United Paint the Town Red

Manchester United claim their third European Club Championship in dramatic style Wednesday night in Moscow

For the red side of Manchester, May 21, 2008 will go down as one of the greatest of European nights in their history. For John Terry, it will be a night he will forever be trying to forget.

Fifty years from the Munich Air Disaster which claimed the lives of seven Manchester United players when their plane caught fire and crashed on its way back from a European Cup match, the Reds capped a season devoted to their fallen legends by defeating Chelsea in the European Cup Final on penalties.

In a tense and cagey affair contested at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, United dictated the early action, pushing forward and controlling the flow of play. In the 26^th minute United’s efforts paid off with a masterful interplay between Paul Scholes and Wes Brown resulting in a Brown cross finding the head of Cristiano Ronaldo, who rose majestically above a flat-footed Michael Essien to nod the ball into the net.

It was one-nil United and the Reds were rolling. The Devils continued their full-blooded assault on the Blues with Chelsea’s skilled keeper Petr Cech keeping his team in the match by denying the Devil’s an insurance goal with brilliant saves of a flying Carlos Tevez header and a Michael Carrick strike.

With Cech keeping Chelsea within striking distance, the Blues capitalized on a late blunder by United to grab an equalizer at the stroke of halftime with Frank Lampard scoring the goal against the run of play.

In the second half, Chelsea looked the better of the sides, creating more chances including a Didier Drogba strike which beat Edwin Van Der Sar but clattered off the woodwork. As the half wore on the makeshift pitch, laid down only a few days earlier over the top of artificial turf, deteriorated from the driving rain and the game became increasingly disjointed as a result.

With footing becoming unsure for the players and many cramping severely the chances were few and far between, causing fulltime to end with the score knotted at one-one. In extra time each side had gild-edge chances turned away from goal, with Lampard’s pirouetting strike finding the underside of the crossbar and Ryan Giggs’ goalbound shot being brilliantly headed away by John Terry.

As extra time drew to a close the emotions boiled over on the pitch, when the players clashed toward the end of the intense battle. In the midst of the scuffle Drogba confronted United defender Nemanja Vidic slapping him across the face leading to a straight red card for the Ivory Coast international.

Ultimately, neither team could convert in extra time, so on this night the Champions of Europe would be decided by the cruelest of methods-a penalty shootout. Chelsea and United each converted on their first two chances when Ronaldo stepped-up and shockingly missed his kick. Crestfallen, United appeared as if the trophy had slipped from their grasp as Chelsea nailed their next two kicks with just one more goal needed to secure their European dream.

The man called upon to make the dream a reality would be John Terry. The England and Chelsea skipper, the Blues unquestioned emotional leader, and a man regarded as the paragon of what a captain should be approached the penalty spot with a chance to clinch the world’s grandest club competition with one swing of his powerful right leg.

What should have been ecstasy was so quickly mired in agony for Chelsea’s inspirational leader. In the driving rain Terry could have clinched the European Cup for his West London club, however as he went to shoot his footing failed him and the ball sprayed wide, giving Manchester United a second life.

With the unlikely reprise, United put the pressure back on Chelsea slotting home their next penalty which was duly answered by the Blues. Then stepped to the spot the venerable Ryan Giggs, for 17 years the devil’s Welsh Talisman has worn the red of Manchester United and he did his legacy proud slotting home his effort with confidence. It was down to Nicolas Anelka to match Giggs’ effort to keep Chelsea alive, but Van Der Sar guessed right and it was rapture in Russia for the Reds as his superlative save clinched United’s third European Cup.

For United, now the club champions of Europe the celebrations went on in earnest all while John Terry collapsed in agony just a few feet away under the weight of the realization that his miss which delivered the trophy for United will be a cross he will have to bear for years to come.