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LAZIO HOME 4-11-04
Written by Steve G
Of the last thirty six hours, fourteen of them have been spent driving, only four of them used for sleeping, I am absolutley shattered and I need to be in Köln at ten o'clock tomorrow morning. Was it all worth it? Hell, yes- without a shadow of doubt!
The pre match discussion was based around the question of whether this was the biggest night in the history of Middlesbrough Football Club? It quite possibly was and nobody so far has managed to name a bigger one. Twenty two hours after the event, I am more than convinced that if it was indeed our biggest ever night, that it will only remain so for a short period of time.
The question doesn't have too much relevance anyway because it has now been completely overshadowed by the post match discussion of whether this was Boro's biggest ever performance? Again, nobody has so far suggested a better one.
In short, we thrashed the tournament favourites. There is absolutely no argument about that and whilst Lazio may claim a pretty dire injury list, ours is nothing to envy either.
The Riverside looked imposing as it appeared on the nighttime Teesside skyline. Some even likened it to a recently landed UFO and that description proved slightly ironic as Boro put in a performance that can only be described as 'out of this world'. Or as The Wizard of Smog christened it- 'torrential'.
Superlatives were in plentiful supply last night as Boro took the game to the Italian giants and totally wiped the floor with them. The travelling Lazio fans were silenced for good as early as the first quarter as the red tide swept forward and overwhelmed our illustrious opposition with wave after wave of adventurous offence. When the sky blues did get past our iron midfield, their moves were quickly mopped up by the impeccable Chris Riggott and a defence that looked like it would not be breached if the game was still being played now.
Ray Parlour was a Hercules in midfield and Jimmy Floyd even managed to make time to act as midfield playmaker in the hope of restoring the scoring patterns of his mate Mark Viduka. Whoever called him selfish should send a written apology right away. The Italian defence did not know how to deal with Big Mark and the total teamwork philosophy in force at The Riverside was demonstrated in style by matchwinner Bolo Zenden, who bagged his third in two. Stewart Downing reinforced the belief that he is the best player in the universe and it's hard to see how Michael Reiziger can get his place back with Tony McMahon in such devastating form.
On the night, every single player was a warrior and the ones that have not been mentioned here deserve a special mention for putting in the most solid team performance that I can ever recall being witness to. So stand up, Mark Schwarzer, Gareth Southgate, George Boateng, Franck Qeuedrue and Joseph Desire Job. Every one of them heroes to the cause.
This masterful performance could be packaged up and labelled 'How to beat a European giant in the most dynamic fashion imaginable.' Or 'How to announce your arrival as a future superpower.' Or 'How to win a tournament by scaring the other teams to death.' Yes- Boro were that good. And this is only the beginning.
We not only beat the UEFA Cup number one seeds, we completely destroyed them and now, the rest of Europe really should be in awe of us. Forza Boro, the new UEFA Cup favourites, Europe's new darlings and everybody's new 'second team'.
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