12 am 28th May 2011, The timer had started with an exponential growth of the pulse rate. Sleep was like a commodity, food was nothing but a fuel to pass the time. Every second felt like minutes. It felt like all the time in the world had come to an abrupt halt. I had to find distractions or else i would lose every sense possible. Two more hours left and i was travelling in a parallel dimension. Hardly responding to anyone, all eyes on the TV set, every word that came out of the commentators was like news report and then it hit me, a well placed game by the Barca media Puyol will not play instead Macsherano was opted. My heart had sunk, our leader, our mentor, our Titan of Camp Nou was not on the first team. I had to swallow the facts, feel positive and move forward. The moment the players stepped on the field a sense of satisfaction and euphoria rose. I knew today something will happen and my Barca My Team My Soul will take that very step in the books as the worlds greatest performers. And then it all happened as soon as the whistle blew Man U went rampant. They tore through the barca defense with ease, attacking from wings, center, a complete possession play. I could not be more furious with Barca the way every one was maneuvering the ball. Being intercepted, being pressurized and amazingly man marked. I am very sure the First ten minutes for every Man U fan would have been a delight and a comfort that they would lift the cup this glorious evening. Little as they knew it only takes three man to stop all this rampant. The tri-facta Iniesta, Sergio and Xavi all they needed to was study the Man U movement for the first ten minutes to find gaps and then the game was one. With an impressive 67% possession and 120 complete passes with a comparison to Man U who completed only 55 barca were on there way to change the flow of the tide. A strategy i always study, the Barca Philosophy 10 pass and score. And there it was Tri Facta maneuvering the ball with excellent pace, Ferdinand who had Villa perfectly marked unfortunately with great height a disadvantage always exist, Pedro sneaks as Xavi lofts the ball towards his feet and Ran.The prince of Barca scored the opener. It was ecstasy, my voice was tearing the roof, Barca had scored the opener with and excellent assist from Xavi. The show was far from over, under 10 mins Man U found the gap in the Barca defense and Rooney scored for Man U. At that very moment the palpitation was slowly going down. Puyol was being missed so much, the match went steady again, both the teams had scored 1 each, it was surely an exuberant first half. I went in to deep meditation, my Man U friends were teasing the hell out of me but their word could not penetrate my phase. The entire 15 mins of break i only analyzed the first half and the mistakes Barca was making. Were they not pressing enough, the gaps were well guarded, the defense line was too much too handle or was it the mid field? Those 15 mins were the longest 15 mins i every had to spend. As soon as the second half started there was a weird sense of settlement in my mind that WHAT IF!!! Barca came out strong their one twos were so quick that not a single Man U fan could track them. They were all over the place, Left to Right Center to Diagonal, completely unstoppable and Under 10 mins the Great Boy Wonder our Spine, our angel our Messi took the greatest shot Man Kind could ever had seen,as it swung passed Van Der Sar towards the right side of the goal post, Barca were 2 up. I had completely blacked out, I saw my friend running towards to hug in joy, I could not recall any sound or anything it was like i had lost every voice in my body and my head was out of the roof, people say drugs give you a hallucination that channels you to an other dimension, meaning the cerebral cortex gets effected. Well Messi's goal was like a drug i recommend only the true Bluagranes. Barca had once again trampled a giant under there feet. It took another 15 min for Barca to seal the deal. A beautiful passing coordination between the tri facta and sergios pass to villa with a beautiful chip shot to the right corner of the goal. Villa had finished the game. Strategically every attacker scored and every mid fielder assisted. It was the game of the decade and Barca were a part of it. The greatest night had to come to an end, with Abidal lifting the cup after fighting the tumor was a show of courage and dedication. The team celebrated their fourth Champions League Trophy and made history. The manager Pep Guardiola have sealed his name as the elite. I as a part of the Barca could not express how i feel about my teams performance, but thank God to be alive to witness and be a part of the greatest football team the world had to offer. VIVA LA BARCA!!!
.jpg)