Liverpool 1-0 Chelsea (4-1 on PKs)
Milan 3-0 Manchester United
It's all over but the crying, after Kaka and Clarence Seedorf ripped apart Manchester United's back line again to take Milan to another final. There are some intriguing implications to these results, for the winners and the losers. Tragically for Manchester United, their shot at a second treble is over, despite a lead in the league and the FA Cup final still ahead of them, so that's one epic storyline evaporated. However, the FA Cup now doubles as the consolation tournament for the losers, since Manchester United will play Chelsea in the final that could have been. The final that will take place between Liverpool and Milan is a rematch of the rather legendary 2005 final in Istanbul, where Milan took a first half lead and sent a dejected Liverpool squad to their locker room down 3-0. Down there, they heard the thunderous singing of Liverpool supporters which could be heard all through the neighborhood, and rallied to come back and tie the game, winning on penalty kicks after a crazy Dr. Octopus inspired performance in goal by Jerzy Dudek. So this could be a hell of a stomping by Milan, or another epic game, and I can't help but look forward to it. The other implication of this result is that Liverpool have knocked Chelsea out of the big dance twice in the last three years, Man U has led them all year in the league, and unless they win the FA Cup final, the only silverware they'll get is from beating Arsenal's youths in the Mickey Mouse Cup. The CL semi-final, FA Cup final, and second in the league is pretty good, but the celebrations and trophies the last few years fall well short of the level of Caligulan decadence Roman Abramovich seems to have been expecting from bringing his bulging briefcase of dodgy money into English football and making it rain. Jose Mourinho, while he is an unbelievable asshole, obviously has some sense of talent and tactical acumen to have coached up Porto to a Champions League title, something he can't seem to do with Chelsea despite having more talent in one building than the Justice League of America. Apparently it doesn't matter how much money you pour in if your mercenary team never passes to each other, and they all bunker down like they're afraid of the ball and hope for a lucky break... it's like the worst two recurrent themes of Dutch and Italian national team football rolled into one ugly display, to the point where I can't watch Chelsea play without fast-forwarding until a goal is scored and somebody has to come out of their own half.
But that's just me. And that Liverpool-Milan final looks like a lot of fun, especially since I feel like I haven't seen a CL final in two years (I honestly keep drawing a blank on who played in last year's final, then I look it up and repress it all over again).
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