The Final
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Thursday, 29th May 2025
Chaos. It looked like the Tottenham Riots of 2011 out there as Henry looked out onto the streets leading up to the Gazprom Arena.
15,000 Millwall fans had made their way to Russia for the Europa League Final against Real Madrid - the biggest game in Millwall’s history. It was like a three-way fight between the Millwall fans, the Real Madrid fans and some random Russian hooligans.
In one particular fight that the Millwall team coach was spectating, he saw a man in a 2010/11 Millwall shirt throwing stones down the mouth of a Russian man that he had on the floor.
Similar to the feeling of the FA Cup Semi Final, Tyrone felt secretly quite proud that his team were winning the war on the streets, just before Millwall would go out and win it on the pitch.
The Millwall team had a good warm-up out on the pitch, Henry could tell by how fired up they re-entered the changing rooms to put on their tracksuit jackets over their playing kit.
Henry went across to Hayden Muller - on of the last two remaining members of the Championship promotion-winning squad - who was sitting down in his seat, pulling on his number 2 shirt.
“176th appearance for Millwall, I’ve got this down as, mate,” Tyrone said as he put his arm around Hayden’s shoulder. “Wycombe away, I think was the first game that I subbed you on for down at Adams Park. Now we’re here about to take on Real Madrid. Some change, eh?”
“Thing is, I’m not even feeling nervous, boss.” Muller replied. “I’m defending against Leon Bailey tonight and I know I can do it, I know I can stop it.”
“That’s exactly it, lad: you’re not defending against Bailey. Bailey is having to get past Muller.” Henry said as he got up to read out the starting eleven.
“Right!” Henry shouted to grab everybody’s attention. “We’ve got Cleary in net, Muller, Lyanco, Stach, Dimitris [Giannoulis] at the back. McMahon, Alex [Velickovic] in the middle, the three behind the number nine, right to left: Phillips, Mereles, Diangana. Troy Parrott up top. Gibbsy is gonna run you through your duties today. How are we feeling?”
The squad roared in response as Nigel Gibbs began handing out individual instructions to each player on their opposite number(s).
Walking to the touchline, he saw the Millwall end covered in blue with huge flags hovering above their heads. With Real Madrid, you could argue that lots of their fans had not been to the Bernabeu however, with our Millwall fans, you knew every one of them had been with us every step of the way from League One to this final.
The match began with a quick chance from Real Madrid’s kick-off which the entire Millwall bench held their breath for as Malen hit one wide.
It was about six minutes from half-time when N’Dicka cleared it from the Real Madrid corner flag before Lyanco easily nodded it down to McMahon who had acres of space to operate in before passing to his midfield partner Velickovic. The Serbian rolled the ball out from under his foot before guiding an inch-perfect pass to Kwame Phillips.
As Phillips went through on goal, the Millwall bench leapt up and Nigel Gibbs pressed his hands on Henry’s shoulders. Phillips went with his weaker foot, before the ball caught Courtois’ wrist but it slowly tumbled over the line for the opening goal.
The Millwall bench flooded out all over the technical area as Phillips was taken to the ground by the corner flag by his teammates. Several Millwall fans were happy to receive a beat-down by the Russian police for encroaching the pitch at Joe Cleary’s end. Millwall were 1-0 ahead in the Europa League Final!
The players spoke with confidence about how they played and how they were going to approach the second-half. However, the practical response was quite different as Real Madrid were slipping past us at every opportunity and it was our luck that they hadn’t equalised.
It was a cross from Boadu that eventually got past us as Leon Bailey headed home after swapping wings to the right. Henry had to witness one of his former footballing greats Zinedine Zidane essentially celebrate in front of his face as they drew level with 12 minutes to go.
At the final whistle, the tired legs of the players huddled around the dugout awaiting their teamtalk.
“...this sort of game is once in a lifetime. Make yourselves heroes here and bring it home, you’ve come this far.” Henry finished.
Within eight minutes of kick-off in extra-time, Boadu threaded a ball through to Luka Jovic who scored to put Real Madrid ahead. It was Boadu’s second assist of the game and he had been a huge problem for us.
In the 120th minute, Henry’s faith had dropped, but he encouraged and demanded more from his players in what was one final push.
Aribo shielded the ball from Ndombele in Real Madrid’s half on the edge of the final third. Madrid had been sitting back, so we had plenty of opportunities from this area to attack but Zidane’s defence held strong.
Harper received the ball from Aribo in a lot more space before laying off to Velickovic who was returning to position after a run forward. Velickovic angled his run around Ndombele who was jockeying the Serbian, but he saw a path no one else on the pitch could see aside from Troy Parrott.
Parrott was immediately through one-on-one and the flag had stayed down. Once again, the Millwall bench rose up and darted onto the pitch as Parrott hit it past Courtois at his near post to equalise right at the death.
Henry had to celebrate with everyone, but he knew that not only did his team have to close out extra-time, but they had to win on penalties.
As the players ran back to the touchline, elated with their late equaliser, Henry already had the penalty takers mapped out. He didn’t want to offer the opportunity to volunteer, as he felt it left a negative mental impact no matter what.
“Parrott, Alex [Velickovic], Harper, Lyanco, Dimitris [Giannoulis]. That’s the first five, the rest of you decide amongst yourselves.” Henry listed without a hint of emotion, in an attempt to instil a lethal element to his players’ mentalities.
The coin was flipped and Donyell Malen was to take first for Real Madrid. The players and coaches were lined up with arms around each other at the halfway line, but Henry stood away, facing the Millwall fans as he used them as indicators for the penalty results.
He heard Malen’s boot and no reaction from the Millwall fans. It was 1-0.
Parrott’s boot, the clang of the post, no reaction from the Millwall fans. Still 1-0.
Real Madrid’s Theo’s boot, the pat of Cleary’s glove, Millwall fans jubilant. Still 1-0.
Velickovic’s boot, Millwall fans celebrating. Back to 1-1.
Leon Bailey’s boot, Millwall fans silent. 2-1 Madrid.
Rekeem Harper’s boot, the pat of Courtois’ glove, Millwall fans in delayed celebration. 2-2.
Casemiro’s boot, a heavy thud from Cleary’s glove, Millwall fans going mental. 2-2.
Lyanco’s boot, the bulge of the net was heard this time, Millwall fans celebrating yet again. 3-2 Millwall.
Boadu’s boot, Millwall fans back to being silent. 3-3.
According to Tyrone, this was the final penalty. Giannoulis stepping up, his boot, the rise of the Millwall fans in the stand and then the deafening roar. Milliseconds later, Henry was wiped out and could hear Hayden Muller’s voice shouting in his ear.
“GET IN THERE BOSS!!!” he screamed as Henry looked up to see the Millwall fans breaching the police line to join the onrushing players sprinting down to the corner, with Giannoulis mobbed by a combination of players and fans.
He had done it. Millwall were the Europa League champions.
James: Not only Roma, but the whole damn tournament! I'm glad to hear that you're back on the Parrott bandwagon, I'm sure it's deserved praise.
Scott: Must have been a late-night write-up, very well spotted!
A great season this time around and it's been capped off wonderfully with this trophy in particular.
Same boat as Romeo, unfortunately.
A shift in identity for Millwall!
However, the priority is always passion merchants before going after imports 
