Champions League Final - Manchester United 1 - 1 Chelsea

Please Click Here to Visit my Website

A Night To Remember But Chelsea Pay The Penalty!

This was a great night to remember and a triumph for European and British football. At the end it was cruelly decided on penalties, with John Terry missing and Van der Sar saving from Nicolas Anelka, Manchester United were triumphant. It could so easily have gone the other way, because the irrepressible Cristiano Ronaldo was the first to fail to score in the shoot out, but he was saved from total humiliation when John Terry slipped and hit a post.

The game was finely balanced until the penalty shoot out, with United dominating the first half, and Chelsea coming back strongly in the second. In fact it was a game that had everything. Superb skill, high drama, and inevitably Lady Luck, who always shows up, sometimes welcome - other times not!

After a relatively quiet start the game sprang to life after about 20 minutes, when Paul Scholes and Claude Makelele were involved in aerial combat. Whilst neither got shot down, they both received yellow cards with Scholes coming off the worst, with a troublesome bloody nose.

Ronaldo seemed to overwhelm Michael Essien, and was rewarded when he soared above the Chelsea defenders to score from Wes Brown's accurate delivery, after 26 minutes. The goal was nearly cancelled out minutes later, when Rio Ferdinand all but scored for the opposition, but Van der Sar managed to claw the ball away. United counter attacked, and were only thwarted by the brilliance of Petr Cech, thought by many to be the best goalkeeper in the world. He made a great one handed save from Tevez, who is usually deadly at putting such chances away. It was end-to-end stuff and the game was becoming pulsatingly exciting. Shortly afterwards Tevez missed another difficult chance from a fine Rooney pass.

It seemed that dominant United would retire for the interval a goal up, with all guns blazing. However, Chelsea were opportunistically fortunate in the 45th minute. Essien's shot was not particularly dangerous, but Lady Luck was kind and responsible for two deflections, that resulted in the ball becoming available for an alert Lampard, who slotted it home. It was an emotional moment as Frank looked to the heavens, seemingly to dedicate the goal to his mother who died recently.

The pendulum had swung and Chelsea came out to dominate the second half. United were only saved by the woodwork as Lady Luck seemed to change sides. Essien had learned how to deal with Ronaldo, and was confidently making his presence felt. Drogba curled a shot against the post and it was United who were called upon to defend. Giggs replaced a tired looking Scholes who had made a sound contribution.

After 90 minutes the game was still drawn and requiring extra time, and Lampard was soon threatening again as a good shot hit the bar. Then when Giggs seemed certain to score, John Terry headed off the line. Rooney was not most pleased when he was replaced by Nani after 101 minutes. Just before the end of extra time there was something of a fracas, and Drogba foolishly slapped Vidic in the face, leaving the referee no alternative but to send him off. This was high drama, with so much at stake, but with more to come in the penalty shoot out.

Tevez and Carrick for United, and Ballack and Belletti for Chelsea all scored from the spot. United's forty two goal hero, Ronaldo was next, but was guilty of a cheeky bit of showboating, and his shot was saved by the magnificent Petr Cech. Lampard and Ashley Cole, and then Hargreaves and Nani for United, all scored, leaving Chelsea on the brink of victory. All John Terry needed to do was to secure his spot kick and Chelsea had won. But, his nightmare slip threw it all away and the game was level again. After Anderson and Giggs, and Kalou for Chelsea had scored, Van der Sar saved from Anelka to win a remarkable match for United.

Tags:
Champions League Final - Manchester United Vs Chelsea
soccer and football
Champions League Final - Manchester United Vs Chelsea