Another thriller down to the wire. Manchester United performed yet another lucky escape in the Champions League final. This time in Moscow. It seemed to me at one time just before Chelsea skipper John Terry missed the last of the routine penalty kicks (PK) that Manchester United were all but winning the championship. But God had another idea -- John Terry put the crucial PK wide. And that was it, Manchester United went on to score the sixth and seventh sudden death PK with Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar saved the last PK of the night from Chelsea Nicolas Anelka.
The triumph did not come easy for Manchester United though. Having scored earlier in the night through a well-placed header from Cristiano Ronaldo, but Chelsea did not throw the towel as yet and scored just seconds before half-time from Frank Lampard's opportunistic strike.
Chelsea controlled most of the play and tempo in the second half. They came close to score with Didier Drogba hit the woodwork and Frank Lampard hit the crossbar. But basically that was it. The score was 1-1 on normal playing time and both teams had to play extra-time to decide the winner.
Didier Drogba was red-carded and ejected from the pitch towards the end of the extra-time period when he slapped Nemanja Vidic on the face. In retrospect, maybe this was the defining moment of Chelsea fate on the night. If Drogba had not been sent-off, he could be the one who will take the PK instead of John Terry. As we know, Drogba's chance of successfully converting the PK is much more higher than Terry's.
The rest was history. Manchester United is crowned Champions of Europe again for the third time. The victory is reminiscent of their famous Treble season in 1999 where Manchester United were on the brink of death before miracle happened in the final seconds of the match.
Way to go! Manchester United! Way to go!
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