So emotional* - Whitney Houston

The 4th official held up a board to indicate that there'll be 3 added minutes before the game ends. Oh, no!!!! i cried out. The last 15 minutes had been bad enuf - and now, i had to endure another 3 minutes. A horrible feeling of déjà vu came over me.

I could see the headlines now - Liverpool's season has come to an end!!!! After being knocked out of the FA Cup and League Cup, and having no chance watsoever to win the EPL, they will now bow out of the Champions League the same way how they lost to Man Utd just a few days ago - by a stoppage time goal after dominating the whole game!!!!

I could hardly sit down nor could i bear to watch - and my teeth nibbled on me nails...

But the final whistle came - and along with it, a sense of total and absolute relief. As the TV screen flashed with scenes of the LFC players congratulating themselves and the fans celebrating, and as the P.A. system at Anfield played the familiar Gerry and the Pacemakers' song, You'll never walk alone, i found tears forming in me eyes...

No, i'm not exaggerating. And yes, i still surprise meself at how emotional i'll get over a silly footie game. After all these years of seeing Liverpool perform badly and lose - being a LFC fan in the 90s has not been easy - i thought i'd be immune to see them get beaten, especially by the reigning champions of Europe. But i'm not.

I remember sleepless nites when Gerard Houlier's LFC get beaten and knocked out of the Champions League.

Why is it that football matches evoke such deep emotions? Last nite also saw shocking scenes of the Valencia-Inter Milan match where players were involved in a brawl - which looked worse that the Chelsea-Arsenal one we witnessed a couple of weeks ago (see pics here).

And thruout the years, we have heard and read about the violence that a football match can trigger, how even a player was once murdered because he conceded an own goal during the World Cup competition.

Like it or not, football does play a big part in our lives - here in M'sia, and esp so in the UK. And as was shared during a lesson last nite, it is an international language - something which transcends boundaries and bring people together. I remember those days of going to watch matches at the SU Bar - and even tho i'll go alone, i won't be watching it alone - everyone will suddenly be a fren... or a foe! ;-P It is nice when at the end of the game, both set of fans applaud the winners and losers for such an entertaining fare.

It is nice to have passionate fans - but not fanatical!!! Let's hope us fans will always be the former and never the latter.

p/s - as i sent me neice to school in the morning, i was surprised to find the normally jammed roads with heavy traffic to be clear!! And i wondered whether was it becuz of the 4 am Champion League matches!!!

p/p/s - photo above taken from BBC News Online

*Her first no. 1 of 1988, it was also her 6th no. 1 in a row.