Manchester United Victorious In Moscow

Wednesday May 21st 2008 has just become another legendary date in the Manchester United history books as they lifted the European Cup for the third time following a thrilling match with Chelsea that went all the way to a penalty shootout.

It was the first time in history that an all English final has been played out and under the Moscow night sky, Manchester United and Chelsea played out the world's best advertisement for the English Premier League. Normally when these two teams play, it is a very cagey affair and can even sometimes be a little boring.

Tonight was WORLDS away from those other ties as this match was in my opinion one of the most exciting finals in recent history.

This wasn't a mighty fightback or a last minute winner, but this game was a nail biting white knuckle ride of emotion.

The first half I would award in favour of United as their play was very exciting, very attacking and Ronaldo capped off a wonderfully flowing move with a superb header to get the English Champions off the mark. United had a couple more very good chances to make it 2-0 with Tevez probably having the best chance as he lunged for a Hargreaves cross only to mis-kick and send it behind for a goal kick.

Chelsea of course had their fair share of play and grabbed an equaliser very late on in the half, when a deflected shot fell into the path of Frank Lampard to calmly chip past Van der Sar and fittingly point to the heavens dedicating the goal to his late mother.

Second half I would have to say was Chelsea's. They deservedly controlled the game and on a few occasions could have put the game beyond any doubt, with their best chance coming from a Didier Drogba shot which rattled the post from around 25 yards out.

1-1 at 90 minutes could only mean we were going to see another half hour of extra time. Basically it was pretty much where they left off with Chelsea really enjoying more of the ball than United and having the best chance in extra time with Frank Lampard firing the ball onto the United crossbar.

The Chelsea players could be forgiven for maybe starting to feel that it may not be their night!

On 115 minutes things took a turn for the worse as Tevez and Ballack clashed and in the following few moments, many other stars from both teams became involved, with Didier Drogba receiving a red card after slapping Nemanja Vidic across the face.

The final few minutes flew by and as the final whistle blew the realisation of a penalty shootout began to sink in.

Tevez took United's first penalty and scored, closely followed by Michael Ballack with the same outcome making the score 1-1.

Second round was Carrick and Belletti....both scored 2-2

Round three saw Cristiano Ronaldo confidently step up to the spot... AND MISS! A great save by Cech!

Frank Lampard put his penalty away and suddenly Chelsea are 3-2 in the lead!

Round 4 saw both Nani and Ashley Cole score taking the score to 4-3 with one more penalty each. If United missed Chelsea would be the European Champions.

Hargreaves Scored for United which left Chelsea only needing to score to win. John Terry stepped up took a short run up, and put the ball off Van der Sar's left hand post!!!! All square again! Lucky because Van der Sar had dived the wrong way!!

Into sudden death penalties and Anderson and Kalou convert to take the score to 5-5.

Giggs scores to make it 6-5 to United and all attention turns this time to Nicolas Anelka. He strikes towards Van der Sar's right... the keeper goes the same way and SAVES!!!!

MANCHESTER UNITED ARE THE EUROPEAN CHAMPIONS OF 2008!!!

Cristiano Ronaldo collapses onto the field in floods of tears which obviously were a combination of happiness and relief after his miss!

50 years since the flowers of Manchester were taken away in the Munich air disaster and what better a way to remember the fallen heroes than with this trophy!

An amazing night for United fans everywhere. United are the champions of Europe again, Ryan Giggs becomes United's most capped player in history with 759 appearances for the club and Alex Ferguson's team have finished off a magnificent season.

The best news personally for me came as the television crews interviewed Cristiano Ronaldo. Following weeks of speculation and rumours that if United won the Champions League Ronaldo would head for Madrid, the interviewer wanted some answers:

"Cristiano... you've already achieved so much in a short space of time at this club... do you now head for Real Madrid?"

"No no no, I want to stay!" Came the reply. "After I missed the penalty, I thought we were going to lose the match, but the lads believed they could score and they did! This is one of the happiest days of my life, I'm very very proud"

So Ronaldo stays... United win the League and European double and Sir Alex finally has a second Champions League title to his name.

A wonderful finish to the season which leaves all United fans hoping that when next season rolls around, it'll be more of the same from Fergie's Red and White Army!