One Night In May | OneFootball

By Imraan Adam

The living room was packed that night. My mate Ikram sat next to me, his head in his hands. Dad sat next to him with a blank look upon his face, while my sister, Aareefah (Reef), sat in the doorway along with my three cousins, all huddled together on the floor.

The room was silent. The only noise was the TV and occasional whisper of “Allah-hu-akbar”, god is great, echoed around the room. “Oh, What a save by Dudek. How on earth did he keep that one out?” said Clive Tyldesley, the commentator on ITV. I looked at the heavens, thinking, “I can’t take much more of this.”

It had been a long night and I had felt just about every emotion known to man. From nervous to disillusioned, from hopeful to ecstatic and everything else in between. I’m sure the Blackpool roller coaster doesn’t have this many twists and turns.

“And here we go. The European cup will be decided by a penalty shootout,” said Tyldesley.

I broke out into spontaneous prayer, trying to remember passages from the Qur’an as the players got ready for the shootout. In reality it only took five minutes for the players to get ready but it seemed like an eternity. I kept thinking about the events that had occurred over the course of the night.

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The night had started so tragically, AC Milan scoring within the first minutes. “No! Where was the marking,” said Ikram.

“Never mind, it’s early days. I’d rather it was the first minute than the last minute,” I said in a relaxed voice.

Reef burst into the room. “What happened? You’ve got to be joking. How did that happen?” she said as she looked at the score on the screen. My cousins followed my sister into the room, “Oh no!” they all screamed. Admittedly, I was disappointed about the early blow, but I didn’t think too much of it. I knew the implications of scoring too early from the Carling Cup Final earlier in the season, when Liverpool scored in the first minute and then ended up losing the game. I also knew we were capable of scoring, so I wasn’t too worried, but things were going to get worse.

“Penalty!” I shouted at the top of my voice.

“Come on ref, he clearly handballed it,” said Ikram, frustratedly.

While we were complaining about the dodgy decision, Milan went up the other end and scored a second.

“No! I  can’t believe that, said Reef.

“That was a penalty! What the hell is the ref playing at?” I said in a very angry voice. Little did I know there was still one more blow and it came four minutes later.

“Come on, this is ridiculous,” said Reef, in a disheartened voice as the third goal went in.

“Three-nil down. It’s all over. We might as well turn it off,” said one of my cousins, Attiyyah.

“Oh come on Attiyyah, show a bit of pride,” I said.

“Well, she’s right. This is AC Milan we’re talking about. There’s no way we’re doing this,”  said Ikram.

“Well, I don’t care, I’m Liverpool ’till I die,” I said determinedly, as the players walked off for half time. I turned and looked at my sister, she was almost in tears. Admittedly I also felt like crying, how can such a good day go so wrong in the space of 45 minutes.

During the half time period, I kept thinking about all the great comebacks Liverpool had, pulled off in the past; hoping for a miracle. As the players came out for the second-half, I said one last prayer in desperation. I might as well have been on my knees begging Allah for some sort of miracle. Little did I know what lay ahead, the best six minutes of my life. Liverpool came out fired up for the second-half and Gerrard looked like a man possessed. Within five minutes, we got our reward.

“Riise on the left. Cross is blocked by Cafu. Riise will get another chance. In it goes. GERRARD!!!” screamed Tyldesley.

“Goal! Come on! Come on! Two more! Allah, pleases two more!” I shouted in an excited voice.

“It had to be Gerrard! Come on! Come on!” said Ikram as he jumped on me.

There was a cry from Reef. “We’re back in it! Come on Liverpool,” she said as my smallest cousin, Ebrahim, picked up his elder sister, Ammarah.

It’s amazing how the room’s atmosphere changed in that one second. All of a sudden we had hope. It wasn’t a lot but it was hope and we had the momentum.

Two minutes later we were back on our feet

“Alonso to Hamann. Hamann finds Smicer. It opens up for Vladimir SMICER!!!” screamed Tyldesley.

“YYYYYYYEEEEEESSSSSSSS! COME ON! COME ON! ONLY ONE MORE! ALLAH, PLEASE ONLY ONE MORE!” I shouted at the top of my voice

“I swear ,Immy, If we do this,s I’m going to jump on you, COME ON LIVERPOOL!” screamed Ikram, already jumping on me.

“We’re well and truly back in it! Game on! COME ON, LIVERPOOL!!” shouted Reef, while in the process of hugging Attiyyah.

At this point, Milan were rocking and you could see the equaliser coming a mile off. Shouts of “Come on” echoed around the room as we waited.

“Gerrard bust into the area and is BROUGHT DOWN!” said Tyldesley.

“PENALTY!” I shouted.

“Has he given it?” said Ikram in an inquisitive voice.

“I  don’t know,” said Ammarah.

“Shut up. I  can’t hear,” said Reef.

“It will be Xabi Alonso to step up,” said Tyldesley.

“Yes! He’s given it,” I said in relief.

A cloud of anxiety hung over all of us as we held our breath while waiting for Alonso to take the penalty.

“Alonso against Dida. Oh, Dida’s saved it! Alonso’s got the REBOUND!” announced Tyldesley.

“YYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS! GET IN. COME ON LIVERPOOL!” I shouted, almost leaping out of my wheelchair as I tried to grab Ikram and pull him onto me.

“Immy, I swear this is the best match I’ve ever seen!” Ikram said, while jumping on me again.

“And it could get even better!” I said enthusiastically.

I turned to look at Reef who just ten minutes before was almost crying. Now she was jumping about along with my cousins.

“We haven’t won. Try to calm down, there’s still a long way to go” I said. For the next half an hour, I sat praying. I really needed the loo, but I dared not leave the room.

“What you doing?” Ikram asked me.

“I really need the loo, man,” I said, crossing my legs tighter than usual.

“Well, go!” Ikram replied

“You expect me to leave now? There are only three minutes left. I’ll hang on.”

Those three minutes seemed to take forever but when the final whistle did go, I called my auntie Abeda to take me to the loo. While I went for what was literally the quickest wee of my life – splash and dash – my Dad walked in. He had been out for most of the game visiting a friend in hospital. They had the game on there so he hadn’t missed out on a lot.

Extra-time seemed to take forever and apart from that one Dudek save that I mentioned earlier, not a lot really happened. So here we all sat waiting for the shoot-out to begin. The coin toss determined that Milan would take the first penalty. I saw this as a good thing seeing as we would take the last penalty.

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Milan’s first penalty taker walked up to the area. It was Serginio, the Brazilian, who had a pretty good record when it came to taking penalties. My hands began to sweat as I clenched them even tighter. Only one phrase kept going through my mind, “Allah-hu-Akbur”.

“And he’s skied it!” said Tyldesley

Sighs of “YES” rang around the room In relief. I turned to Ikraam with my fists clenched tight. “Come on Liverpool!” I whispered. There was no reaction from Ikraam, only a smile appeared on his face, as he was too busy praying.

I turned to the TV set to see Didi Hamman walking up for Liverpool. I tried to blank out the memory of him missing in the Worthington Cup Final four years before but it kept playing in my head like a bad song.

“Come on Didi, you can do it!” I kept thinking. As he stepped up to take the penalty, I saw the Milan keeper Dida diving in the right direction. My heart stopped for a moment as if the anticipation was too much to bear.

“It’s there! 1-0 Liverpool!” said Tyldesley. We all cheered, “YES! I cheered in a determined voice as shouts of “COME ON LIVERPOOL!” came from Reef, while she watched with her hands pursed against her lips.

Pirlo  stepped up for Milan as the penalties seemed to come faster and faster. It  was at this point that I noticed Dudek doing what can only be described as a dancing starfish routine on the goal line.

”What on Earth is he doing?” I  asked lkraam in a soft voice.

“I  dunno,” said Ikraam, who was too nervous to speak. I saw Pirlo side foot it to his left as Dudek dived in the same direction.

“He’s saved it!” cried Tyldesley. We cried, “YES!” with an extra note of determination.

Cisse was next up for us. He had been injured for most of the season and I couldn’t help thinking if this would affect him. Thankfully, it didn’t as he stroked the ball into the right-hand bottom corner, putting us 2-0 up. The penalties seemed to come thick and fast now. Tommason next up for Milan, who scored.

Riise was next up for us. Of all the Liverpool players, I was sure he would have scored but I was forgetting one little thing, it was a penalty shoot-out and nothing ever goes to plan. So true to form, Riise had his penalty saved and all of a sudden it was game on for what seemed like the hundredth time that night.

Kaka was next up for Milan, another Brazilian. I  kept hoping that two would miss that night, but he didn’t. Instead he blasted the ball in and it was 2-2.

Vladimir Smicer was next for us. He had a knack for being, how do I put this, not the most reliable Liverpool player. Again my heart stopped beating. I knew this would be his last kick of a ball in a Liverpool shirt and a kept thinking, “Make it a good one son!” It  was thankfully. I  started to think of victory, we all did, trying not to get too carried away with ourselves. I had been here before with England and then tasted the bitter taste of defeat.  I then saw  Shevchenko walking up. I Immediately started thinking of our next penalty taker, who happened to be Gerrard, as I was so confident that Shevchenko would score. After all how can the European Footballer of the Year miss the decisive penalty in the Champions League Final? We all thought that Shevchenko looked pretty confident. Looking back at it now, it was probably nerves rather than confidence.

“There will be no more second chances if Shevchenko misses,” said Tyldesley. We all held our breath. The anxiety was too much.

“AND DUDEK SAVES IT!” Tyldesley cried.

I exploded with raw emotion. We all did. I turned to Dad, who was half way across the room and running towards me.

“YES! YES! YES! YES! YES!” everyone cried with delight.

Dad ran over to me, undid my belt, and picked me up.

“Come here my boy!” he said, while lifting me up in the air.

I gave him a hug and then turned to Reef, who had Attiyyah thrust high up in the air, while Ebrahim, did the same to Ammarah. I felt something on my back, it was Ikram.

“Immy, I swear we’ve done it bro, we’ve done it!” He shouted in my ear.

“I know  man,  I  know!” I yelled back

At this point dad’s mobile started ringing, we knew who it was, it was uncle Arif, but none of us could be bothered to pick it up. We were still too  high. At this point all I wanted to do was give Reef a hug, but Ebrahim got in the way so I decided to hug him first. I then finally got to Reef over what seemed to  be a hundred bodies.

“Come here sis, we’ve done it, we’ve done it!” I said, while diving on to her.

“I know bro, come on my lads!” she replied. I then turned to Ikraam, who had a gleaming smile on his face, and I gave him another hug before sitting back in my chair. As uncle Arif couldn’t get through on Dad’s mobile, he rang on the house line. My auntie Abeda picked it up before handing it to Reef.

”Aareefah, I CAN’T TAKE IT! I CAN’T TAKE IT!” he said, almost in tears of joy.

”I’M COMING OVER. I’VE GOTTA COME OVER!” he said again. Reef turned to me, ”Uncle Arif’s coming!”

“I knew he would,” I replied, still overwhelmed by what had just happened.

Considering Uncle Arif lives about five minutes away, it took him two and a half to get to us. As he rang the doorbell, we knew what to expect. Auntie Abeda opened it and he ran in, kicked his shoes off, threw his keys and jacket on to the floor before jumping on Dad’s back.

”YES!” he screamed while punching his right fist in the air and grabbing Reef with the other hand. I sat there with my arms open waiting for him to jump on me, but it seemed to take an eternity for him to notice my signal. He finally came and gave me a hug.

While we were waiting for the players to get to the podium so Gerrard could lift the cup, I shouted at Reef, ”Where’s my scarf?”

“It’s over here!” she announced, before handing it to me.

“Mum got me this.” I thought, while I pulled it in close to me as if mum was there giving me a hug.

I looked up just in time for us to wave it before Gerrard picked the illustrious cup up to all our delight.

I went to bed that night with a smile bigger than the Cheshire cat himself but I  couldn’t sleep as I  kept thinking about what had just happen.

So Liverpool became champions of Europe for the fifth time in the club’s history and tell you what, no matter what I,  Reef, Ikram or Liverpool Football Club do in the future, I’ll never forget those special hours during that one night in May.