Man U Conquer Europe

John Terry and Nicolas Anelka were the villains, and Edwin Van der Sar the hero, as Manchester United beat ten-man Chelsea 6-5 on penalties to win the Champions League after a dramatic evening in Moscow yesterday. The Premiership top two met at Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium in what was the first ever all-English final in Europe’s premier club competition. There was a nervous and disjointed start to the game as neither side were able to string any passes together. Hargreaves had the first attempt of the match with a mis-hit cross that was plucked out of the near post by Petr Cech. On 26 minutes Man Utd took the lead, and it was Ronaldo who got the goal. Wes Brown played a clever one-two with Scholes down the right, and lofted a ball towards the far post. Ronaldo lost Essien and powered in an unstoppable header into the corner, with Cech merely a statue. It was Ronaldo’s first-ever goal against Chelsea. Right on the stroke of half time and Chelsea were level courtesy of an outrageous piece of luck. Essien, who had been dreadful all half, scuffed a shot from 25 yards which took a double deflection off Vidic and Ferdinand, and fell invitingly into the path of Frank Lampard’s trademark run, and the midfielder turned the ball past Van der Sar, who had lost his footing. There was still time for Ballack to fire yet another long-range shot over as the teams went in level at the break. After a sterile opening 20 minutes it had ended up being an exhilarating half of football, but United would have been regretting not taking their chances to score a second at 1-0. Chelsea were much better in the second period, really stamping their authority on the game. Drogba headed over from a corner, while Ballack had his umpteenth long shot of the game, this time firing wide. Just three minutes into extra time, and Chelsea were again desperately unlucky not to go ahead, hitting the woodwork for a second time. Ballack laid the ball to Lampard inside the box, and the former West Ham man turned and crashed a shot against the bar. Joe Cole then hashed the rebound over.