Bliss it was to be there

MY phone bleeped in the press box in Wembley on Saturday just as the huge gleaming trophy was lifted to the night sky, silver and gold streamers rained down and fireworks fanned out from the stadium’s arch.

The text was from a good friend in Dublin, as committed a football man as I know. It read simply: “Life is beautiful”.

Some wise man once called sport a magnificent triviality. There was certainly magnificence in Barcelona’s performance on Saturday night but there was nothing trivial in the sight of Eric Abidal, just 71 days after he’d had a liver tumour removed, being given the honour by his team mates of hoisting the biggest prize in European club football — a beautiful touch to complete a beautiful night of beautiful football.