Time for some reminiscing.
Dull tepid affairs
The finals of major football tournaments can be dull tepid affairs and low scoring matches are often the order of the day. You sort of feel this year that won’t be the case, I certainly hope so. The expectation is for it to be a cracker! The market is currently reflecting that view, which would make a nice change from the normal.
The Miracle of Istanbul
One of my favourite finals has to be, obviously, the 2005 final. Chelsea’s, or should I say Drogba’s, eventual triumph was extraordinary but when Liverpool reached the finals in 2005 it was against all expectations. Throughout the premier league season, there were ribbed for being in the champions league with chants of ‘Champions league, you’re aving a laugh’ only for Liverpool fans to reply ‘were aving a laugh’ when the remarkable comeback was in full flow.
2005 charts
Rather than add to the plethora of data that will be pushed at your today, I thought I would trawl the archives to see if I could find some charts from that match. As somebody who archives everything, I thought I may have them and I did! At 3-1 up AC Milan were 1.01 and £292k was matched at those prices with another £million matched at 1.02 & 1.03. Turnover for the matched at that point was £17.3m with £13.5m matched on AC Milan. Of course, we all know what happened next.
After that third Liverpool goal went in AC Milan were still 2.50 for the match, but it was never to be for them and Liverpool pulled off an incredible victory. If we get anything close to that tonight, I’ll be happy. Here’s hoping for an entertaining final.
