New Wembley builds a new legend

Keep your eye on the prize!

Believe me, they give off some heat!

It was a momentous week even for Wembley standards. The Venue of Legends staged the world's two biggest club games in three days, then an international.

Nothing, not even the World Cup beats the Champions League Final for quality and now probably, glory as the pride of the Bundesliga, Bayern Munich and Borussia Dortmund squared up.

A winner now, contrast to a year ago

Dortmund togetherness in defeat

The other big game, measured by sheer prize money was Crystal Palace against Watford for the keys to the Premier League and a £145m boost to the balance sheet.

The Champions League Final gets bigger every year. The switch from midweek to Saturday night takes it into the cultural mainstream. From Saint and Greavsie to Ant and Dec, if you like.

The moment the new champions were crowned

The opening ceremony starring a fully-fledged medieval battle between the red forces of Munich and yellow of Dortmund complete with bow and arrows, was kicked off with West End star, the War Horse.

Honestly, ITV missed a huge trick not broadcasting it in their Saturday night output.

Live flares from Bayern fall on fans below

Instead, they stuck with the foursome of drony Philistines pontificating on the irrelevant "could happen" points. While Adrian Chiles and Roy Keane swapped soundings, the choreography outside was literally marvellous. 

And the game didn't disappoint either. Bayern took their chances where Dortmund didn't and the master unlocker, Arjen Robben set one up and scored the other in the 2-1 win.

So often, this was a textbook demonstration of how to attack against how to defend.

Medieval warfare: the opening ceremony

But in Bayern's win, we're witnessing a change of guard at the top of European football. To win it a year after the disappointment of losing to Chelsea in their own stadium is a mark of a mighty setup. Follow that Pep Guardiola! 

War Horse from the West End 

Palace's win over Watford was more cagey. No one was going to be responsble for triggering tears in the boardroom. As it was, the headlines made were more romantic than the match.

39-year-old Kevin Phillips came off the bench to score the most valuable of his 280 career goals against the club where he made his name in his last game before retirement.

Wilfried Zaha was so often the difference for Palace, with his clever touches on the floor and even brainier short-passing. But Manchester United will observe he needs to build on his game, just as Cristiano Ronaldo needed to in his first days at Old Trafford. 

The semi-final vanquished were Real & Barca

England v Republic of Ireland rounded off the crowded fixture list as the FA's 150th anniversary game commemorated darker days between the two countries. It was the first fixture between the two since that ill-fated night in Dublin where crowd trouble brought the game to a premature end.

Frank Lampard's goal-trail continued. His 29th international strike puts him just one behind Alan Shearer in the all-time scoring parade. Who says the Chelsea midfielder can't go on and score half a dozen more for his country? 

New Wembley is building its legend slowly but surely. It's just seven years old, but the atmosphere, particularly in the two club games was noisy, excitable and befitting the occasions. 

For a modern building, it has a soul.

England home and hosed after Warsaw rain!

What it's all about. Oh hang on, it's Terry again!

When qualification for the next World Cup is complete, England may well look back at their 1-all draw in Poland as a good point earned.

Because the rain-delayed match proved very difficult - as did our ability to capture our best form. Jonny looks back at that plus the sometimes excruciating, but mostly entertaining television coverage!

listen to ‘England home and hosed after Warsaw rain!’ on Audioboo

Pole-axed England grab rain-delayed draw

The doubtful chemistry between Keano and Adrian

England's World Cup qualifier in Poland descended into farce as the match in Warsaw was delayed by one very big waterlogged day.

It was totally avoidable too as the Poles decided not to close the stadium roof before it was too late.

For most England fans who couldn't travel, ITV1 was our link to the action. And considering it was four men over the age of 40 looking out the window at a rainy day, the coverage wasn't entirely boring!

As it became more and more apparent the game was a wash out, Gabriel Clarke brought us the politicking behind closed doors, as the two FA's fought over when exactly the game should be played.

At one point, the Poles continued to want to play on the night, determinedly keeping their kits on despite the rain. Then when that was done, November was the fallback position.

England said, "No, we’ve got a friendly in Sweden then."

Here's one we prepared earlier. How the roof shoulda been!

In the end, the game was rescheduled for 4 o'clock the following day.

Lee Dixon joked he'd be wearing approximately the same suit, shirt and tie as before! But the thing we all waited to see was the simmering volcano that is - Roy Keane!

I longed for one more joke where Adrian Chiles used human landmine Keane as its butt. It was raining, Keane was bored, Keane was steaming.

I love watching Keane's punditry. There's that tension while he's listening to the others and a Joe Pesci Goodfellas crackle when he delivers his.

At one point, Chiles ran out of things to say. "Where shall we take the discussion now?". If Adrian had used his radio experience, he could've plugged viewers for rain-based footballers, Ally McCLOUD, Pepe RAINA!

So the game went on (along with the roof, coinciding with the sunniest day in Warsaw) and we had to work very hard for a point.

England top Group H as Wayne Rooney gave us a half-time advantage before a Polish onslaught resulted in a second-period leveller.

Hodgson's men lead Montenegro by a point, but by the time we play them away, they could top the group as they play both Moldova and San Marino leading upto England's game.

Not plain-sailing - an appropriate metaphor for the rain, but England can look back at Warsaw as a good point.

Why should football be about cheating and gamesmanship?

Two telly pundits endorsed cheating in two separate shows on Sunday. In both cases, the reaction of Adrian Chiles and Richard Keys was a rather feeble "fair enough", even though it seemed to offend their sit-on-the-fence sensitivities.

They happened during Andy Gray's Final Word, then MOTD2.

Gray, whose view of the Premier League is now quasireligious, suggested Wayne Rooney's calmish discussion with the ref while walking off at halftime against Fulham, would encourage the man in black to think twice before ruling against him after the break. Another instalment in Manchester United's chipping away at the referee. Sledging, now endorsed by Gray.

Then Neil Warnock explained that Adam Johnson's brilliant equaliser in injury time for Manchester City at Sunderland should've been denied by deliberate handball. 

"The defender would've taken one for the team with a red card and missed a game", but according to Warnock, preferable for Sunderland to test the nerve of a City player taking a last minute penalty then accept a brilliant piece of skill.

That is cheating!

Johnson's winner has put him in Fabio Capello's thoughts on the day David Beckham's England career finished. His exceptional piece of skill would've been buried in that last-minute penalty rather than being enjoyed for a long, long time.

Rooney needed less than two minutes to score the opener for United as the second half resumed. He's got more than enough in his locker not to rely on hounding officials.

If you think I'm being namby pamby - and it should be accepted as "just gamesmanship" it is for me, the slippery slope. Football can't just be about abusing a position of strength over the weak - football matches must be won on merit and brilliance.

Football no longer teaches youngsters about integrity. People like Andy Gray have as much of a responsibility for the game's image as the players out there.

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