Champions League Final 2008 - Manchester United v/s Chelsea

It all started with a hard drive in the heavy evening rains to get home soon for some rest before the post midnight kick-off. Eventually as it had always been the case, I failed to get any sleep before the match and ended up with tired eyes by the kick off time at 0015 IST.

The Red army from Manchester and the Blue brigade from Chelsea had filled the nearly 70000 stadium along with the Russians who were supporting their Blues owner Roman. The opening ceremony was an eye treat with some lovely Russian beauties dancing around. There was even a banner from the Chelsea fans thanking Liverpool for missing the finals which read ‘Scouse free zone’ [LOL].

The build up between the teams was amazing since the league ended 10 days ago and we were under pressure more than Chelsea to win for various reasons; nothing more important than to win it as homage to the 50th anniversary of the Munich tragedy, to honour the lives lost and the 5 living survivors especially the United legend & director, Sir Bobby Charlton.

Thankfully we played with our best starting 11 and went 4-4-2 and the first 20 minutes played out in an expected fashion – slow, tight football. Scholes spiced up things with a heavy coming together with Makelele that saw yellow for both players and a bloody nose for the former. Luckily for us, he marshalled on to stay in the game and to provide the play into the centre that set up the first goal for United.

Scholes fed the ball to Brown, on the 26th minute, who sent a cross into the heart of Chelsea’s defence and the ball was met by a soaring Ronaldo who finished it off into the net with a scorching header. It was an absolute stunner which saw the Blues keeper Cech unmoved on the goal line.

With the goal in hand, the nerves began to calm down for the players and for me. Despite the worries of the pitch conditions, things looked good until the skies opened up to let the rain down. Chelsea came back with a near equaliser when Van der Sar had to stretch hard to save a header from our own defender Ferdinand trying to fend off Drogba’s attack.

34th minute, United’s creative play was shown to the Moscow crowd in what was a lightning pass from Rooney that unleashed Ronaldo on the wing who sent in a perfect cross that homed in on Tevez’s head only to be denied by a splendid save from Cech. United was denied a second goal and was denied again when Tevez could not make contact with Rooney’s low cross.

Missed chances & twisted luck came back to hit us before the half time. Essien fired a long ball in which in a bizarre sequence of events, took a deflection off Vidic, scraped over Ferdinand and fell in front perfectly for a steaming in Lampard. Van der Sar who had come out to collect the ball slipped in the pitch which had started to deteriorate slowly and Lampard finished it off in style to give the Blues a fitting equaliser. His celebrations clearly dedicated the goal to his mother who had recently passed away [God bless her soul].

The second half saw both the sides trying to battle it out to find a winner and ended up with missed chances. The pitch had its toll on the players who were playing well past local midnight with Ferdinand and Lampard suffering from cramps. Drogba produced a stunner that could have sealed it for the blues but the shot, which had Van der Sar beaten, only hit the woodwork.

Extra time was imminent now and Fergie chose to bring on Giggs for his record 759th appearance, overtaking Sir Bobby’s record, to replace the bloody nosed Scholes. Strangely, Grant had other ideas and chose to sub Malouda, finally after a lack lustre performance, by bringing on Kalou 10 minutes into extra time.

It didn’t start well for us and the woodwork came to our rescue for the second time to save us from a curler off Lampard’s foot. Then it was our turn when Evra burst into the Blues defence with a demon run and slid a back pass towards our strike force. With Cech already committed to a forward run, the ball found a sweet strike from Giggsy’s foot only to be denied by a reflexive head clearance from Terry who bumped it away from the goal.

With Rooney subbed out by Nani and with the clock ticking away in the second extra time, it was high drama already and I was left dreading about the looming penalty kicks. All United for Life fans would know, history had always been cruel to us when it comes to the kicks. I was desperate and praying like a mad saint for a late goal that would say us from a heart clinching penalty shootout.

With hardly 4 minutes to go, the inevitable happened when Tevez & Ballack got into a tussle that resulted in a melee which saw Drogba sent off with a straight red for slapping Vidic. It was a crazy & stupid thing and no one wants to see it happen anytime let alone the finals of the Champions League. The additional player advantage hardly mattered as the clock soon ended.

As the player lined up for the shoot out, the past ran before my eyes, my heart was in the mouth and I just couldn’t watch without saying a prayer and taking proper care to exercise all my superstitious rituals. All the sms, calls between friends in India and the UK stopped during this session. Next ten minutes would send a group into sheer joy and the other into agony and tears. Henry, my best mate, is a die hard Chelsea fanatic; you could imagine the rest of the drama despite him being in London and me staying up in my room at 0310 hrs as the shoot out started.

Penalties – The Keeper could be the hero with a save and the best striker could be the villain with a miss. Horrible way to decide the Champions but that’s the way the game has been for years. So here comes United to take the first shot.

Tevez – steps up and scores [1-0].

Ballack - scores to level things up [1-1].

Carrick – hits the target [2-1].

Belletti – late subbed by Grant explicitly for this, steps up and fires one in [2-2].

Ronaldo – Player of the year, steps up, runs in, stops and fires a shot that see Cech saving it [2-2].

Absolute horror on the face of Ronaldo and all the nerves that I had been experiencing froze over. I had to admit that in the next few seconds before the next kick, I had started to prepare myself for the calamity that could be in store in the form of a possible Chelsea victory. It would not be fair for a player to have had such a season to end up living with a missed penalty that cost us the title.

I could barely watch the rest of the penalties and my tired eyes were now filled with tears that were waiting to be released in agony. We needed to score the next 2 shots and make a fine save to go beyond the regulation 5 kicks.

Lampard – fires it in to give Chelsea the lead [2-3].

Hargreaves – Calm and collected, he slots it in to keep our hopes alive [3-3].

A. Cole – no nonsense, scores to put the blues in lead again [3-4].

Nani – I couldn’t watch this for if he misses, its all over for us. The noise let me knew that he had scored and my seemingly endless prayers continued.

Terry – The English (should I say former?) skipper could score and lift the cup for the blues. My fists were clenched, God only knew what I was muttering to myself with my eyes firmly closed and I was only saying this is not right to end this way.

He MISSED, the skip slipped and hit the goal post (the woodwork was on our side tonight) despite having Van der Sar going the wrong way. I felt my heart come to life again yet only for a few seconds as the next round of kicks started.

Anderson – the super sub curled one into the centre past the moving Cech to keep us alive [5-4].

Kalou – did it right for the Blues to equalise [5-5].

Giggs – The experienced campaigner showed how it must be done under pressure with a solid strike to put us up 6-5. Oh Giggsy, you beautie.

Anelka – The goal man for the blues steps up and fires a thunder. Van der Sar dives the right way and blocks the curler to give us the win.

Van der Sar, the Hero of the night, punched the air in delight, as Ferdinand spotted the save first from the United line with most players unable to watch just like the millions around the world. The Red army in Moscow erupted in synch with the fans around the world while the worthy opponents in blue fell to the ground in agony.

Blimey, what a cracker of a match and it was 0330 hrs for me and 0200 local time in Moscow when the party started. My mate Henry, in all his disappointment sportingly extended his congrats as I acknowledged the valiant fight.

It was only then that I realised that I was hardly happy for when Van der Sar and United were screaming in the ground, I was left voiceless. My nerves had calmed only then and the reality was kicking in slowly that United had won. My heart went out to the Chelsea players and it is never a happy sight to watch teams lose out on penalties. But I wont complain tonight cos my United had been on the other side many a times in the past and for tonight, it feels good to be on the greener side.

The following celebrations were amazing; it was fitting to see our legend Sir Bobby Charlton join our players like he did during the league title ceremony. He led the players up for the medals and it was fitting that he collected the first one in hand. Every United supporter would have had their hearts go out at that moment to see the survivor from the Munich tragedy collect the first medal.

Special moments as Ronaldo followed next for what could be the first of many to follow and when Scholes, bloody nose and all, collected his first after missing out on 1999 finals. The cup was lifted from Platini by both Ferdinand & Giggs and the party started.

Take A Bow – My Manchester United are European Champions for the year 2008 and what a drama it was in Moscow to lift the prestigious trophy on the 50th anniversary year of the Munich tragedy. It is United’s 3rd overall, second for Fergie and the 11th European Champions League triumph for England which ties them at first place with Spain.

Image Courtesy: Manchester United Football Club

After a successful season which also saw our United [17 league wins] close in on the league title record held by our arch rivals Liverpool [18 league wins], Fergie already has the target for next season laid out - A mission to equal the Liverpool’s record and a possible treble chase with what has grown into a healthy squad.

Glory Glory Man United – the 2008 kings of European Football. Party on Red Devils but do offer a silent prayer and dedication of our European triumph in rememberance of the Munich tragedy.

For now, it’s around lunch time and I’m no where near recovery from the post match effects [err... more like loaded with sleep]. Cheers.