VECCHIA SIGNORA v MERENGUES

It is only a short step from the Huddersfield Town FC Stadium to Canal Side, the Premier League club's training facility. Today it was a long step from the Under 11 clubs that pursued the final stages of the PPG 6-a-side tournament latter stages and the Hepworth United Juniors Under 11 squad that played in the qualifying group.
By a long step, I meann there was a gulf in class; we played 7 matches of 7 minutes each, drew 1, scored a goal in that draw and scored another in a 1-7 defeat. It was mainly "men and boys" (girls-we had the ONLY GIRL on show by the way) and consequently we did not progress. But the kids had a run out, they tried their best and hopefully they may have learned something.

When the European Cup first was established in 1955, the FA in its wisdom refused to flaunt their club sides on such a unsure, floodlit stage. So there was no English entry but in 1955-6 Hibernian joined in, encouraging Manchester United the following season. Rangers got to the semi-finals in 1959-60, Bill Shankly took Dundee to the semis in 1963 and then of course Celtic won the Cup famously (50 years ago) in 1967.
United then won in 1968 beating Benfica at Wembley. I shall not go on with the British successes but will concentrate on the two finalists this evening.

Real Madrid was first formed in an academic institution in Madrid, where there were graduates from Oxford and Cambridge Universities in need of exercise.

I remember Real Madrid dominating European Cup football from its founding in 1955-6 through to 1960. Here are the goals from 1960 the final v Eintracht Frankfurt at Hampden Park:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1H_89ue5s20
The Spaniards won again in 1966 v Partizan belgrade, lost to Liverpool in 1981 and eventually bounced back in 2000 beating Valencia, winning in 2002 v Bayern Leverkusen, 2014 beating Athletico Madrid, the first time two teams appeared in the final from the same city, and 2016 the two Madrids met again.

Juventus (whose colours were inspired by Notts County FC) met Ajax during the Dutch "period" in 1973 and lost 1-0, they lost to Hamburg in 1983, beat Liverpool 1-0 in 1985 at Heysel and then won in 1996 (over Ajax on pens) and lost in 1997 (to Borussia Dortmund) and 1998 (to Real Madrid). They lost to AC Milan in 2003 and Barcelona in 2015.

1998 meeting of the two clubs.

I'm looking forward to tonight's game being played in Cardiff and hope that Gareth Bale can show off his wares in his home nation. He has won the cup 3 times since he moved abroad and rumour has it that Gareth may be on his way home for good.

The Old Lady v The Meringues!