Champions League final shootout distracts G8 leaders

Bayern München vs. Chelsea

UEFA Champions League - 12 months ago

David Cameron and Dmitry Medvedev all smiles at Chelsea win, after Angela Merkel interrupts Syria talks to watch penalties

by Patrick Wintour 12 months ago

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David Cameron gave Angela Merkel a conciliatory hug at the G8 summit in Washington after watching Chelsea beat Bayern Munich on penalties in the Champions League final. Merkel, a keen football fan, was the first to disrupt discussions on Syria when she saw on her iPad that the match had gone to a shootout, and said she had to watch it. Barack Obama then turned to Cameron to ask why he did not want to join her, to which the prime minister replied: "What's the point, we never win."

Germany beat England in the World Cup while Cameron was attending a G20 summit in Canada in 2010. But after noise from the adjoining room on Saturday he did slip away, followed by the rest. By that time Chelsea were trailing in the shootout, but his arrival coincided with a change of luck for the London club. "It was extremely exciting. It is a privilege of the job to watch a penalty shootout in the presence of the German chancellor and win," Cameron said. "It was very good-natured. There was a short hug afterwards."

Other sources said Merkel was momentarily cross, saying "scheisse" under her breath. According to Cameron, the person who was smiling the most was Dmitry Medvedev, the Russian prime minister, since "he thought there was some Russian skin in the game" – a reference to Roman Abramovich, Chelsea's Russian owner.

Cameron said it was "an extraordinary experience to go and watch a penalty shootout between an English team and German team and to end up triumphant". He added hastily that he was back to work before he saw the Chelsea captain, John Terry, lift the cup. There had been suggestions that Cameron had been caught off camera earlier on Saturday making disparaging remarks about Terry to Obama.