There is an old proverb in English that says:”Its not over until the fat lady sings.”
UEFA Champions League 2008 final at Moscow bears testimony to the above
mentioned fact.The match also bears testimony to the fact that how things change so quickly in life.As the match moved on to the penalty shoot out,three minutes into it we all knew Chelsea are going to be the winner but three minutes after that the blues landed up on the other side of the Bridge.That’s how life is.That’s how sport is.In the end only one can take the Trophy home and this time Red Devils lifted their 3rd Champions League trophy in the Luzhniki stadium of Moscow and as they lifted the most coveted crown in the European football the stadium seemed like the second Red Square of Russia with thr Red English Battalion rejoicing.

Things happens in the game and you need to live on with it.Remember the Champions League Final 2005 that pitted AC Milan against Liverpool.AC Milan lead 3-0 at the end of the first half but the Liverpool side spearheaded by its inspirational Captain Steven Gerrard & master tactitian Rafa Benitaz equalized within the 15 minutes of the second half and then some superb save by Goalkeeper Jerzy Dudek in the penalty shoot out did the trick for Liverpool as they lifted the cup for the fifth time.After the first half of that match we thought it was AC Milan’s night at Turkey but that match showed how quickly things can change in sport.Another example that comes to my mind is the Formula One Season 2007 where Lewis Hamilton didn’t put a foot wrong until the last two races in China & Brazil respectively.The last two races was an absolute disaster for him & that fetched the world Championship to Kimi Raikkonen as he won the Drivers championship by a single point.

Coming into this match Manchester United had the psychological edge over Chelsea as they have won the maximum encounters against them this season and not to forget the Premier League.Chelsea on the other hand was disturbed by the injuries of their players as both Drogba & Terry was nursing an injury coming into this match & Ashley Cole also picked up a small injury when his teammate Claude Makelele made a harsh tackle on him during the training session before the match day.But Chelsea players were all determined to play & win the most coveted crown in the European Football.The fans from both the clubs should thank UEFA & Russian President Vladimir Putin for passing the resolution so that fans can enter the Russian territory without a visa.Instead of a visa,fans are ordered to use the tickets as a substitute from May 19-23 & not to dispose them until they leave the country.The move was made as the Russian Government believed that the backlog of processing thousands of visas could lead to some fans missing the final.

1st half
Manchester United fielded a 4-4-2 formation compared to that of Chelsea’s 4-4-3.
Chelsea started the proceedings.Prior to the start of the match it was said in every newspaper & sports channels that the Luzhniki pitch is not in the best of shape & Van der Sar slipping twice in the first half bears testimony to the fact.The first half of the match was a superb display of top class European football.In the 20th minute of the match Paul Scholes & Claude Makelele collided with each other that left the English man bloodied and with a yellow card.In 22nd Minute Cristiano Ronaldo started his magical proceedings and scored the goal in 26th minute thanks to a superb assist by Scholes & then Brown gave a flying cross to unmarked Cristiano Ronaldo in the box & the magic man headed it to the net scoring his 42nd goal of the season & first career goal against Chelsea giving United an early lead in the match.United continued their onslaught and in 34th minute we saw a superb flowing move as Rooney passed a long ball to Ronaldo who in turn passed it to Tevez who strikes it in fury but was saved twice by Petr Cech as Carrick also tries to put it into the net.Chelsea were determined to fight back as Malouda set the pace in the midfield and also not to forget Michael Ballack who nearly headed the ball into the net in 33rd minute after a small mistake was committed by Rio Ferdinand.But Frank Lampard was the cream of the crop as he scored the equalizer for the Blues in the dying minutes of the first half when the ball deflected of Vidic & Ferdinand found his feet.The first half belongs to Manchester United as they dominated the half completely.Owen Hargreaves was superb in the midfield as he created a lot of chances & along with Ronaldo set the pace for the Red Devils in the midfield.Chelsea manager Avram Grant was wrong with his strategy as Makelele was a total flop in the midfield in the above mentioned half on the other hand Essien who might have played better in Makelele’s position was not upto the mark in Right-back position.

2nd Half
As the match started on level terms the second half saw Chelsea coming back into the match.Malouda again set the pace with help of Lampard,Ballack & Joe Cole.The Chelsea defence did a fair amount of job & succeeded to stop the Red Devils from finding the net.Seeing the match late at night I felt a bit sleepy but in 78th minute Drogba’s shot that bursted out into the right framework of the post like a thunderbolt made all those sleepy ones awake including me.In 87th minute of the match history was created when Paul Scholes was substituted by Ryan Giggs & the welshman surpassed Bobby Charlton’s record of most number of appearances for United.

Extra Time
In the first half of extra time substitutions were made as Kalou came on for Malouda,Nani for Rooney & Anelka for Joe Cole.But in the 10th minute Patrice Evra who had a good match assisted Ryan Giggs to find the net but the danger was cleared away by the Chelsea’s captain fantastic John Terry.In the second half of extra time Drogba was shown a red card after he flickered his fingers over Nemanja Vidic’s face which according to me change the course of the game.If Drogba was present in the Penalty shoot out for Chelsea things could have been different.It was a shameful exit for Drogba & this may proved to be his last game for Chelsea after all the controversy that he created with the issue of staying with the club.In the mean time Belletti came in for Makelele who had a better 2nd half than the first one & Anderson came in for Brown.

Penalties
As the match went on to the penalties we knew it was anyone’s game.The team with a greater luck will win the Trophy.Both the teams where level on scoring penalties until Cristiano Ronaldo made a blunder as his shot was saved by Petr Cech.Ronaldo suddenly stopped in the middle while running to take the penalties as Petr Cech got aware where he will put the ball and saved it.As Terry stepped in to take the penalty we all thought its Roman’s army who will be creating history in the red square but again the Luzhniki pitch has something else in store for us as Terry slipped across the rain drenched field sending the ball wide of the goal post and bringing back the past memories from UEFA EURO 2004 where David Beckham missed a penalty against Portugal in quarter final that actually costed England the game.Ironically John Terry was the part of that team.As it went down to sudden death United had a better luck than Chelsea as Nicolas Anelka’s shot was saved by Edwin Van Der sar,United where crowned the European Champions for 2007-08.In the end it was fate & luck that made the difference.Sir.Alex after the match said that it was fate that made them Champions just like fate made them champions in 1999 against FC Bayern Munich.Most of the people who watched that match said Bayern was a better team until the injury time.You feel bad for the blues and for John Terry & Lampard who have overcome all the odds in the last two weeks to be there in Luzhniki.But in the end it’s all luck.Chelsea should remember John Arnie Riise’s blunder in the First leg of Semi-final clash that blunder actually costed Liverpool a place in the Champions League Final 2008.Hope the blues come bigger & better next year to achieve their Holy Grail & hopefully with Avram Grant & Henk Ten Cate who has done a good job for the club this season.Till then let us sing for United as they are the reigning European Champions.

Source: http://www.uefa.com