In week of pain United’s heroes cry tears of joy
FOR just a couple of hours the world almost felt normal again.
Here in Stockholm a game of football filled that terrible void that comes along in the immediate aftermath of something atrocious.
That’s what makes sport special. It takes us somewhere else for a while and helps people forget their problems.
That was the responsibility of this game, the Europa League Final between Manchester United and Ajax.
Some things were different of course. Like the scaling down of what should have been a showpiece occasion.
There was no opening ceremony. The Swedish singers booked for the night had been cancelled. This wasn’t the time for pomp.
Sombre
Jose Mourinho wore a smart but sombre black outfit and appeared focused yet reflective on the touchline.
Both sides wore armbands of the same colour and the minute’s silence had to be turned into applause instead when a moronic few couldn’t keep quiet, despite everything that had happened less than 48 hours earlier.
The emotion was raw, with the chant of ‘Manchester, Manchester, Manchester’ being the last noise ringing around the stadium when the game kicked off.
But some things were just the same too and this was the comforting thing about what had destined to be an otherwise uncomfortable night.
Like the familiar banners hanging from the United end. The ones that read ‘Keep the Faith’, ‘Forever Red’ and ‘One Love’.
Like the smoke and flares spewing from the opposite end where the Ajax fans were. Like the team photo – albeit containing 11 sombre United faces – and the handshakes between the two teams.
Like the fast attacking football of both sides, the cheers, jeers and the
appreciation of two fallen giants of European football giving their all in their quest to get back to the top.
Like when Richard Arnold, United’s group managing director, jumped up to pump his fist in the air when Paul Pogba gave United the lead.
Just over 24 hours earlier Arnold had been helping the United board devise the best reaction to the senseless events back home, where 22 people including children had been killed.
But this was like a temporary comfort blanket. Not just for him but all the rest of us left struggling to come to terms with how wrong the world can be.
Mourinho didn’t celebrate Pogba’s goal. He didn’t celebrate the second one either from Henrikh Mkhitaryan. Those around him on the bench did, but they were muted.
That’s because it almost felt wrong to be happy. How could some people feel like celebrating when others elsewhere were enduring such pain and loss?
Yet all Mourinho and his stars could do was their jobs. They weren’t the people who should have been feeling guilty. We all know who I’m referring to – and I refer to them as ‘people’ in the loosest possible sense.
This was all about United living up to their name and coming together with a show of defiance mirrored by the brave people of the very city they were representing.
It was all about two sets of players from different backgrounds and beliefs coming together to share a common goal and experience. It happened too.
Nothing will erase the pain and suffering of this week’s atrocities. Not even the power of football can do that.
But perhaps for a little while, the game made some people smile again.