, punctuated by an excellent performance by Wayne Rooney, who was displaying all of the potential that Premier League watchers had been drooling over. In the group’s final matches, Rooney put in the individual performance of the tournament, scoring two and making one in a 4-2 win against Croatia to put them and France through to the quarter-finals.

There were further surprises to be found in Groups C and D. In Group C, controversy surrounded the final round of matches. Denmark and Sweden have long been friends in the international football arena (most Swedes had no difficulty in transferring their support to Sweden when the Danes made the final of Euro 92, for example), and the two teams went into the final round of group matches knowing that a 2-2 draw or higher would eliminate Italy no matter what the Italians did to the hapless Bulgarians, who were already out. Gossip and dark rumour surrounded the match, including talk of considerable amounts of money having been bet on a 2-2 draw between the Danes and the Swedes. With Italy leading 2-1 against Bulgaria and Denmark 2-1 up against Sweden thanks to two goals from Jon Dahl Tomasson, it looked as if the Swedes were going out, but then, with two minutes to play, Matias Jonson scored for Sweden and knocked Italy out. There has never been any sort of inquiry by UEFA (who stated that they felt that the rumours were “insulting” to the Danes and the Swedes), and I’ve watched the video of the match dozens of times and can see no wrong-doing. In Group D, the Germans were the big name casualties. They started with a 1-1 draw against the Dutch, but then failed to break Latvia down and were held to a 0-0 draw. In their final match, they were beaten 2-1 by the Czechs, who had already lost an extraordinary group match 3-2 against the Netherlands. Germany haven’t won a European Championship finals match in normal time since they beat Croatia 2-1 in the quarter-finals of Euro 96.

England were knocked out by Portugal on penalty kicks. Having taken an early lead through Michael Owen, they defended reasonably admirably until Helda Postiga levelled things up with six minutes to play, and in the last minute had a “six of one, half a dozen of the other” goal from Sol Campbell disallowed. Rui Costa put the Portuguese 2-1 up in the second half of extra-time, but a late goal from Frank Lampard levelled things again. The writing was on the wall for England when David Beckham blasted England’s first penalty over the crossbar, but they managed to take it to sudden death before Darius Vassell’s shot was saved by Ricardo, who then stepped up himself to score the winner. The Netherlands and Sweden did everything but score in 120 minutes, which, considering their record in penalty shoot-outs, might have been bad news for the Dutch. They went through 6-5 after Olaf Mellberg’s penalty was saved by Edwin Van Der Saar. The surprise of the quarter-finals came at the Estadio Jose Alvalade in Lisbon, where a solitary goal from Angelos Charisteas was enough for Greece to put the holders, France, out. Finally, the Czech Republic brushed Denmark aside 3-0 in a performance that many said afterwards was the best team performance of the tournament.

In the semi-finals, Portugal’s 2-1 against the Netherlands was somewhat more comfortable than the scoreline might suggest. Cristiano Ronaldo (who, at the time, was just another player rather than the “greatest player in the world” that many seem to think that he is now) headed the hosts in front in the first half, and an astonishing shot from Maniche made their lead comfortable early in the second half. A late own goal from Jorge Andrade let the Dutch back into the match, but the hosts were comfortably through to their first major final. In the other semi-final, the Czechs hammered away at the Greek defence but were unable to find a way through. A single goal from Traianos Dellas in extra-time was enough to put the Greeks through, but the real star of the show was Antonis Nikopolidis, whose performance in the Greek goal resembled a scene from “Rourke’s Drift” at times.

The final looked, on paper, as if it should be a coronation for the host nation. Portugal had ridden their luck against England in the quarter-finals and had already been beaten by the Greeks in their opening match, but it seemed unlikely that they would make the same mistakes again. Greece had done extraordinarily well to get through the knock-out stages, never mind all the way to the final, but logic went, as it had done so many times already during the tournament, out of the window. For all of the vast array of attacking options at their disposal, the Portuguese seemed to freeze on the night, and were unable to break the Greek defence down. The winning goal came, again, from Angelos Charisteas from a header. One of the more remarkable features of Euro 2004 was how little these headers were picked up from corners. Their goal was hardly attacked again for the remainder of the match, and the match finished with a global celebration as the Greek diaspora celebrated its nation’s biggest ever sporting triumph.

England vs Croatia

The Best Of Greece At Euro 2004

All of which ties up our series of tournament reviews. We’ll be doing the Champions League final live on here this evening, then there’ll be a preview of the play-off semi-finals this weekend, and we’ll start having a look at the runners and riders for this year’s European Championships over the weekend and at the start of next week. Busy times.

They started with a nervy 1-1 draw against Switzerland at Wembley, in which they failed to settle after taking a first half lead through a goal from Alan Shearer. A late Swiss penalty levelled things up. Scotland, meanwhile, were unable to break the Dutch down in a 0-0 draw at Villa Park. The second match was loaded with historical significance – England vs Scotland, the oldest international fixture there is, in the finals of a major tournament for the first time. It was a disappointing first half, with Scotland having the better of the play. Eight minutes into the second half, however, Shearer headed England in front, but England were still largely unable to impose their will on the game, and with twelve minutes to play, Scotland won a penalty. McAllister’s penalty, however, was saved by Seaman’s elbow, England broke quickly, and Gascoigne scored a brilliant goal to finish the game off. The Dutch, meanwhile, had beaten Switzerland by the same score. The final match left England requiring a draw against the Dutch to guarantee their place in the next round. It was a very even first half, punctuated by another Shearer penalty, and with the English glad to hear the half-time whistle after a strong finish by the Dutch. No-one could have been prepared for the second half performance, however. Two goals from Teddy Sheringham and a second from Shearer put them 4-0 up, and with Scotland leading the Swiss 1-0, it looked as if both Home Nations would go through, before a late Dutch consolation by Patrick Kluivert sent the Scots out on goal difference.

The other three groups went largely to type, with the biggest surprise coming in Group C, where Italy failed to qualify. They lost 2-1 against the Czech Republic, and could only draw 0-0 against the Germans in their final match, with Gianfranco Zola missing a penalty. All the excitement came in the other group match between the Czech Republic and Russia. The Czechs raced into a 2-0 lead inside the first twenty minutes, but the Russians pulled it back to 2-2 and took a 3-2 lead with five minutes to play, before an equalizer from Vladimir Smicer with two minutes to play put them through and sent the Italians home. France qualified comfortably as the winners of Group B, with the Spanish scrambling through in second place after a late goal from Guillermo Amor gave them a 2-1 win against Romania. In Group D, Portugal (in their first finals since 1984) and Croatia (in their first tournament finals) qualified at the expense of the holders, Denmark, and Turkey.

The first quarter-final between England and Spain was a disappointing match, which ended in a fortunate 0-0 draw and a penalty shoot-out. In open play, the chances were few and far between. Spain had a goal incorrectly ruled out for offside and Alan Shearer should have scored from a couple of yards out but put the ball over the crossbar. The penalty shoot-out started badly for Spain, with Hierro hitting the crossbar after Shearer had put them in front. The cathartic moment came with England’s third penalty, when Stuart Pearce’s exorcism of his 1990 demons was almost disturbing to watch. After Gascoigne gave them a 4-2 lead, Miguel Angel Nadal’s shot was saved by Seaman and England were through. The second quarter-final saw Holland and France draw 0-0, with the Dutch continuing their penalty nightmare after Clarence Seedorf missed, allowing Laurent Blanc to send an unexceptional French side through. After two such disappointing matches, Germany beat Croatia 2-1 to get through, with the Czechs managing the goal of the tournament – their goal, a spectacular lob from Karel Poborksy being enough to win their match against Portugal.

The first semi-final, between France and the Czech Republic, finished in yet another 0-0 draw, and this time the French luck run out. Reynald Pedros missed with the final penalty for France, and Miroslav Kadlec put the Czechs through. The second semi-final, between England and Germany, was a national event, played in atmosphere of considerable tension following a surprisingly ill-advised front page in the Daily Mirror, which summed up all of the worst traits of the tabloid press in shouting “Achtung! Surrender!” at the German team. Shearer headed England in front after just three minutes, but a German equalizer from Stefan Kuntz cancelled it out. England were the better team throughout the remainder of normal time and extra time. Shearer headed inches wide just before half-time, and in the first period of extra time, Darren Anderton hit the post from six yards out when he should really have scored. Five minutes later, Germany had a goal from Kuntz disallowed for pushing, and then Shearer shot across goal and Gascoigne couldn’t quite get on the end of a shot across the penalty area. It was thrilling stuff, worthy of the final itself, but the teams couldn’t be separated and it went to penalties again. This time, England’s luck ran out and, after both teams had scored their first five penalties, Gareth Southgate missed, and Andreas Moller put the Germans through.

Against this background, and from a purely English perspective, the final was a massive non-event. The Germans and the Czechs had already met once, with the Germans having won 2-0 at Old Trafford in their opening match. It was a disappointing match, with the Czechs taking the lead just before the hour with a Patrick Berger penalty. Germany equalized a quarter-final of an hour later, when Bierhoff headed in unmarked from a free-kick. The Germans then won the match with the first “Golden Goal” of the tournament, when Bierhoff’s shot was spilled by the Czech goalkeeper and dribbled over the line. The truth of the matter is that there was there was practically nothing to choose between the German and English teams, and since they were the ones that had got lucky in the semi-finals, they deserved their win at Euro 96. For England, who rode their luck and wore out the nerves of the watching public on the way, one suspects that it might just be the last time that they get this far in the finals of a major tournament.

England vs Netherlands

England vs Scotland

The tournament, held in Sweden, would be shrouded in controversy before it started. The collapse of Yugoslavia had begun with the collapse of the country’s federal government a couple of years previously, and by the start of 1992 Bosnia was engulfed in a horrific conflict and the United Nations had imposed sanctions on Yugoslavia. The team had performed promisingly at the 1990 World Cup, but at the last minute, UEFA decided to uphold the sanctions and expelled the Yugoslav team from the tournament. As the group runners-up, Denmark were requested to make the short journey across the Baltic Sea to make up the numbers. The Danes weren’t particularly keen to enter in the first place. One player, Michael Laudrup, refused to cancel his holiday and didn’t play. His brother, Brian, was called up in his place. Most of the rest of the Danish players, however, did turn out in Sweden. The eight entrants were arranged into two groups of four, with England, France, Denmark and Sweden in one group. Germany, the CIS, first-time qualifiers Scotland and the Netherlands made up the other group. Italy and Spain failed to qualify altogether.

The tournament started with a 1-1 draw between the hosts, Sweden, and a French team that was in a transitional stage between the successful team of 1986 and that which would win the World Cup in 1998. The following day, England (who had, after performance at the 1990 World Cup and a decent qualifying campaign, had high expectations for the finals) huffed and puffed to a goalless draw against Denmark. In the second round of matches, England drew 0-0 again, this time against France, while Sweden practically booked their place in the semi-finals with a 1-0 win against Denmark. Going into the final round of group matches, any of the four teams could still qualify for the finals. Denmark surprised France 2-1 in Malmo book their place in the semi-finals. The England vs Sweden match would go on to become famous for being the first match when the true folly of hiring Graham Taylor would become apparent. England scored first, a very early goal from David Platt, but Jan Eriksson levelled early in the second half, and a wonderful goal from Thomas Brolin gave the Swedes a thoroughly deserved 2-1 lead. It was this point that Graham Taylor withdrew Gary Lineker for Alan Smith, a decision that would create the mistrust for him that would undermine his position in the media for the remainder of his time in charge.

The other group contained the favourites, Germany, and their arch rivals, the Dutch. Both sides started off surprisingly unconvincingly. The Dutch needed a late goal from a young Dennis Bergkamp to claim a 1-0 win over Scotland, while the Germans left it even later – an injury time equaliser from Thomas Hassler snatched a 1-1 draw for them against the CIS. The second round of matches saw Germany beat Scotland 2-0 to knock the Scots out with a game to spare, while the Dutch’s 0-0 draw against the CIS effectively put them out, too. In the final game, the Dutch comfortably beat Germany 3-1, while Scotland picked up a tidy consolation win with goals from Paul McStay, Brian McClair and Gary McAllister beating the CIS. The semi-finals, therefore, threw up Sweden against Germany in Stockholm, while the Netherlands would face Denmark in Gothenberg. In the first match, the extent to which the competition had failed to capture the imagination of the public became apparent when just 28,000 people bought tickets for the 40,000 Rasunda Stadium in Stockholm for the hosts’ match against Germany. After a dull group stage, the semi-finals were a lot more open. Thomas Hassler gave the Germans an early lead, and it looked all over when Karl-Heinz Riedle doubled their advantage just before the hour. However, Thomas Brolin pulled a goal back for Sweden and, when Riedle made it 3-1 to Germany with a couple of minutes to play, Kennet Andersson pulled a second goal back for Sweden to get German nerves jangling again.

The second semi-final is one of the featured matches for this competition. The Dutch had been expected to roll the out of shape Danes over in their match in Gothenberg, but the Danes took an early lead through Henrik Larsen. Dennis Bergkamp levelled for the Dutch when his shot slipped under the body of the Danish goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel, but Larsen retook the lead for the Danes just before half-time. Denmark held out until four minutes from time, before Frank Rijkaard levelled things up. There were no more goals in extra-time, and in the penalty shoot out that followed it, only Marco Van Basten, the hero of four years earlier, missed, with Kim Christofte scoring the penalty to knock the Dutch out. The Germans were the clear favourites to win the final, but the Danish team had a built up a clear head of steam by now, and John Jensen gave them an early lead. The Germans battered away at the Danish goal, but an inspirational performance from Peter Schmeichel kept the score down to 1-0, before Kim Vilfort put the result beyond any doubt. The Danes, who would probably have been the underdogs of the eight entrants had they had the same amount of time to prepare as everyone else, had achieved something truly incredible in dragging themselves off the beaches of the world and beating the very best in Europe.

Netherlands vs Denmark – The Match

Netherlands vs Denmark – The Penalties

Denmark vs Germany