Down the memory lane : UCL final Moscow 2008

The Champions League final 2007-08 was one of the most hyped-up and exciting finals of recent times with the two English giants Chelsea and Manchester United got to face off each other in the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow , Russia. There was a genuine sense of pride for English football overall and the historic rivalry between the two sides made it even more interesting to look forward to. As it turned out, it was one of the most depressing nights for a Chelsea fan. Utterly painful.
Here is how Chelsea lined up that night :
1-Petr Cech; 5-Michael Essien, 26-John Terry, 6-Ricardo Carvalho, 3-Ashley Cole; 10-Joe Cole, 13-Michael Ballack, 4-Claude Makelele, 8-Frank Lampard, 15-Florent Malouda; 11-Didier Drogba
While the Manchester United team consisted of :
1-Edwin van der Sar; 6-Wes Brown, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 15-Nemanja Vidic, 3-Patrice Evra; 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 18-Paul Scholes, 16-Michael Carrick, 4-Owen Hargreaves; 10-Wayne Rooney, 32-Carlos Tevez.
As it stood, both teams were very strong on paper and no clear cut favorites were there. The match was played at a steady pace right from the start with end to end stuff from both teams but largely cancelling each other out. United had the better of the early exchanges and they got the lead on 26 mins from a towering Cristiano Ronaldo header . Cech was unmoved and it was a great reminder from Ronaldo what a great player he had become in those formative years of his. Chelsea were hurt and they wanted to equalize as quickly as possible. and thankfully we didn’t have to wait too long as just on the stroke of half time a stroke of immense luck gave Lampard an easy goal past Van Der Sar who had slipped in the mean time and could just watch helplessly as the ball dragged into the net. 1-1 . Game On. All to look forward to in the second half.

The second half started with both teams cautious of not conceding anymore goals and hitting each other on the counter as much as possible. There were shots on goal and some good gameplay by both sides but Chelsea were just starting to get the upper hand . No goals. More Drama. Extra time followed.
The first half of extra time is where you got to see the dedication of John Terry in a Chelsea shirt when he blocked a Giggs shot on the goal line after Cech had been beaten. Lampard also had a stinging shot that hit the cross bar and Chelsea were really all over Man Utd now and looked certain to get a winner.
Chelsea might have won it before penalties but the pressure and tension of those final few moments proved too much for some of the players and Didier Drogba was sent off in the second period of extra time and really killed Chelsea’s chances of going for a winner. Manchester United didn’t prove to be much of a threat anyway and off it went to the Penalty shoot out.

Penalties:
After the most exhausting 120 minutes of Football it all came down to the dreaded penalties which were taken at the Manchester United end of the ground . Here is how they went :
Manchester United                                             Chelsea
Tevez (Scored)                                            Ballack (Scored)
Carrick (Scored)                                           Belletti (Scored)
Ronaldo (Missed :D)                              Lampard (Scored as always)
Hargreaves (Scored)                                      A.Cole (Scored)
Nani (Scored)                                              Terry (Missed)
Anderson (Scored)                                        Kalou (Scored)
Giggs (Scored)                                            Anelka (MISSED !!)

And that was over for the Blues .. A miss from Ronaldo had given us this glorious opportunity to win the title but the luck just didn’t favor us with Terry slipping while taking his penalty and Anelka was just never confident enough and hit a tame penalty that Van Der Sar had no problem in stopping. Painful just doesn’t describe the feeling every Chelsea fan had that night.
As they say “What goes around comes around ” and “Everything happens for a reason” THE 2008 Final made us stronger and when the opportunity came again in the 2012 final we all know what happened and maybe the experience of 2008 just helped us through it. All in all, it was an excellent night for English football and for Chelsea Football club. We went down, but not without a genuine fight.
Feel free to share your experiences of this great match. Cheers.