It was a privilege being at Old Trafford on Sunday afternoon. A drab March day when the rain came and went in sudden showers was made glorious by a football match sent from the heavens, an FA Cup tie between two giants that made us remember how much joy the game can bequeath to those who love it.
Being there exaggerates the emotions, I suppose, but perhaps because there were so many things riding on the outcome and because it ebbed and flowed and because the result was a shock and because it was two kids who combined for the Manchester United breakaway goal that won it in the dying seconds, it felt like one of the greatest of all cup ties.
Old Trafford has seen some momentous occasions but of the United matches I have seen there in the last years, I'd put it in the same bracket as United 3-0 Barcelona in a 1984 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter final, United 1-0 Everton in the FA Cup quarter-final of 1983 and United 4-3 Real Madrid in a 2003 Champions League quarter-final.
Anyone who was lucky enough to have been at one of those matches came out of them feeling as if they were walking on air, either because they were a United supporter or just because they loved the tumult and the chaos and the joy of football and its ability to make people forget and its ability to make people happy.
On Sunday, I heard that in the guttural roars of the crowd and saw that in the face of that boy that the television cameras picked out in the moments after Amad Diallo had clipped in the United winner in the 121st minute of an amazing game, his face creased with tears of wonder and exultation, not quite able to believe the emotions it had unleashed in him.
So how much can a match like that change things? It will always be remembered as one of
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