Champions of Europe for the 3rd time!

So, our third Champions League trophy. Fergie’s second. I’ve always felt that the criticism of Fergie or United over the years concerning our performances in Europe were stingingly (sic) legitimate, but tonight and infact this season I think we’ve shrugged them off majestically.

WE’RE CHAMPIONS OF EUROPPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

I think that only the most partisan of supports will believe that United weren’t the best team in Europe this year. We certainly had the tougher of the draw (though Chelsea were ‘luckier’, ultimately you beat what is put infront of you and shouldn’t be maligned because of a draw), and we played some fantastic teams while Chelsea had to overcome the might of Fenerbache and Olympiakos before their titanic clash with Liverpool.

Analysis of the final itself:

I think very, very few people were unsurprised when we came out with a 4-4-2. I thought it was going to be a 3 man midfield with Hargreaves, Scholes and Carrick there to cancel the threat posed by Lampard, Ballack and, um, Makelele. Either way, didn’t matter much cause after 10 minutes of the usual sparring we absolutely stormed the first half. United were, quite literally, all over Chelsea. Essien was made to look like a complete muppet by Ronaldo time and again, and when the goal came few could’ve sat up and said they didn’t see it coming. Brown and Scholes combined on the right for Brown to, with his left foot, hit an inch perfect cross as Ronaldo jumped to head an absolute peach of a header. Cech was left stranded, and all he could do was watch the ball fly gloriously into the net.

After that, we had two fantastic chances to seal the game. Rooney took the ball off of Carvalho 5-10 yards from the corner flag in OUR half, went 20 odd yards ahead and hit a superb crossfield ball to Ronaldo, who took it in his stride and with one touch sent it into the box for it to be met by a Tevez header. Cech pulled of a stunning save to deny the wee Argentinian, and the ball came to Carrick on the 18 yard box line, who struck it first time pretty much straight at Cech who pulled off another great save to keep Chelsea in the game. Carrick had time, and could’ve easily taken another touch and it put it to either side of Cech for the second.

Another really good chance came when Rooney pinged a ball across the 6 yard box from the sideline, only for Tevez to just miss it while stretching.

We could’ve, and should’ve, been 3-0 up.

Ofcourse, though, Chelsea were to come back. If nothing else, they are a remarkably resilient team, and it doesn’t matter how they score or anything, really. Essien hit a weak 30 yarder which, amusingly, was deflected 3 times straight into the path of mr deflected-goal-king himself, Lampard, who coolly slotted it home – though he was aided by a slipping Van der Sar.

1-1, half time. Chelsea, undeservingly and completely against the pattern of play, still in the game.

Second half and Chelsea came out all guns blazing. Allegedly. They did have more possession and the game WAS being played in our half, but by and large there was nothing special going on. United kept them at length and it took a slipping Drogba’s magical strike that bounced off the woodwork to bring to light the fact that the game was precariously balanced. Soon, Lampard again got a great chance 8-10 yards out which, again, hit the woodwork. Twice, we escaped.

Nothing happened though, and the game went into extra-time.

Around the 102 minute mark, we had another great chance and Evra burst through the Chelsea backline to deliver a great and simple ball to Giggsy (he came on to replace Scholes) who instead of hitting it proper tried to ‘chip’ it with the outside of his foot, allowing Terry to strain his neck and just head it over the bar.

116 minutes in, Drogba got sent off. Why? United had a throw in, and the ball was thrown to Tevez who was supposed to hand the ball back to Chelsea. Instead, he hit it out near the corner flag and called on the United players to pressurize Chelsea. The Chelsea players took offense. Why? Cause they’re twats who conveniently forgot that they’d do the same thing only minutes ago, and had done it in normal time too. Cue Drogba being the petulant, sulking bitch that he is slap Vidic, right infront of the ref. Straight red.

Allegedly, at this time Mr. Chelsea and captain Class-less ’snotted/spat’ at Tevez too. Something definitely happened, because the moment Terry did that Tevez felt the back of his neck for blue, scummy phlegm, but aside from that there’s not much conclusive evidence. Something DID happen though.

Penalties. The dreaded penalties.

Ronaldo missed. Somehow. Unfortunately. And that’s when I felt the game was gone. Carrick stepping up to score was beautiful, because I really didn’t expect him to score. I felt three players on our team were certain to score; Tevez, Ronaldo and Hargreaves. Ronaldo failed, but the other two hit perfect penalties. Anyway, Terry then went on to, um, SLIP, majestically and his penalty hit the post and went wide. I really thought we were dead and buried when he went to take the penalty.

Anderson and Giggs then converted their penalties (again, didn’t expect either to score!) and it was time for Anelka, the ex Arsenal-Liverpool man to step up to the plate. He failed. His penalty was saved by Van der Sar and THAT, is how we became CHAMPIONS OF EUROPE!

Now, a couple of additional points:

Many Chelsea fans – deluded ones, obviously – are arguing that over 120 minutes Chelsea deserved to win, because if you take out the first half they were in control for the remaining 75 minutes.

The problems with that argument are numerous. First, the statistics show that United had 58% possession. Second, United had 12 shots on goal compared to Chelsea’s 24 (I think). However, United had 5 on target, Chelsea had 3. Van der Sar had to make ONE save, Cech had to make 4.

Statistically then, only a moron and a mong would argue that Chelsea held the upper hand.

We always looked more dangerous on the counter, and Chelsea did have possession in our half – a lot of it – but they created fuck all with it. As I said before, they DID hit the woodwork twice, but we had 3 chances too. Not half chances, but 3 proper chances. I fail to understand how possession 35-40 yards from goal gets translated into ‘deserve to win’ when no chances are created. Our start in the league this year was like that; lots of possession but no chances. No one went out sayign we ‘deserved’ to win!

Anyway, that cunt Drogba got what he deserved, though it was a shame because aside from the stupidity of some Chelsea fans post-match, both teams were very much equal on the day. It was a shame that it had to come to penalties because neither team really deserved to lose. They both came out to play football, rather than play out a drab game ala last year’s FA Cup final.

So, commiserations to Chelsea fans. We’ll see you next year again as I’m certain you’ll push us to the wire (only to lose to us again!). Trophyless season btw, who was it who questioned me when I said you’d end up without a trophy?

oh and Frank Lampard’s post match interview – class. I don’t like the guy cause I think he’s massively overrated etc etc, but that interview was magnanimous and without any self-pitying. My opinion of him has risen substantially now (and i’m pretty sure that’ll compensate for the loss of the CL )

I don’t really know what to say about this

For Abdel-Qader Ali there is only one regret: that he did not kill his daughter at birth. ‘If I had realised then what she would become, I would have killed her the instant her mother delivered her,’ he said with no trace of remorse.

Two weeks after The Observer revealed the shocking story of Rand Abdel-Qader, 17, murdered because of her infatuation with a British solider in Basra, southern Iraq, her father is defiant. Sitting in the front garden of his well-kept home in the city’s Al-Fursi district, he remains a free man, despite having stamped on, suffocated and then stabbed his student daughter to death.

Abdel-Qader, 46, a government employee, was initially arrested but released after two hours. Astonishingly, he said, police congratulated him on what he had done. ‘They are men and know what honour is,’ he said.

Rand, who was studying English at Basra University, was deemed to have brought shame on her family after becoming infatuated with a British soldier, 22, known only as Paul.

She died a virgin, according to her closest friend Zeinab. Indeed, her ‘relationship’ with Paul, which began when she worked as a volunteer helping displaced families and he was distributing water, appears to have consisted of snatched conversations over less than four months. But the young, impressionable Rand fell in love with him, confiding her feelings and daydreams to Zeinab, 19.

It was her first youthful infatuation and it would be her last. She died on 16 March after her father discovered she had been seen in public talking to Paul, considered to be the enemy, the invader and a Christian. Though her horrified mother, Leila Hussein, called Rand’s two brothers, Hassan, 23, and Haydar, 21, to restrain Abdel-Qader as he choked her with his foot on her throat, they joined in. Her shrouded corpse was then tossed into a makeshift grave without ceremony as her uncles spat on it in disgust.

‘Death was the least she deserved,’ said Abdel-Qader. ‘I don’t regret it. I had the support of all my friends who are fathers, like me, and know what she did was unacceptable to any Muslim that honours his religion,’ he said.

Sitting on a chair by his front door and surrounded by the gerberas and white daisies he had planted in the family garden, Abel-Qader attempted to justify his actions.

‘I don’t have a daughter now, and I prefer to say that I never had one. That girl humiliated me in front of my family and friends. Speaking with a foreign solider, she lost what is the most precious thing for any woman. ‘People from western countries might be shocked, but our girls are not like their daughters that can sleep with any man they want and sometimes even get pregnant without marrying. Our girls should respect their religion, their family and their bodies.

‘I have only two boys from now on. That girl was a mistake in my life. I know God is blessing me for what I did,’ he said, his voice swelling with pride. ‘My sons are by my side, and they were men enough to help me finish the life of someone who just brought shame to ours.’

Abdel-Qader, a Shia, says he was released from the police station ‘because everyone knows that honour killings sometimes are impossible not to commit’. Chillingly, he said: ‘The officers were by my side during all the time I was there, congratulating me on what I had done.’ It’s a statement that, if true, provides an insight into how vast the gulf remains between cultures in Iraq and between the Basra police the British army that trains them.

Sources have indicated that Abdel-Qader, who works in the health department, has been asked to leave because of the bad publicity, yet he will continue to draw a salary.

And it has been alleged by one senior unnamed official in the Basra governorate that he has received financial support by a local politician to enable him to ‘disappear’ to Jordan for a few weeks, ‘until the story has been forgotten’ – the usual practice in the 30-plus cases of ‘honour’ killings that have been registered since January alone.

Such treatment seems common in Basra, where militias have partial control, especially in the districts on the outskirts where Abdel-Qader lives.

While government security forces and British troops have control over the centre, around the fringes militants can still be seen everywhere on the streets or at the checkpoints they have erected. And they have imposed strict laws of behaviour for all the local people, including what clothing should be worn and what religious practices should be observed. There are reports of men having their hands cut off for looting and women being killed for prostitution.

Homosexuality is punishable by death, a sentence Abdel-Qader approves of with a passion. ‘I have alerted my two sons. They will have the same end [as Rand] if they become contaminated with any gay relationship. These crimes deserve death – death in the name of God,’ he said.

He said his daughter’s ‘bad genes were passed on from her mother’. Rand’s mother, 41, remains in hiding after divorcing her husband in the immediate aftermath of the killing, living in fear of retribution from his family. She also still bears the scars of the severe beating he inflicted on her, breaking her arm in the process, when she told him she was going. ‘They cannot accept me leaving him. When I first left I went to a cousin’s home, but every day they were delivering notes to my door saying I was a prostitute and deserved the same death as Rand,’ she said.

‘She was killed by animals. Every night when go to bed I remember the face of Rand calling for help while her father and brothers ended her life,’ she said, tears streaming down her face.

She was nervous, clearly terrified of being found, and her eyes constantly turned towards the window as she spoke. ‘Rand told me about the soldier, but she swore it was just a friendship.

‘She said she spoke with him because she was the only English speaker. I raised her in a religious manner and she never went out alone until she joined the university and then later when she was doing aid work.

‘Even now, I cannot believe my ex-husband was able to kill our daughter. He wasn’t a bad person. During our 24 years of marriage, he was never aggressive. But on that day, he was a different person.’

The mother is now trying to raise enough money to escape abroad. ‘I miss my two boys,’ she said. ‘But they have sent a message saying that I am wrong for defending Rand and that I should go back home and live like a blessed Muslim woman,’ said Leila, who is now volunteering with a local organisation campaigning for better protection for women in Basra.

One of those running the organisation, who did not want to be identified, said that Rand’s case was similar to so many reported in Basra, with the only difference being she was in love with a foreigner, rather than an Iraqi.

‘There isn’t too much to say. Rand is dead. It is a tragedy and will be a tragedy for many other families in Iraq in the days to come.

‘According to information we have been given, some from Rand’s colleague, we have doubts that her love was reciprocated. We have the impression that Rand was in love, but the English soldier wasn’t. But, for a girl to be paid nice compliments about her beauty and her intelligence, it was enough for her to think she was in love.

‘She isn’t here any more for her mother to ask any of the questions she would like to. Rand’s case had repercussions because she fell in love with a foreigner. But what about the other girls murdered through “honour” killings because they fell in love with some of a different sect, or lost their virginity, or were forced to become prostitutes?’

Rand’s mother used to call her ‘Rose’. ‘That was my nickname for her because when she was born she was so beautiful,’ she said.

‘Now, my lovely Rose is in her grave. But, God will make her father pay, either in this world … or in the world after.’

From here.

Now I know this isn’t ‘religion’ per se, but more the emphasis that culture can play on shaping beliefs and customs, and how religion is occasionally used to brought into context to explain such behaviour. Unless I’ve been living in a complete bubble for my whole life, I’m fairly certain Islam doesn’t allow nor accept the concept of honour killings. If I’m wrong, and conversely it IS true, then I would be very, very stunned.

About the article itself, on specifically the person; the initial report a couple of weeks ago mentioned how when the father had his foot on his daughter’s throat, the mother called the sons and they were initially confused and angry at the father. Then, the father told them what their daughter had ‘done’ (she had the temerity to talk to a British soldier, one she worked WITH), they helped him murder their sister.

This is where I’m really rather confused. As someone who has a sister himself, no matter what my sister did, if my father tried to kill her I’d take a hatchet to his skull. How do you help your father take the life of your own blood? And on the basis of what? Did they sit him down and ask him to clarify his sources, or where he’d managed to find out that his daughter had committed the horrible crime of talking to a foreign boy? No. They accepted at face value what their father said, and again, helped him take the life of their own blood.

Perhaps the most remarkable and vile thing about this is the father’s tone of voice. Proud, and angry. Unrepentant. Bereft of remorse or regret.

I don’t know. I keep trying to somehow argue that this has nothing to do with religion, but he himself has used ‘religion’ to justify what he’s done. Muslims aren’t the only ones; rural Indians are engaged in this act too. But why do we mix religion here? Why do muslims who commit these inhumane acts feel as if Islam allows for them to get away with this. This utter cretin of a man got away FREE, not to mention he may be having a paid vacation in Jordan. For killing his daughter, he gets a paid vacation.

Really?