2018 in Review: Peter Drury claims he got lucky with Manolas commentary

Peter Drury, the English football commentator, has spoken for the first time about his coverage of Roma’s epic Champions League comeback against Barcelona and insisted he got lucky on the night.

"Roma have risen from their ruins! Manolas, the Greek God in Rome! The unthinkable unfolds before our eyes. This was not meant to happen, this could not happen... this is happening!"

- Peter Drury

Drury’s commentary after Manolas scored Roma’s third goal on the night has gone down in football folklore with many fans claiming it is one of the best pieces of commentary ever broadcast - but the man responsible has played down the praise that has come his way.

"As a commentator, you’ve got to understand that you’re only as good as you are lucky,” Drury said in a recent interview with Kaustubh Pandey for The Set Pieces. “You’re only as good as the moment served up to you.

“All of these great moments have absolutely nothing to do with me. Even the Kostas Manolas moment against Barcelona, it has nothing to do with me.

“I had people asking me whether I had prepared for that moment. I mean, how could I have written that down? How could I have anticipated that?

“Roma went 3-0 up against Barcelona and a Greek centre-back scored a goal. If I note down all those scenarios, you’d never sleep a wink. I was overwhelmed by the reaction, but it has nothing to do with me. If Manolas didn’t score that goal, I wouldn’t have commentated on it any better or worse than I actually did.

“I say this to everybody: people tune in for the football, not for the commentary. You only switch on to watch the match. A commentator might annoy you or he might please you, but he’s not who you’re watching. And as a commentator, you get lucky when you get a great moment like that.”