Tonight, Manchester United became the champion of Europe for the third time in their history.
On an eventful night in Moscow, United was the eventual winners, drawing 1-1 with Chelsea after extra time. The match would be settled on penalties, in which Cristiano Ronaldo, John Terry and Nicolas Anelka all missed. In the end, United won 6-5.
In what was a fitting tribute to the victims of the Munich Air Disaster, United dominated the first half, and then in turn, got battered in the second. Both teams thoroughly deserved the win for their performances in their respective halves of the game.
Below is what was essentially a play-by-play/review of the game. Enjoy.
United started the game in typical fashion, bombarding its way forward at every opportunity. Nemanja Vidic made the first notable attempt, trying to find Carlos Tevez, but the ball was too weighty for Tevez to reach.
United continued to play balls forward, hoping someone could latch on.
The first incident of the game came in the 21st minute when Paul Scholes and Claude Makelele went up for a header. Scholes came off worst, sporting a bloody nose.
A scene all too common emerged, with the referee being needlessly surrounded by loads of players. It resulted in Scholes and Makelele both being booked.
Six minutes later, United was in the lead. Cristiano Ronaldo scored a fantastic header that gave Petr Cech absolutely no chance at all!
Great goal and a well deserved lead.
United was determined to add to that lead, and should have made it 2-0 just eight minutes later. A great diagonal ball from Wayne Rooney to Cristiano Ronaldo was followed by a great cross from the Portuguese wizard into Tevez who headed it into Cech.
United were unfazed, and almost scored again when Rooney sent in a low cross to Carlos Tevez, who was just millimetres away from scoring into an open goal.
Chelsea was yet to come to life—and then, luck came to their side.
Michael Essien struck a hopeful ball forward, which then took a deflection off two United players, and fooled Van der Sar into diving for it. Frank Lampard tapped the ball in to level for Chelsea, albeit undeservedly.
United was punished for not finishing the game off earlier on.
United went into half time knowing they should have three goals. TV pundits immediately jumped on the bandwagon, saying that Chelsea now had the game to win.
Chelsea started the second period by resuming the assault, quite literally, as Ballack hacked down Ronaldo. He deserved a booking, but didn't receive one—a cheap shot there. Ronaldo responded by finding Evra, but his cross was slightly too long.
Essien could have put Chelsea ahead shortly after. He fooled Ronaldo, and had the time to prepare the shot, but skied it over the bar. Chelsea continued to pile forward, but United's defense was coping better than it did in the first half.
Chelsea pushed and pushed even more, but all attacks were dealt with by a competent United defense.
The game was becoming a match of two halves. United were killing Chelsea going forward in the first, but now, Chelsea was doing the same to United.
United fans, Chelsea fans, Neutrals. They were all loving what they were seeing, an entertaining game. The atmosphere was electric inside Moscow.
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