In the Famous Words of Mr.King....

... why can't we all just get along?


There has been an uproar lately over this song that was written by a Malaysian Chinese by the pseudonym of Namewee entitled "Negarakuku". Here's the video, it's mostly in Mandarin..






After watching the video initially, I thought it was very well thought of and there were a lot of facts in there about the racial bias the government shows. For starters, I am sure we are all very aware of the fact that there is a bumiputra bias towards the intake of students at our local universities.


He also makes a great point about the Tourism Board being so quick to bring up our racial unity and our Chinese culture and heritage when promoting the country overseas. In truth, the government doesn't give two shits about the Chinese education system, for example, many Chinese schools have to survive on their own.


Things got out of hand however, when the media got wind of this video and started reporting it in the newspapers. One thing led to another and suddenly the government decided to stick its noses in.


A look at the Youtube video's comment section reveals a very ugly side of the Malaysian community. Racial slurs and hate speech were flung at each other. Malays telling the Chinese to go back to China and were in turn, branded "pigs".


The fact of the matter is, underneath all the media hype and well-scripted commercials promoting our racial unity, there is a lot of tension between the races in Malaysia. Racial unity? Half truths and whole lies. There are racists everywhere, I've seen and heard a lot of friends mock and slander the Malay race for being corrupt, lazy and inefficient.


I am not excluded. I will not take the moral high ground. I will say, however, that there is no smoke without fire. My sister contracted tuberculosis lately, a very contagious and serious disease. It's a long story but we were made to run around in circles by the government hospitals.


Supposed specialists treated my sister as if she were the plague itself, asking her to stand at a distance and warning her sternly to not cough at them when she hasn't even done a thing! Such was their "fear of dying". None of the two designated hospitals were willing to treat her. We ended up going to a private specialist centre. The doctors and staff in question were Malay.


Another example of the stereotypical Malay inefficiency or simply another example of inefficiency?


We encounter all of this incompetence everyday and because of the many things we heard from people about Malay laziness, we immediately associate them with every single scenario that we stumble upon. Typical Malays, we say.


The racial bias that the government adopt gets on my nerves, to be honest. For them to be preaching racial unity just smacks of irony. Having said that, I harbor no grudges. I have learned to just let it be. Just look in the mirror when you complain about the brain drain because I wouldn't think twice to jump at a better offer from another country if it comes my way.


This is a post about racism, not patriotism. Note the difference.


The realization that I have come upon is this is all irrelevant to me. I've grown out of racism and stereotyping. Just like how not all Chinese are swindlers and arrogant bastards, not all Malays are lazy and inept. So what if they have special privileges, wouldn't surviving without these advantages just reflect better on you?


I REFUSE to break into cliche and turn this post into me preaching about how we must all stick together through thick and thin. Just that we shouldn't stoop down to the lowly levels of racial discrimination and provoke hatred among the community. We should just all live together in peace and harmony. Treat others how you'd want to be treated. Love thy neighb.... damn it, can I start over?

The Walk

There was a thunder rumbling from the distance as the raindrops started to fall. Surely there wouldn't be a thunderstorm, I thought. I quickened the pace of my footsteps. There has never been heavy rain of any kind since I got here; only gentle drizzles. I got my hoodie out of my bag and wore it over my shirt anyway.



It was a weird day; today was the last day I'd be at my hall before I move out for good. To be honest, I never really thought I'd miss this place as badly as I did. It didn't really impact me that much until the final week when I realized my stay here in England was coming to an end.




Seeing my blockmates leave today and realizing I probably won't be seeing them again felt a bit depressing. Nikki with her witch-like laughter, Anna, my next door neighbour who I never really talk to much to be fair, John, who's probably my best mate at my block, Sam, Charlotte, Peter the fake Korean, Ha Man, Jae Min, Ryan the West Ham supporter, Baz, Natalie and the rest.




Good times, good times but such is life, we all have to move on. There really isn't much choice, or time for that matter, to dwell on it too much. Cliched as it sounds, it's just another chapter in life.





Walking past the Portland Building, I recalled my first week on campus when I was still new to the place and trying to soak in the surroundings. It was funny being a newbie around the place feeling so excited about his one year stay in England and having a long checklist of things to do and places to visit. The campus was really scenic and beautiful but time has a way of making everything seem ordinary after a while.





I suppose being out on my own felt great as well. No hassles from anyone and being free to do whatever I wanted to. Not that my parents had an iron grip over me back home but still, that feeling of freedom is amazing. Even for a year though, I started to realize that the sense of responsibility that automatically comes with that "freedom" makes you grow as a person. It could be an exaggeration but after all that exposure, you definitely come back from your overseas studies a more mature and wiser person.





I'll be going home in about a week's time and I get the feeling I'll look back at my time here a lot. Not just the place but the friends and the company I've had. All the laughters and fun we had is definitely something I'll be reminiscing regularly. All the stupid stuff we did at the bar crawls and parties and our trips.




I'll miss the bad dinners at the halls, the annoying cleaning lady that wakes me up every morning, the missing of lectures, the late night assignment deadline scramble, getting on the bus to go to the city and catching up on Lost, Heroes, Prison Break with my blockmates. All the little things. Strolling down memory lane is a lot of fun.




Dr. Vincent once gave a great advice to me and it was to never let your subconscious mind take control over your life and it rang so true. I've been routinely going to lectures, worrying about assignments and chilling out with my mates to actually stop and digest the experience.




Oh well, time will always move too fast for everyone's liking but I can't say I didn't cherish my time here. Even so, when the time comes to go our separate ways, I still can't help but feel dispirited and depressed.



I had quite a walk yet. I reached into my pocket and started to untangle my ear phones desperately as my Ipod screen started to get blurred out by the drizzle. It took quite a few more tugs at the wires before I finally manage to stick them in my ears. My thumb reached for the play button and the shuffle of songs brought out a familliar tune.




John Mayer's acoustic ballad, "Daughters".





Just like I suspected, and I really didn't want to be proved right on this occasion, the rain started to turn into a heavy downpour. I pulled the hood over my head but that obviously didn't save me from being fully drenched. Not a single thunderstorm in my 9 months here and God decided to take the piss today.





"Just perfect," I smiled.

"Being a Clutch Student" for Dummies

After racing against time to finish up on my revision for my 2nd year finals, I now consider myself a bit of an expert in the art of last-minute revision. Do not let anyone fool you into thinking it's not the right thing to do.




Naturally, there are perks in doing things at the eleventh-hour, namely, information not having the time to escape you. We all know what it feels like to revise 2 months before the exams and not remembering a thing a week before the papers. You'll be pleased to find out that last-minute revision eliminates that possibility; allowing you to read away without fear.




That's not all, last minute revision also gives you that warm self-satisfaction of knowing that you "could have done a lot better had you not procrastinated", hence, feeling a lot smarter than you really are. Consider it a little mental cushion to fall back on if you bomb your exams badly.




I've picked up a lot of pointers during my past week of speed-scanning module chapters and undergoing the delicate process of trying to master Solid Mechanics III in 2 days. Regarding the latter, I am happy to announce that I think I did myself justice in there. It's a totally different story for Fluid Mech however, but hey you know what, I could have done a lot better had I not procrastinated!




You just have to love the idea of reading up your study materials the night before your exams. That adrenaline rush of knowing you're in deep shit hours before a paper cannot be had anywhere else. This definitely has to be at the top of the list for any thrill-seekers out there.




Any nerdy newbies who are interested in indulging in some procrastination of their own will do well to follow some of the guidelines I am about to recommend. During this 2 week ordeal, I've compiled my very own TOP 5 tips for last-minute revision and midnight-oil burning and they are as follows:





Please, for the love of God:





i) D


ii) O


iii) N


iv) '


v) T





Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go sit in a corner and lick my examination wounds.

Reality Check..

I was just randomly browsing through a couple of my friends' blogs when I stumbled onto Germaine's and saw a picture of her and her friend posing with a gigantic 21st birthday cake.



Then it kinda hit me.




Gosh, I am 20 this year?!?!





It wasn't that long ago when I was called "the 16 year old"!!






4 years just like that. Wow... I mean, just... Wow..

Collection of Ramblings...

I tried, I really did. I wanted so much to do consecutive posts without bringing up United but unfortunately, since we won the title last week, I have to gloat a bit.


























So to all the 19 teams who are busy enjoying the fumes from our exhaust. Up yours, losers!!












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Peas are a bitch. I struggle with them every time they serve those green balls of hell during dinner. I don't hate the taste, they taste like corn to me. But it's so hard to eat them with "grace". Especially with a fork!!




Those things just keep rolling off my fork every time I try to lift them to my mouth and it has to be that precise moment when my mouth is wide open and they're almost there; leaving me hanging with that awkward look on my face while everyone wonders why this guy eats like a 4 year old.





Fuck Peas.







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"Even stopped clocks get it right once or twice in a while."



Stumbled onto this proverb the other day. That has to be one of the more thought-provoking proverbs out there. I like proverbs that force you to think for a while. And by a while, I mean 5 seconds because let's face it, if you need any longer than that, you're retarded.



Of course, the saying basically means even the most derailed fool can say something true every so often. In fact, stopped clocks actually show the right time 2 times a day. Think about it. Good one, huh? It's definitely better than the lazier "duh" type of sayings like:



"All good things must come to an end"


"Action speaks louder than words"


"No man is an island"


"A woman's place is in the home"




So anyway, I had a sudden urge to scour the web for new proverbs but I somehow ended up with these. Here are some funny ones that I found over the internet. Not exactly proverbs per se, but I just wanted to share it:




Simon says stand! Simon says sit! Format drive C:! Ha! Gotcha!



Due to budget cuts the light at the end of the tunnel has been turned off.



A rock ----> me <---- A hard place A conscience does not prevent sin. It only prevents you from enjoying it. DOS never says "EXCELLENT command or filename"... Eat right, exercise daily, live clean, die anyway. Keyboard not connected, press F13 to continue If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you. Junk: stuff we throw away. Stuff: junk we keep. A cynic smells the flowers and looks for the coffin. Diplomacy is saying: "Nice doggie!"... till you can find a rock. What on earth is a "free gift"? Aren't all gifts free? There are some proverbs I picked up in primary school that I never quite understood over the years. Yes I do realize that after what I said in the first paragraph, I am calling myself a retard. And yes, they make kids memorize shit-loads of proverbs in Sri KL. English lessons used to be a pain in the arse back then. They'd literally give you pages and pages of synonyms, antonyms, homonyms, idioms, similes, past tense, past participle tense, present perfect tense, future tense and expect you to know them by heart. Like come on, how old were we, what, nine?! Psychopath English teachers. Yes you, Mr.Singh, you're a psychopath. Here are some of the proverb that I never quite understood until recently. "A stitch in time saves nine" "Penny wise, pound foolish" "A bird in hand is worth two in the bush" It took me 5 years till I was in Form 2 for me to understand the first one. When I first saw that saying, I was dumbfounded. Stitch time? What, sewing a clock? How will that save anything? Who the hell are the "nine"? Of course, what it means is stitching a hole now will save you 9 stitches in the future but believe me, it wasn't so obvious back then. The second one, I'll hold my hands up and admit, I only found out its figurative meaning just now when I googled it. If ever there is a sentence stripped down to its bare bones, "penny wise, pound foolish" has to be it. How is anyone supposed to understand what you're trying to say when you speak like a Neanderthal?! I mean really, tell me "Penny wise, Pound foolish" doesn't sound like: "Me Org, Org hungry" "Hulk hate, Hulk smash" "Eat chicken, Chicken good" "Fuck you, You bitch" And then there are some that really do your head in. I know the third one means you should accept what you have and not risk it by chasing something better but really, reading this proverb provoked the kind of "What?!" you'll only get from watching the Matrix trilogy. I mean, come on, If a bird in my hand is worth two in the bush, what's stopping me from throwing it into the bush? It just doesn't make sense. I suspect this is some kind of sick joke conjured a long time ago by a philosopher who really detested hand-jobs.

Russell Peters made me do it!

All of us know who Russell Peters is (right?) and most of us would already have seen his stand up comedy act. I've always found that guy's Chinese impression funny but never truly understood why he made it sound like that simply because I've never actually heard a Chinese speak like that!


That is, until I realized I've never actually heard a Chinese speak.


For the uninitiated, here's the video..






I know, I know, it's a classic. I can never watch this without suffocating from too much laughing. That accent just kills it! No way, who the hell speaks like that?!





So you can almost imagine my situation when I went for a lab one fine day and had a Chinese lab instructor who sounded exactly the same! No, I don't mean his accent bears a passing resemblance to Peters' impression. No, his was a true to the note, totally indistinguishable, audio xerox of Peters' side-splitting parody.




To borrow from Russell Peters: The first time I saw that act, I thought,"Woah! Whoever wrote this is brilliant!" I went to lab today, that's a real language!




What can a poor guy do when he is immediately reminded of all the Russell Peters comedic gems and that Chinese restaurant owner from South Park? He laughs! He was explaining the procedures of the lab and there I was bursting into a maniacal laughter every time he opened his mouth to speak!




You know the feeling when you're trying to hold your laughter in but it kinda "expands" in your chest until you can no longer hold it in? You know the one where your face turns purple and a snort would follow more snorts until you finally break into a fit of sniggers?




Yep, guilty as charged.




What? At least I tried being indirect about it by hiding my grinning smirk behind my lab sheet. That's being very, very merciful, just so you know. Last I checked, proper etiquette for a situation like this is to point a finger straight into the victim's face before letting out a very loud "Ha, Ha!" a la Nelson Muntz from the Simpsons. And an atomic wedgie.




Anyway, I was browsing around Youtube when I stumbled upon this Chinese Restaurant prank. Totally irrelevant but definitely worth checking out. I'm not going to say how the prank works. See it for yourself.








Here's another one about this guy calling a Chinese clock-maker. What's so funny about that? Well, let's just say she has a very unique way of pronouncing "clock". You really have to see this!










Anyway, it became a little too obvious in the end. Being a science man and all, I think his sharp analytical skills would have told him that I was cracking up at his accents. In any case, he should have figured it all out judging from the immaculate timing of my laughters.



Or the fact that I was subtly doing my own City Wok waiter impression to my lab-mates a while later. What? Subtly, guys, subtly...

The Old Trafford Experience

It's been said and heard of from different sources, but after last night, I can say it for certain. There is no match in any other competition that can match a Champions League night at Old Trafford, home of Manchester United.




I was lucky as heck to be able to get my hands on a ticket for the Milan match which means I'd be watching the match alone. That's right, all by myself. Do I mind travelling on my own to Manchester to watch a football match? Do I balls!! It's the fucking Champions League semi-final, the last European game to be played at Old Trafford this season and I'd be damned if I were to miss it!!






















Even though I only found out last Friday that my ticket application was successful, I didn't mind at all. Train tickets booked and good to go. I was very hyped as I made my way to the stadium along with a huge stream of supporters, singing songs as they made their way into the stadium. It's all part of the matchday experience.




These are things you don't get with Manchester United pre-season tours in Asia, where the glory hunters all come out in full force. Malaysian Manchester United supporters should come with the Malaysian Red Devils supporters club to the match in KL on July 28. It'd be much more fun to go to the match with the club. No kidding. Moving on....




I walked straight into the terraces as there really wasn't much to do outside. I've already taken all the photos I need from my past visits to the stadium. I really don't want to spend my money in the Megastore. As a matter of fact, I only had 12 quid on me, of which 5 I spent on a match day scarf, 3 on a programme, and 4 to put aside for the bus ride to Kuan Ching's place.




Milan, 6 time European Champions, went into the match knowing what United did to Roma a fortnight ago when the Reds absolutely tore the Italians apart 7-1. Fact is, there is no team in Europe right now that are playing the kind of football United is playing at the moment: free-flowing, attacking football. Not even the self-proclaimed "kings of silky football" from London, Le Arse.





I duly took my seat at the East Stand. The view was perfect, much better than the South Stand and the North-West quadrant where I was sat the past few times. The stadium was just beginning to fill and right from the outside, you get the sense that everyone was up for it. We know when a huge match is beckoning and everyone outside the stadium making their way in that night was in full voice.



A banner at the East Stand upper terrace with Kaka's face on it caught my eye. The Italians were already there, albeit a little quiet. There was also an entire section of away supporters on the left terrace from where I was at. It did not worry me one bit as I was in Old Trafford, Manchester not the San Siro in Milan so the helmet and body armour was left at home.






















The team sheets were read out to the crowd, confirming what we already know. Our entire defensive line-up were ravaged by injuries. It never is a joy to have to face AC Milan, much less without your entire first choice defence. No Rio, Vidic nor Gary Neville. Patrice Evra was back though, which meant Fletcher did not have to slot in at right back.



By then, the stadium was packed and faint chants of "United, United!" were heard from the West Stand. Like an avalanche that grew in size as it swept across the stadium, it quickly became a loud roar. That was when I first felt the spine chills that European nights offer. Old Trafford became a huge cauldron of noise with songs deafeningly echoing around the stadium. Those that weren't singing were clapping along. Fantastic atmosphere, it was.



One can only wonder what the Italians higher up in the stands were thinking. This is nothing like the quiet half empty stadiums in Italy. This is not the Stadio Delle Alpi in Turin nor the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Benvenuto a Old Trafford, i miei amici.


"We are the Pride of the North" came from the East Stand next, and it really helped that all the supporters around me were vocal. Now I get to sing and chant along without looking like an absolute nutter!


The PA speakers around the stadium started booming. The 2 teams walked out to the pitch and formed a line in front of the centre circle. A familliar tune started playing. It was the Champions League anthem blaring across the stadium. I took a video of it, and it was the last one I'd take that night. I decided to enjoy the match without the trouble of having to hold a camera phone.







The announcer started to announce the players' name on each teams. Each Milan players' name was greeted with jeers and whistles and naturally, every one of the Reds' name (even Richardson) were punctuated with cheers.



By the time the whistle was blown to signify the start of the game, an ear-splitting rendition of "U-N-I-T-E-D" was already doing it rounds around the stadium. United started brightly, and right away Ronaldo was already making runs down the right flank. As suspected, Fergie sent out a 4-5-1 to match Milan's system, with Rooney as the lone striker and Fletcher, Carrick and Scholes the trio in the heart of the midfield.



We had the upper hand for much of the opening minutes, or at least through my red-tinted glasses, we were!! Barely 5 minutes into the game, the East Stand got up on its feet in anticipation of a Giggs corner.


Giggs' ball in was met with a mad scramble and the next thing we knew, the ball was in the back of the net. Who scored, at that point, was unclear but to heck with it. United are 1-0 up! A couple of minutes later, the name Cristiano Ronaldo was announced through the speakers.










It was the perfect start we were hoping for and you can't help thinking about the final already even though there is quite a while to go yet. If the crowd wasn't in high enough spirits before then, they certainly are now! The away supporters were very unlike their English counterparts, barely a murmur came out from the stands. It was a far cry from the exchange of taunts that happens regularly against English away supporters every weekend in the Premier League.



We started extremely brightly and Ronaldo saw a few chances pass him by. Even O'Shea got the crowd going with a couple of step-overs. Milan however, started to do their usual stuff, play keep ball and passing it around midfield.



It is a known fact that English and Italian sides play very contradicting styles of football. The Italians play a patient brand of football and are very good at keeping the ball and tiring the opposition down before striking when an opportunity shows itself while the English sides' first instinct when they have the ball is to attack and press the opponents for it when they don't.



It was pretty evident though that we have an ace against Milan and that is pace, loads of it. Milan just weren't comfortable with our counter-attacks and each on of them were roared on by a capacity 76,000 crowd in the stadium. As the teams look pretty settled, we decided to indulge ourselves with a little jibe at the blue rent-boys from London, the current English Champions, Chelsea:



"Mourinho, are you listening?
You better keep our trophy glistening,
Cz we'll be back in May,
to take it away,
Walking in a Fergie Wonderland"





Which made the Kaka goal at about 20 minutes all the more hard to swallow for Milan did little right until then. A slow build-up by Milan at the left flank was beautifully finished by Kaka, who made a great run from midfield to outpaced everyone else and coolly slotted past Van der Sar.


Everyone was stunned. The away supporters who were subdued before then, came into life and started singing and chanting. Most of them looked in our general direction and started fist-pumping at us. A couple of the Brits on our side told them where to go.



This is where the myth about United fans being quiet when the chips are down goes down the drain. Right away, we responded, roars of "Red Shirts, Come on You Reds" drowning out the Italian chants.



Milan started to dominate our midfield by then but we still managed to create a couple of half chances. Evra got past their defence and really got the crowd on its feet only to be flagged for offside while Ronaldo continued to make his runs but the lack of an end product coupled with his selfishness really got on the crowd's nerves at times.



Nothing was going our way as well. The referee was a right tosser and kept giving bad decisions against us. And at the 40th minute, Kaka struck again. A disaster at the back of the defence left Kaka wide open in front of goal and as much as we prayed God could strike him down, he scored to give Milan the lead. Again, the away supporters magically sprouted into life, sang a couple of tunes and sunk back into non-existence.



2-1 it was and it was going to be a huge mountain to climb. The teams went in at half-time with everyone in the stadium wondering if this was to be our night or were we to fall short again. Noone seemed to be interested at the half-time proceedings. Formula One driver and supposed United fan Mark Webber was introduced but noone gave a toss about him. Hehe, what a loser.



The teams came out again for the second half and there were no changes to either side. Fergie reverted to a 4-4-1-1 though, to give the team a more attacking outlook. To the crowd's delight, right away, the lads showed they weren't going down without a fight and it unsettled Milan. We were first to all the 50-50's and the crowd sensed a comeback and really upped the temperature for the Italian pin-up boys.



Wave after wave of United attacks were thwarted but not before Milan sprang a couple of counter-attacks of their own. When Kaka volleyed over the bar after a series of passes pinged past us, the jeers were more of relief than taunts. 3-1 would really have killed the tie.



The sight of 10 red shirts running at full pace against your ageing legs roared on by 76,000 people couldn't have been a pretty sight but that was what happened. Everyone was cheering on the team. I was slighly overwhelmed, to be honest. I've never heard anything like it. The noise was incredible.



The players seemed to take on the energy from the crowd and upped the tempo against Milan. We could see it then. Milan were bottling it. And what do they do? They started to resort to dirty tricks like time-wasting and diving. Dida took ages for a goal-kick and players started to go down "injured" to pause the game and slow the pace of the match down.



Fletch went in for a clean tackle on Gattuso but the cheating bastard fell like a sack of potatoes. Sorry mate, bad move. The referee awarded a free-kick against us and this time, the crowd really went mad from the sense of injustice. Jeers and whistles resonated around the ground, and "Same old Italians, Always Cheating" chants thundered down onto the field. Not pretty to be on the receiving end, I can tell you that.



Ronaldo was not brilliant but was still keeping at it on the left, tormenting Oddo who must be wondering if the match would ever end. At one point, there were 4 Milan players surrounding United's no.7, and a sweet pass to Rooney came to nothing as Gattuso swept Rooney down to the ground. No booking. Unbelievable. Justice was served when Gattuso came off injured moments later. No hero's applause for him though. He left the field to whistles and boos.



Without Gattuso keeping the ship steady in midfield, Milan's threads began to unravel. They were losing the midfield battle. Every lost 50-50 was greeted with roars. "Come on, you Reds" was a regular theme throughout the match and all our pressure paid off when Rooney scored on the hour mark. Needless to mention, the crowd went ballistic.









2-2. Game on. The away supporters did not show the slightest hint of reaction which is understandable for they knew what was unfolding before their eyes. Milan had cracked. Buckled under the pressure. Noone in the ground believed that Milan would score another one. Kaka, who had been brilliant in the first half, was completely anonymous. From then on, it was all United.



They didn't even have the intention of scoring another one. They knew 2 away goals were enough and it was damage limitation time. And it was. 2-2 was hardly the perfect result for us. We needed at least one more and we knew Milan was very vulnerable at that stage and was there for the taking.



The sight of Solskjaer warming up on the sidelines caught the crowd's attention. "Ole, ole, ole, ole" rang out from the East Stand. What we wouldn't give to have our super-sub save our arses again. Wasnt' to happen, though. None of the starting XI were substituted as it turned out.


It was clear that Gattuso's departure was the turning point as Milan just couldn't live with the pressure United were applying to them. Carrick and Scholes were stringing passes left and right and Fletcher was immense in midfield. Giggs' freekicks came very close and Fletcher had a wonderful shot saved by Dida. He was the only one keeping them in the game.




As the minutes ticked by, the stadium got more tense. Everyone was wondering if that was it. A 2-2 draw.




The 4th official held up the board signalling 2 minutes of added time. Too little time added on after all the Italians' time-wasting antics. I am sure Fergie would have something to say about that.




That sense of injustice was quickly put aside however when Giggs and Rooney broke away from the Milan midfield and started to break.



Everyone in the stadium rose to their feet in anticipation. The Milan defenders back-pedalled desperately at the sight of Giggs running at them at full flight. They knew once they let either Giggs or Rooney past them, they were never going to catch them. Not at age 34 anyway. Giggs then cut infield towards the middle and Rooney cut outwards in the opposite direction.



"Come on, Giggsy, pass it!"



But he didn't. Not immediately anyway. He waited and waited and waited. And then, he slotted the perfect pass to Wayne Rooney and I could have sworn time stopped there and then.


Rooney began to shape himself to shoot....


"yeaa....."


... and the ball rocketed past Dida into the back of the net...


".....AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!"



Milan had totally bottled it and Old Trafford erupted. All the tension and nerves that had been building up to that goal was just let loose. Everyone just went crazy, screaming, hugging each other and jumping. I'll never forget that moment as long as I live. The volume was ear-splitting. This bloke beside me put his arms around me and we just jumped and jumped with sheer jubilation. Football, eh? Fucking hell, indeed!!







As the Milan players dragged themselves to restart the game, a crashing chorus of "Glory, Glory Man United" boomed from the stands. They tried to attack but ended up passing the ball around in midfield till the final whistle. They knew the first leg was over. The referee blew to end the game and again, cries of joy were heard around the stadium.



The players left the pitch to a well-deserved standing ovation and the fans continued to savour the moment. The announcer's voice came on the speakers again announcing the score:


Manchester United 3 AC Milan 2




As the large crowd bottle-necked at the exit, loud renditions of "Oh United, We Love You" were sung by all the reds. I looked to the left where the away supporters were and they began applauding us. They knew how special the night had been, the intensity of the crowd and the sight of United grabbing a late winner yet again. We returned the courtesy.




Of course, the semi-final tie is far from over. There is still a second leg at Milan and the 2 away goals could prove decisive but at that night, nobody gave 2 hoots. From the high spirits of the crowd, you'd be forgiven for thinking we'd won the cup!!




That's Old Trafford for you and I was really privileged to have been able to witness United at our best on a huge European night. Here's to hoping we can go all the way and win the lot. In the meantime, I'll just keep replaying the night over and over again, when I was at Old Trafford. Home of Manchester United, the pride of Europe. The Theatre of Dreams...





















....until you try to make your way out post-match, that is.....