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"We're deep into stoppage time now, and this game is drifting away from Arsenal. Inter have had nearly all the possession in the last quarter of an hour. They've completely shut up shop. It's beginning to look like there will be no English representation in the Champions League final this year."
"Yes, Alan. Very disappointing. It looked promising when Prutton got one back on the half hour, and you thought they would have what it takes to..."
"Sorry to interrupt, David, but here come Arsenal with Dalmat. Plays it right to Medina. Medina stops, has a look, plays the ball forward. Ah, Aquino intercepts again. The Inter defence have been solid all night, and now they could have a break on. Aquino takes the ball forward. He's got Saviola in support, but he's going to try and take it forwards himself. Flicks the ball past Oliver. That's obstruction. Free Kick to Inter."
"You can bet they'll take their time over this one, Alan."
"Indeed. It never ceases to amaze me. There are five, no six Italians crowded round this innocuous freekick. They're gesturing to each other, seemingly over who will take the kick, but surprise surprise, it's Aquino with the ball. And it's harmless, straight into Scott Irvine's open arms. But it wasted at least thirty seconds. Irvine kicks the ball upfield, and that's it. It's all over. 1-0 on the night wasn't good enough for Arsenal, and it's the 2-0 defeat in Milan that's cost them. They've waited ten years to get back to the final, and they'll have to wait at least one more. Final words Dave?"
"Very disappointed, but you're right. Same old story. Arsenal's poor away form in Europe did the damage. I thought they played well tonight. Gary Teale was outstanding, and Tommy Smith worked hard up front. But the Inter defence were massive."
"So that's it for the Champions League Semi Final from Highbury. Back to the studio."
(Jimmy Rogers in the Five Live London studios)
"Disappointing for Arsenal then. But there might still be hope north of the border. Let's hear now from James Booth who is in Rotterdam."
"Thanks, Jim. History has been made tonight, here in the De Kuip stadium in Rotterdam. Inverness Caledonian Thistle looked out of this tie after losing the first leg to a single away goal, and they looked even more dead and buried when Zlatan Ibrahimovic pounced on a rebound to score the first goal of this leg after just ten minutes. They got back into the tie, through 20 year old Kevin Buchanan, the former Aston Villa youngster striking the ball through a sea of defenders from the edge of the area. The comeback was complete two minutes after the restart, Buchanan again doing the damage, heading home Capdevilla's cross ball for his 18th goal of the season. That seemed to knock the stuffing out of Feyenoord, as they didn't create anything of note in the second half, and it was left to Joren Nuyts to hit the post in stoppage time, narrowly missing out on giving the tie to the Scottish side by the numbers. But instead, they go through on away goals, the first Scottish side in the Champions League final since 1970. Final score in Holland: Feyenoord 1, Inverness Caledonian Thistle 2. Two all on aggregate, with Inverness going through on away goals."
"James Booth, there. Well, the Scots are a European force again after 40 years? I barely remember 1970, but thanks to our researchers here, I do know that it was Celtic who lost in the final that year, with Feyenoord ironically running out winners. Now, back to Highbury for some disappointed reaction."
"Good Evening and Welcome to Sky Sports News at Ten. The Champions League headlines tonight: Defeat for Arsenal."
VT of tired, disppointed Arsenal players applauding equally disappointed fans
"But victory for Inverness in Holland"
VT shows blue and red shirted Inverness players hugging each other and waving scarves and flags. The flags are a mixture of blue and red club banners, and blue and white scottish crosses
"And lets start with that historic win in Rotterdam for Inverness Caledonian Thistle." VT rolls with highlights of the goals. "Inverness went into the second leg a goal behind, and were two down when Ibrahimovic hit a rebound home." pause, to allow VT to catch up "But the Scots fought back, and Kevin Buchanan struck from the edge of the area close to half time." another pause "And in the second half, Buchanan struck again, with his head this time, to give Inverness the advantage on the away goals rule."
VT cuts to two players in front of the advertising hoarding, in the typical post-match interview pose. One wears a goalkeeping jersey, the other the blue and red of Inverness Caledonian Thistle. Both wear huge grins, and seem ignorant of the sweat pouring down their faces.
"Kevin, you're through to the Champions League Final. What do you make of that?"
The two look at each other, and briefly burst out laughing. Then both look to the right of the camera (where the interviewer must be standing) and wait without responding. Off camera, the interviewer appears to indicate towards the player wearing the goalkeepers jersey. The camera focusses in. The onscreen caption reads Kevin Miller, Inverness Caledonian Thistle
"It's massive. I've been here for ten years and we've improved year on year. Still, to get this far, it's like a dream come true. It still hasn't sunk in to be honest"
"What about the performance tonight?"
"Yes, well, I was a bit disappointed that they took the lead. I could've done better with the freekick, but there was nothing I could do with the rebound. But the lads all did their jobs after that, and Bucky here scored a couple of beauties again. He's been doing that all season"
The two exchange glances and bigger smiles. The camera refocusses again on the other player. The onscreen caption reads Kevin Buchanan, Inverness Caledonian Thistle
"Two more goals tonight, Kevin. Are they the most important of your career so far?"
"Er. Yeah. I guess so. I mean, I scored a couple for Villa in Europe, but they weren't in a Semi Final, so yeah, probably."
"It's been a good year for you since your move across the border, hasn't it?"
"Unbelievable. It was a hard decision to leave Villa, but once the gaffer had come an spoke to me, and explained how he wanted me to fit into his plans, it was a lot easier. The lads are great, and I've settled really easily."
"And 18 goals?"
"The lads have played well all season, and made it really easy for me. I owe it all to them really."
VT changes. This time it's an older, besuited man in front of the camera. The caption shows Colin Jordan, Inverness Caledonian Thistle Manager
"How about that then, Colin"
"Pretty good, eh? Looked a bit sticky in the first half, but the lads were great. It's the culmination of a lot of hard work, not just this season either."
"Did you really think you had a chance when Feyenoord got that early goal?"
The manager chuckles. "I thought we'd had it after losing the first leg, mate! But seriously, we've proved we can score goals just about everywhere this season, and we looked dangerous pretty much all the time. I was glad we'd got one before half time, as that made it a much easier team talk."
"So, Inter in two weeks time in Berlin. Looking forward to it?"
"Ask me on Sunday. Right now we've got a league game against Celtic to prepare for in 3 days time. I know what you're going to say, we've had the league title won for a couple of weeks now, we can take it easy, but I'm sure the blue half of Glasgow wouldn't be too happy if we just rolled over. There's a big battle going on for second place, and I don't want us to be accused of making it easier for either side. Anyway, we owe it to our fans to give them a good send off. They've been brilliant this season."
ictfc.com The official website of Inverness Caledonian Thistle FC
Following the lads' incredible success last night in Rotterdam, many fans have contacted the club requesting information regarding tickets and travel for the Final in Berlin later in the month. We have not had official confirmation of our ticket allocation from UEFA yet, however tickets will be made available in the usual order of preference. We expect to be in a position to make an announcement on Saturday at the Celtic game, so please pay attention before the game and at half time. Alternatively, check back here after the weekend to find out all the details.
As has been the case for all our away fixtures in Europe this year, the club will once again be organising supporters travel. This will be subject to the usual terms and conditions. Detail will follow in due course, once arrangements have been finalised.
All the staff here at ictfc.com would like to add our congratulations to those already expressed, and wish Colin Jordan and all the playing staff the best of luck in the final. Remember, ictfc.com. your number one for Inverness Caledonian Thistle news!
It's 42 years since a Scottish team last represented their nation in the showpiece event of the European club football calendar. Even the national team has qualified for a handful of major tournaments since then! It's not surprising that no-one currently playing the game outside the pub and five-a-side leagues in this country was actually alive at the time of the 1970 final in Milan, when Tommy Gemmell's goal wasn't enough for a gallant Celtic side, who lost 2-1 after extra time to Feyenoord. Now, finally, another team has won the right to fight for the Eurpoean crown. And that team wasn't born in 1970. Now that is a surprise.
Back in the season that saw the end of the sixties, the two teams who were eventually to make up this seasons potential history makers were battling it out in the Highland League, as they had been doing for, well, ever really. And they continued that way for half the intervening time before starting their climb through the leagues.
History, of a sort
Does a club formed less than 20 years ago have a history? Call it what you will, but here's the brief version of how Inverness Caledonian Thistle came to be Scotland's best hope for glory in 2012. It's all the Scottish FA's fault really. Their decision to expand and reform the Scottish Football League in time for the 1994/5 season led to a scramble to produce a team, centred on Inverness, that would meet the financial criteria for election. The painfully graphic details surrounding the death of two clubs and the birth of another can be discovered in Charles Bannerman's excellent book "Against All Odds". The result was successful election and, under the guidance of ex Soviet international Sergei Baltacha, a respectable 6th placed finish in Division Three.
From then until now, two men are responsible for the rise of the Highlanders, and up until the last couple of years, it's been hard to separate their achievements. Steve Paterson oversaw promotion from Division Three at his second attempt, and similarly promotion from Division Two at the second attempt, handing over the reigns to his successor after two seasons in which the club saw 6th and 4th placed finishes in Division One.
Super Caley go Ballistic!
In the first of those Division One seasons came the club's biggest moment to date, the win over Celtic at Celtic Park which spawned a thousand headlines. That was only the start of Super Caley's ballistic period, as incoming manager Colin Jordan took just two seasons to achieve the impossible: In 2002/03, Inverness Caledonian Thistle were promoted to the SPL. Everyone's favourites to come straight back down, they defied all odds to finish third, and over the following five seasons, they would never finish lower than 4th. Silverware came in the form of a League Cup in 2006 and back to back Scottish Cups in 2007 and 2008. The second place league finish in 2007 gave Jordan his first opportunity to have a crack at the Champions League, and whilst he had never had much success in the knockout based UEFA cup, the league format seemed more to his liking. Once more confounding the critics, Inverness Caledonian Thistle went all the way to the Quarter Final at the first attempt, before losing heavily to Lazio over two legs.
The next big breakthrough came at the end of the 2009/10 season, when Jordan and his men broke 25 seasons of Old Firm domination to win the SPL title. It was a domestic double that season, with the Scottish Cup following, a story that would be repeated in 2010/11, along with another Champions League campaign ending at the Quarter Final stage.
This season they have already tied up the league again, and have a date to do the same with the Scottish Cup against Hearts. Then there's the Champions League Final. Quite some feat by the young pretenders.
The Final Countdown (A shortish story) 
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