Tonight is a huge night in football, and when I say football, I mean the game played with the round ball, not the funny-shaped one.  Football is the biggest sport in the world – bar none. Every nation in the world – except the United States – watches it with a passion. In most of those countries it’s the biggest sport. And tonight is the big one. 

Anyway, I’m not here to convert you, just to compare sport and romance. The more I watch football, or top class tennis, or rugby, the more I see similarities between it and romance. I can’t talk about American sports because I’m not familiar enough with them but I’d bet that the same similarities exist.

A football match lasts for 90 minutes, plus injury time, and in certain circumstances, extra time and maybe a penalty shoot-out. The pitch has a goal at each end. The team that scores the most goals wins. There are 11 men (or women!) in a team, and those 22 people plus the on-field referee are the only ones allowed on the pitch during a game.

This structure allows for drama to take place. No two matches are the same, and the result is never a foregone conclusion, but it will be a happy ending for someone. There is ebb and flow, attack and retreat, and individual dramas ensue when one player takes on another or tempers get too high and someone gets sent off. Each team manager has a station, a dugout, where he stands and rants and raves at the players, just to add to the drama. The manager is an older man, sometimes an ex player, sometimes, like Sir Alex Ferguson, a man who was an indifferent player but a superlative manager.

You can become totally engrossed in the game, and all over the world, people do.

The fortunes of football have ebbed and flowed over the years, from a dangerous thug-ridden game to a family sport that is supreme worldwide. The money that goes into it is breathtaking.

And right at the top is Manchester United. After a hard season of ups and downs (retaining the Premiership title, losing the FA Cup in the quarter finals, winning the Carling Cup), they are on the brink of achieving something no other team have done – retaining the Champions’ League Cup. Sometimes known as “Europe,” this is the crème de la crème, where you have to be at the top in order to even participate. Manchester United are playing Barcelona in Rome. Difficult to top that, really.

Each player is a star, from the good-looking prima donna Ronaldo, to the potato-looking but stunningly powerful Rooney. And tonight is their night.

How romantic is that? So I’ll settle down in front of the TV tonight (can’t go, but this is the next best thing) for 90 minutes of drama and excitement. [Ed.: The UEFA Champions League Final is tonight – I think it’s like the European Super Bowl for Soccer.]

Go United!