Manchester United emerge European champions for the third time after on night of high drama in Moscow, beating Chelsea 6-5 on penalties
By Babajide Kolade-Otitoju
Forty years after first winning the European Cup at Wembley and nine years after Manchester United defeated Bayern Munich 2-1 in a hard-to-forget Champions League final in Barcelona, the team edged Chelsea in penalty shoot-out to win this year’s edition of the world’s most prestigious club soccer tournament.
It was the first time two English clubs were meeting in the final and expectations were huge between both sets of fans. It was the best moment for English club football, as the two teams lived up to the pre-match hype. With Manchester United winning the Premiership ahead of Chelsea, who had pushed them all the way, everything pointed to a tight final match. That prediction came to pass. The opening stanza was a tense affair, but with only 26 minutes on the clock, Portuguese dribbling wizard, Cristiano Ronaldo opened scoring with an unstoppable header, after receiving a perfect cross from Wesley Brown. United fans in the Luzkniki Stadium were ecstatic. With the fans in good voice, United continued to tear the Chelsea defence apart, and the team could have gone at least 3-0 up, but two chances which fell to Carlos Tevez were spurned by the stocky Argentine striker.
Though Chelsea offered little in attack in the first half, they, got their equaliser just before half time. Michael Essien, who was regularly roasted by Ronaldo, surged deep into United territory and found a shooting chance. But his shot struck skipper Rio Ferdinand and fell fortuitously to Frank Lampard, who cleverly steered the ball beyond Van Der Sar in the United goal.
Chelsea resumed the second half a much better team, pinning their opponents to their half for long spells. The dominance yielded no breakthrough, though United were twice lucky when they were saved by the woodwork. But United also had chances afterall to go ahead through the trio of Carlos Tevez, Ryan Giggs (who set a new Manchester United appearance record on the night) and Michael Carrick. There were occasions when the game, especially in extra time, became tetchy. But referee Michael Lubos managed to calm things down. And when Didier Drogba slapped Nemanja Vidic, the referee gave him the marching orders. Tevez and Ballack also got yellow cards during the melee.
Both teams were in no mood to concede, though United dominated play towards the end. The stage was thus set for penalty shootout. In the shootout, Ronaldo was the first to lose. Chelsea looked like they were going to clinch the shootout, but skipper John Terry slipped as he made to take his kick, throwing United a lifeline. Alex Ferguson paid tribute to his newly-crowned European champions, claiming that his current side could become the greatest in the club’s history.
“I think this has got the making of our best ever team,” Ferguson told television reporters after the final penalty kick confirmed United’s glorious victory. “This is an amazing achievement, it’s fantastic. As a club, we started the sojourn into Europe in 1955. And we deserve to get this trophy now.”
The manager also felt his side’s third European triumph was written in the stars, coming 50 years after the Munich air disaster and 40 years after the Reds first lifted the European Cup at Wembley in 1968.
“I think there was a sense of fate about it. It was also my first penalty shoot out win in a big game. I’ve won Charity Shields, European Cups, Scottish Cups, but this is the first one in a big game. I think we deserved to win the game,” he continued. “In the first half we were fantastic and we should have been 3-0 up. But they scored right on half time, they got a lucky break there, and I thought Chelsea were the better side in the second half.
“But in extra time we got better and I’m just delighted for all the people here and my players. I’m very proud of my team.”
It was an opportunity the United lads relished as they converted all their kicks afterwards, whereas Nicholas Anelka lost his sudden death penalty to send the United players and fans into delirium.
It was, for United a fitting end to a remarkable season, and opens the door for Cristiano Ronaldo to win the European Footballer of the Year award. Ronaldo shut-up critics who accused him of freezing in big games. He scored 42 goals in an extraordinary season and was a thorn in the flesh of the Chelsea defence throughout. Ronaldo was relieved that his miss didn’t cost his team the match, and immediately after the match pledged his future to United.
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