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Champions League Final 2008

Chelsea 1 Manchester United 1  - Manchester United won 6-5 on penalties

Manchester United won the English Premier League in 2008 and, in a year which marked the 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United reached the Champions League final and were keen to make it a double winning season. The 2008 Champions League final was held in Moscow on 21st May and after an exciting competition the two teams that fought their way through were Manchester United and Chelsea. It was the first time two English teams had met in the final and in true Premier League style the match was an exciting affair full of drama.

Manchester United started the match well, enjoying good possesion and creating the better chances, and it was just before the half hour mark that Wes Brown floated in a cross for Cristiano Ronaldo to put Manchester United one nil ahead. Seven minutes later Frank Lampard came close to equalising for Chelsea but Manchester United continued to press forward and both Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick had attempts on target which forced saves from Chelsea keeper Petr Cech. Manchester United were seconds from taking their lead into half time when a Michael Essien long range shot deflected off Nemanja Vidic and Rio Ferdinand and fell to Frank Lampard who slotted home Chelsea's equaliser.

Manchester United faced a transformed Chelsea side in the second half, they forced the play, created chances and this time kept Manchester United at bay. Manchester United had to defend a number of attempts on target from the likes of Essien, Ballack and Drogba who hit the post. Just before the final whistle Ryan Giggs came on for a club record 759th appearance. During extra time both Manchester United and Chelsea continued to force the pace, each came close to taking the lead when Lampard hit the post and Ryan Giggs had a shot cleared off the line. Four minutes before the end of extra time Didier Drogba foolishly lashed out at Nemanja Vidic and was shown the red card for slapping the Manchester United defender across the face.

Manchester United and Chelsea showed there was nothing between them in open play and the 2008 Champions League final went to penalties. Rio Ferdinand won the toss and chose Manchester United to start the shootout. The first four penalties were successfully converted and it was ironically Manchester United's top scorer Cristiano Ronaldo who was the first to miss. The following three penalties were converted leaving Chelsea needing John Terry to score the decisive tenth penalty for them to lift the cup. Manchester United players and fans breathed a huge sigh of relief when Terry stepped up and hit the post. The first three 'sudden death' penalties were scored, then, Nicholas Anelka stepped up to take Chelsea's seventh. Manchester United keeper Edwin van der Sar read Anelka's mind and dived the right way saving the penalty and sealing Manchester United's third European Cup/Champions League victory.

Manchester United team: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Hargreaves, Scholes, Carrick, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez, Anderson, Giggs, Nani

Chelsea team: Cech, Essien, Carvalho, Terry, A Cole, Makelele, Ballack, Lampard, J Cole, Malouda, Drogba, Belletti, Kalou, Anelka