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Which 1 Final Defeat Would You Most Like To Have Been A Win?


Bjornebye
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Which 1 Final Defeat Would You Most Like To Have Been A Win?  

83 members have voted

  1. 1. Which 1 Final Defeat Would You Most Like To Have Been A Win?

    • Milan - European Cup - 2007
    • Real Madrid - European Cup - 2018
    • Sevilla - Europa League - 2016
    • Dortmund - Cup Winners Cup - 1966
    • Burnley - FA Cup - 1914
      0
    • Arsenal - FA Cup - 1950
      0
    • Arsenal - FA Cup - 1971
      0
    • United - FA Cup - 1977
    • Wimbledon - FA Cup - 1988
    • United - FA Cup - 1996
    • Chelsea - FA Cup - 2012
    • Forest - League Cup - 1978
      0
    • Arsenal - League Cup - 1987
      0
    • Chelsea - League Cup - 2005
      0
    • City - League Cup - 2016
      0

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  • Poll closed on 24/01/21 at 08:17

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It's got to be one of the European finals. You get a crack at the domestic competitions every year, as painful as losing a domestic final can be. But a European final can be a generational opportunity and losing one is much, much worse. So, for me (in order):

 

Real Madrid, 2018

AC Milan, 2007

Sevilla, 2016

 

Losing consecutive European finals in 2016-2018 was horrific. Which is one reason 2019 was such a relief (almost more than joy). 

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I've already voted for the 1996 FA Cup final and stated why.

 

2018 in Kyiv was a massive gut-punch because practically everything that could go wrong went wrong. We lost our most prolific attacker early on thanks to Ramos undulging in the dark arts. We didn't have adequate attacking impetus from the bench. Ramos gave Karius a concussion. Karius then had an absolute nightmare with not one but two howlers. Bale scored a 1-in-100 worldy. It was a sickener given how well we'd played in the competition.

 

2016 in Basel was a sickener because we went in at half time and didn't come back out. We'd not been brilliant as such in the competition, scraping through a weak group, but we'd put in good performances and got some great results in the knockouts that made it feel like we might just go all the way.

 

2007 in Athens is an odd one. Of course I was disappointed afterwards but weirdly not gutted. Not because I knew we'd be back the following year or something (the team needed an overhaul and had only just scraped a top 4 place), but probably because we'd won this a couple of years earlier when we really shouldn't have. Rafa obviously didn't want us to get blitzed like in Istanbul so he set up the team with the handbrakes on. Trouble is, Ancelotti did the same with his team because he feared that the same thing might happen. The scars were still too fresh. A more dynamic starting line-up and we could have really got at that Milan side.

 

Look at any of the other games on the list, and the common theme seems to be that we just didn't turn up on the day. Even when we've won cups in the last 20 or 30 years, we haven't played particularly well. Alaves in Dortmund was a great first half but we did pretty much the same as against Sevilla in the second half. It was an incredible game with an incredble finish but only because we didn't take charge of the game when we had a commanding lead. It was weird because we'd proven to be adept at shutting down games that season.

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On 23/01/2021 at 20:37, dave u said:

I voted Milan in 07 because I went and the journey home was miserable because that was a game we should have won.

 

I almost went with Sevilla though because losing that tarnished everything that went before it. Beating United, the Dortmund comeback.... counts for nothing because we blew it in the final. 

 

The Madrid defeat really hurt and I'd have 100% picked that if it wasn't for us winning it a year later. I think that loss was probably the reason we won it a year later so I don't look back on that defeat in the same way I did.

 

Another one that I often think about was the Chelsea FA Cup one. I'm convinced that Big Andy's header was over the line and if that had been given we'd have won that game as we had all the momentum. Would have been nice for Kenny to do a cup double before FSG sent him packing.

I'm with you on both of those, Dave.

 

In Athens I could feel a really shitty atmosphere knocking about around the complex and just knew it wasn't our night. Same for the 2012 cup final. Travelling through London on various trains, didn't encounter a single Chelsea but just had that bad vibe all day.

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The ones that hurt the most were Wimbledon 88 and United 96. 

 

In terms of historical achievement, you'd have to say that United 77 was horrific, stopped us from winning the ultimate treble (the one they go on about constantly). I was only 6 then so not particularly bothered, but historically it's deffo up there. 

 

Wimbledon 88 hurt enormously, mainly because 9 times out of 10 we would have wiped the floor with them. What's so galling is that i feel that side in particular was denied three consecutive doubles by virtue of that abhorrence against Wimbledon, Hillsborough the following year and then 4 brain farts against Crystal Palace in 90.  

 

As an aside, if we hadn't have battered West Ham a few days prior to the Arsenal title decider, i think we would have gone into that game with a different mindset, but ultimately it was just one game too far after the horrors of April 15.

 

But to think that wonderful side had the chance of three consecutive doubles and ended up with none still rankles with me.

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18 hours ago, dave u said:

We'd never have signed Alisson so I'm not so sure about that.

I think the ideal scenario would have been to win but for the Karius fuck ups to have still happened. We'd been linked with Alisson for a while before then so we still may have got him.

 

It's Kyiv for me anyway. One of the best weekends away I've ever had. If we'd won it would have been the best.

 

I've been to two European Cuo finals, Istanbul and Kyiv.  I always thought Istanbul was amazing because of the match. I didn't like the place itself that much and it was very moody in the ground at half time. Had we lost I wouldn't have looked back at that trip with the fondness I do but the celebrations made it brilliant.

 

I really liked Kyiv and the atmosphere around it was great even after we'd lost.

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27 minutes ago, aRdja said:

Europa final vs Sevilla... I still remember the giddiness I felt at half time. 

Watched that one in St Pauls club in West Derby , free curry, chips and rice at half time . Went into the queue cock-a-hoop and by the time I got back to my seat we had already been Moreno-ed. Scran was nice though.

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Also, i think your age is important to how you vote here. I was still a teenager in 88 and a young man with no responsibilities in 96, so footy, your mates, getting smashed and having a laugh were highest on my agenda then. Fast forward to the Sevilla game in 2016 and whilst you still experience the highs and lows, either feeling doesn't last as long. I put this down to having kids and growing up, and realising that in the grand scheme of things football isn't that important in comparison.

 

Bear in mind that one of my most vivid memories of childhood is being in bed and listening to the 1979 FA cup semi replay against United, on a transistor radio under my covers. The heartbreak was absolutely overwhelming when Jimmy Greenhoff's header knocked us out and i bawled my eyes out.  My auld fella came in to the room, saw how devastated i was and said "you can't win them all, lad". He said later on that was the moment that he was really proud of me because he knew there was no way i was ever getting out of the love affair with the club.  

 

In terms of highs, Istanbul will never be bettered. There is no contest.  

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1 hour ago, Total Longo said:

 

In terms of highs, Istanbul will never be bettered. There is no contest.  

Istanbul still hasn't sunk in yet. I don't think it ever will. We expected to beat Spurs, a defeat would have been catastrophic. We shouldn't have had a chance against Milan. It still gives me goosebumps but like thinking about the enormity of space, I just can't think too much about it. It's too surreal. Too brilliant. Too unbelievable, to this day. 

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1 hour ago, Total Longo said:

The heartbreak was absolutely overwhelming when Jimmy Greenhoff's header knocked us out and i bawled my eyes out.  My auld fella came in to the room, saw how devastated i was and said "you can't win them all, lad".

That was me after the 77 Cup final.

(Except my Dad was a United supporter in those days!

He ended up hating Ferguson and is now a neutral.)

 

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