Forever United

Wednesday night was a night of spectacle, glamor and some brilliant football on what looked like a slick n soggy pitch. As the two teams fought( and they did "fight") bravely till the end, it was Manchester United that had the last laugh when they finally lifted the trophy for the third time. Previously having won in 1968 and 1998.

This one was even more special as this year marked the 50th anniversary of the 1958 Munich Disaster. A fitting tribute for all those who lost their lives. It was fate. It had to be. The gods decreed that it had to end this way. Or maybe, just maybe, it was those Busby Babes who perished 50 years ago, looking down on a rainy Russian capital who had the final say. This is the way they would have wanted it.

Busby won the European Cup in 1968 with George Best heroically waltzing around Wembley to outwit Benfica and provide an historic first triumph in the competition for English football.It was a long wait until number two arrived, in 1999 under Fergie. After being outplayed by Bayern Munich for virtually all of the final in the Nou Camp, somehow United won 2-1 with the latest of late goals from supersubs Teddy Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solsjkaer. An amazing victory for UNITED would be just perfect.

The stadium was full of colour and noise when the players entered the playing arena on a night that would see one of them celebrating and the other devastated.

Ryan Gigs was surprisingly left out of the starting 11 as Hargreaves played on the right side which surprised everyone. United dominated much of the first half creating a lot of chances which if had been taken the game could well have been over by the end of the first half. Hargreaves proved his selection was deserving when he delivered 2 brilliant crosses in the area from the right side but unfortunately did not result in goals.

A heavy tackle between Makelele and Scholes left Scholes sporting a bloodied nose. After recieving treatment Scholes played a crucial part in setting up the first goal with Brown before Brown delivered the ball in the area to find Ronaldo who headed it home making it his 42nd goal in all competitions this season.

Chelsea had their chance in the 36th min but Drogba missed. United could have gone up by 2-0 had either Tevez or Carrick managed to get the ball past Czech who in both the occassion made brilliant saves to deny them the 2nd goal. But Chelsea had their moment in the 40th minute when an Essien shot cannoned off Rio and Vidic only to land in front of Lampard. Trying to collect the ball to safety, Edwin Van Der Saar slipped and this gave Lampard and easy finish which he finished well to equalise.

Chelsea could have gone ahead had Essien's shot was on target when Van Der Saar slipped again trying to save but this time he was lucky. After this the backline was in redalert working hard to keep the blues at bay. Chelsea did have their chances but fate seemed to be favouring United as the ball kept hitting the wood work.

Giggs came on to the field in the 87th minute breaking the record of Sir Bobby Charlton for most appearences(758 appearances). Soon united were put under pressure when lampard sturck a brilliant shot only to strike the crossbar. Giggs himself came close to scoring when Evra burst into the area before giving the ball to Giggs whose shot was blocked by Terry.

Then in the second half of Extra time came the worst moment of the game when Drogba was red carded for slapping Vidic while Tevez and Ballack were shown the yellow card. Eissien was also booked soon afterwards which was the last notable event in the half before the penalties. United went on to win 6-5 after penalty shoot out, but not before Ronaldo missed one to give Chelsea a brief advantage. When Terry squandered his opportunity to win it for the Blues, Anderson scored to level for United - then Kalou and Giggs both netted before Anelka stepped up for the final decisive spot-kick, saved superbly by Edwin van der Sar. Cue scenes of ecstasy in Moscow as the Reds made history, wonderful history.

Even though the night belonged to United one can definitely not take anything away from Chelsea, they performed well, played well(barring few incidents) and it was definitely sad to see them loose this way but better luck next time(if its not United you face).