Last season, a young Italian striker from the reserves came off the bench and scored a last minute winner that sent me and 73,000 fellow reds into pure emotional delirium. That goal arguably won us the league. Just as importantly, that goal was one of the sweetest football rushes I had ever experienced in a lifetime blessed with incredible moments supporting United.
Yesterday’s 95th minute winner against our arch rivals was a rush of similar magnitude, albeit preceded by countless moments of rollercoater highs and painful falls.
The scoreline, the reports, the analysis only tell one side of this amazing game’s story.
It’s hard to explain to people the emotional aspect of watching football. Many people understand football support as entertainment, a day out, a match day experience. But for many of us, watching football becomes a need that comes from the emotional highs and lows we go through watching our teams play, all the more hightened in certain 'special' matches.
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The commentary afterwards on the radio, the phone-ins and most media reports concentrated on the defensive mistakes, the goals, the added time, the pitch invaders, the goal keeping howlers, all the factual aspects of the day.
Simply, the real story about yesterday’s game lay in the emotional outpouring affecting all concerned.
I hit highs and sank to real lows, all within a few hours. Within that time I had lost my voice, hugged everyone within a 4 seat radius of me, and jumped up and down like I hadn’t done since my days as a toddler.
Arguably the greatest derby in living memory was characterized not by great play, great defences or attackers, but by the remarkable catalogue of events on the pitch and the passion in the stands surrounding these.
So here’s to experiencing last minute winners, heroes returning as villains, derby atmospheres, love for red / hatred for blue, 4-3 score lines, packed stadiums, full blooded chanting, and everything else that makes football the conduit of our passions, and the best legal high around.
