Wayne’s goal took the reds another step towards their 19^th league title and their 12^th in the Premier league era. However for me and a lot of people I have spoken to since Saturday lunch time it did so much more. Rooney’s overhead was a moment of sporting genius.

It was a moment that could rival any piece of art or song. A moment you felt honoured to have seen live. It reminded fans of every team young and old, in a time when the punters have become wearied and disillusioned by the modern game why they first succumbed to football’s allure. In a time when footballers have turned into mercenaries(Torres) and players who have spent longer in the jacks than in the league (Carroll) cost up to £35million, it was nice to forget the bullshit of the modern day game and just say “What a hit son” ( to quote a former Sky employee).

Like Bergkamp’s goal at St James Park against Newcastle and Rivaldo’s bicycle kick against Valencia, Rooney’s goal on Saturday will forever be a “Jaysus course I remember that” kind of goal. Quite right too.

The biggest party in club football is being held in the Santiago Bernabeu on May 22^nd . The catch is Real Madrid aren’t invited! It became evident at the final whistle in Madrid last night that the only thing 250 million pounds gets you these days is another season of mediocrity. The new brand of so called “Galactico’s” arrived in the summer and the football world said “uh oh”. However throwing together some of the games biggest names and saying go play doesn’t work!

Maybe it does in Fifa but in reality all those big names and big ego’s will only lead to disaster. So it was quite pleasing to see a team like Lyon dispose of Real with quite some ease over two legs. They don’t have the arrogance or the high profile names but they are organized and play as a team which Madrid haven’t done for quite some time. Real are all too fond of talking about their fantastic history but it belongs really to another century. Since winning the tournament in 2002 when Zidane took our breath away with arguably the best goal the competition has ever seen their record in the competition is pretty pathetic.

Pjanic’s goal late in the game last night means that “Mighty” Real Madrid have failed to qualify for the Champions League quarter finals for the sixth straight season! So imagine the reaction of the world’s most expensive player when he stormed down the tunnel like a child throwing a tantrum to hear the  club he thought had gone as far as they could go when he was there had shipped four without reply against AC Milan which made it seven in two games. And to see his old mate Wayne Rooney taking over the goal scoring responsibility since Ronaldo’s departure with relative ease.

One can only imagine that it left Cristiano feeling just a little jealous. He has openly admitted he misses playing for the reds and hasn’t ruled out a return in the future, but now maybe that door is firmly closed. United have done what they always have and adapted and got on with it when a player like Ronaldo has left and they don’t seem to be missing him one bit. Madrid will not be in next week’s quarter final draw and the “all knowing” Guillem Balaque has indicated that Pellegrini’s time as manager should come to an end. But what good will that do? And who in their right mind would want the Madrid job? A huge name in the game no doubt. A club with a fantastic history of course! A club being run by a nutter!? Definitely!

Who would want to work for Florentino Perez, the man who an hour after Real won La Liga in 2003 sacked Vicente Del Bosque? A man who will now go out in the summer and spend another shameful amount of money  to build a new team. That’s the Madrid way always has been and in truth any success they achieve this way would be hollow. To some up I hope Ronnie caught the highlights of the United game last night and realises like so many ex reds have that anywhere you go after United is a step down. Madrid won’t be in the final on May 22^nd , United might very well be!!

Meeting up with the lads and lady in the Living room and after a pint or three you could feel the energy in the bar. The place was packed to the rafters, everyone anxiously waiting for the biggest Ireland game in nearly a decade to get underway, glued to the big screens like  it was a glorious sunset. I was nervously demolishing my packet of ciggarettes silently praying in the smoking area to God/Allah/Buddah..whoever to get us a result! As the national anthems were about to ring out in the magnificent Stade de France my nervousness had gone away.

For some reason I got the feeling that this could be the night, this could be our night. I’ve followed the boys in green to Germany Cyprus Switzerland to name a few, big games that they have lost . But for some reason I got the feeling that tonight would be different. Maybe it was the shots of the Irish fans in the crowd, maybe it was the way the Irish lads belted out Amhran na bhFiann or maybe it was the pints inside me.

I just thought this has to be it lets get in on!  The first twenty minutes were electric in the bar everyone kicking every ball, cheering every pass, and celebrating every tackle like a goal! The atmosphere was infectious it was like the good old days strangers standing side by side everyone hoping to overcome a common enemy! Half time was approaching and I was enthralled by what I was seeing “my God we’re battering em’ I thought, not even the advances of a very intoxicated young one could take my eyes off the big screen! “Maybe later love!”.

Just when I thought we were going in nil all…Bang!! Keane slots the ball passed Lloris. The bar erupted! It was something you’d see at a Metallica gig in the mosh pit! People were literally crowd surfing beer was flying into the air and I was drenched in Fosters, but I didn’t care we were one up and not even in my dreams did I think we would get on the score sheet! “We’ve got em rattled” I thought “they don’t have any answers“.

As the game was drawing to a close my fingernails chewed off long ago I hoped and prayed that the best performance from the boys in green I’d ever seen would be enough to at least get us to extra time. It was, the final whistle went and was met by a tremendous rendition of Ole, Ole. Extra time was a blur the nerves erasing it I suspect. ‘we’ll take em in penalties’ one of my mates reassured me. And then…The hand of Henry struck!

What’s going on there? I thought. Jesus Given is going mad what’s happened? Then the replay… you cheating ****! When the final whistle did go I sank into a chair don’t think I’ve been that disheartened in a long time!! And the image of Henry sitting beside Richard Dunne on the pitch as if he gave a damn made me want to get sick!

The fact is whether you want to say we had our chances to win it or not we were robbed of our place in the World Cup! It was one of the most obvious handball I’ve ever seen and saying the referee and linesman didn’t see it ? I’m sorry that isn’t good enough! What are they even on the field for then? With all that went on you could be forgiven for not even remembering that it was William Gallas who scored the goal.

A replay would be the right thing to do in this era of “fair play” that Fifa keep throwing in our faces but in all honesty it isn’t going to happen. The team were immense Wednesday night and every single player should hold their heads up high although that will be hard to do. We deserve to go to South Africa but we’re not! As I said it was a dark day for the beautiful game!

For fans of the club it’s that significant it’s one of those moments in time you were honoured to have witnessed. That united team with the likes of Keane, Cole, Yorke, Beckham, Stam, Schemichel etc is regarded as one of the clubs best ever teams maybe even the best. And who could have ever thought that the manager could replace the likes of Keane Schemichel and Beckham. It was the impression that once these players had moved on or were passed it united’s iron grip on English football would be over. But those players one by one did move on and the manager replaced them and built a new team that went on to eventually win another European cup.

And since that night in Barcelona all those years ago the club has won 6 league titles, Two League Cups, The European Cup and the F.A Cup as well as the World club championship. My point is that Alex Ferguson has had to build team after team at Old Trafford down the years. Teams that win trophies the “United way” playing attacking and entertaining football. He has done it so many times down the years and I believe he is about to do it again. However and the manager might just be the first to admit this, this season could be his most difficult one yet. All this because of a young man from Portugal whom Ferguson moulded into the world’s greatest player.

The Loss of Ronaldo to Real Madrid in the summer was inevitable but still hurt just a little. How do you replace the world’s greatest footballer? Long answer short you don’t! You adapt and learn to play without him. It was an interesting summer for united fans watching the team in pre season. They were playing well scoring goals and even Berbatov looked to be enjoying himself. However the big question was once the season starts how will they play? Without Ronaldo can they break teams down?! This season has started just like the last three. The bookies have Chelsea as odds on favourites to bring the title back down to London. It was the same in 06/07, 07/08, and last season and what happened? United won three premier league titles in a row for a second time.

Results have been going our way mainly this season with the exception of the blip at Burnley and recent defeats against Liverpool and Chelsea. But as I write this United are five points behind Chelsea in the second week in November. Things could be worse as the team hasn’t been playing particularly well and one thing united have been able to do down the years is haul back seemingly unassailable leads..Newcastle 95/96 anyone? The emergence of the likes of Evans, Valencia,The Da Silva’s and most notably Darren Fletcher who has come on leaps and bounds in the last 3 seasons for me shows that United are getting progressively stronger not weaker.

Also Gabriel Obertan in recent games has impressed immensely and already looks a far better player than Nani which wouldn’t be hard but thats a topic for another blog entry.  To sum up saying United are not the force they were and that Chelsea will win the league comfortably is a statement that might have you looking very foolish by the end of May. Sir Alex has the quality and the strength in depth to maintain a challenge both in England and in Europe. Never rule out the Reds…..Never!!!

Hi welcome to my blog. The title is Alandonnelly88

I will be writing about sport mainly football however I’m sure there will be a bit about UFC,Darts etc to hopefully keep you entertained.