"It's the first time we've had football in Cardiff," said the flustered woman behind the hotel reception desk. All around her were blues and reds. There was a football urgency to their requests. "Let's hope it's the last time," said a colleague.

It won't be. English football left its home of eight decades, Wembley, when it was decided to cross the border into Wales. It was a controversial decision and yesterday needed to be a success. Some had protested, this is an English football final, they said.

But those who did and who made the trip here must have seen their argument demolished as soon as they entered the magnificent edifice that is the Millennium Stadium, a sheer structure that rises like the Nou Camp in Barcelona yet retains the intimacy of traditional English grounds like Anfield and St Andrews. It has a cosy magnificence.

Perfect for rugby union you imagine, as the estimated 20,000 Ireland fans will discover when they arrive here for the first time on Saturday.

Hearing the Welsh singing their national anthem at full volume in such a bowl must verge on criminal intimidation. Having said that, the sense of excitement and foreboding begins before you get to the stadium.

The four masts that hold the stadium together fly 93 metres into the sky and are the tallest structures in Cardiff. You see them before you see anything else. The stadium is Cardiff's city centre.

Once inside, the three tiers rise swiftly. The views are spectacular. Unlike Wembley, where many of the views were spectacularly bad.

Mark Hughes, who knows a thing or two about venues having played for Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Chelsea said: "It's right up there with any of the grounds I have played at." Hughes is Welsh, of course, but even so.

Wales 1, England 0.

The monkeys who organise these things did their best to ruin it, as they do. Blasting out Robbie effing Williams from the PA, they drowned out the rival sets of fans.

Then they brought on the dancing girls, fireworks exploded and they rounded it off with a display from paratroopers "just back from Northern Ireland". Magic.

But, ultimately, it is all about the game and thankfully we were given something gripping to hang on to. For possibly the first time in the history of English football, the sport had to be thankful to the fans of Birmingham City for much of this.

The rapport between footballers and fans is a two-way relationship, one inspires the other and vice versa. But yesterday it was most definitely the supporters in blue who inspired the players in blue.

Chanting constantly for the entire length of the whole drama, City fans - previously infamous for their hooliganism - made Liverpool's thousands, famous for their singing, sound like they had a sore throat.

In a tough port city such as Cardiff, there were only 13 of them arrested on Saturday night, a quite remarkable statistic.

"They had a day out," said Trevor Francis, "they made half a city proud". Francis, who first played for Birmingham as a precocious 16-year-old down the road at Ninian Park in 1969, was even cute about Aston Villa in the throes of glorious defeat. He thus displayed that he understands Birmingham City FC intuitively.

"They know it was a real battling performance," Francis continued, "apart from lifting the trophy I don't think we could have done much more".

The City fans were so appreciative of their players' efforts they even applauded Robbie Fowler when he ran 50 yards to console the distraught Michael Johnson as he lay slumped against a goalpost after the penalty shoot-out. Many of them were clapping through their tears, but Francis wasn't.

Even though television apparently showed Francis crying profusely as he hugged the man who missed the telling penalty, Andrew Johnson, Francis, when asked about his emotions, denied that he had been crying at all. "Crocodile tears," he said.

Gerard Houllier was less confusing. His smile was permanent. "This is a wonderful stadium," he said, "a great stadium for football. Just a shame that sometimes they have to play rugby in it."

The winning captain was also impressed. "The stadium is magnificent," said Robbie Fowler. "The fans made it.

The only different thing from Wembley was that you didn't go up Wembley Way and see all the supporters from the coach. But the atmosphere was unbelievable. Everything about the place was first class."

Fowler said that even the pitch, which has been re-laid three times in two years, was good. "Very similar to Anfield."

Liverpool will hope to make Cardiff their home from home. Given the agonies over a new Wembley, English football might have to as well. No bad thing.