Manchester United 1 (6) - 1 (5) Chelsea @ Lushniki Stadium 21st May 2008

This was THE match...

The one EVERYONE waited for,

The ONE that decides who is truly the BEST...

And best of all, it was better than the World Cup Final.

It had everything...

Drama, Excitement, Brawls, Blood, Red Card, Yellow Cards, Penalties, Extra time, and most importantly Goals.

The pressure surrounding the players was tough, both had to perform well and bring their respective clubs to glory.

The match started off magnificently, United played like a real united team, they attacked, they passed and Chelsea was made to look like fools.

Chelsea was already being pushed back alot, and United were creating chance after chance to try and break that Chelsea defence and already we could imagine United lifting the trophy.

But of course, Chelsea was not going to go down without a fight, and thus Makelele slammed into Paul Scholes and blood started to pour. It looked pretty bad. Scholes was bleeding from the nose and he looked dazed, but playing in his first Champions League Final, he managed to overcome the pain and walk back on to the pitch just in time to set Wes Brown for a superb cross.

The cross which was aimed directly into the Chelsea box, met the head of Christiano Ronaldo and the boy had his 42nd Goal of the Season! Roar of Cheers errupted as everyone stood up in celebrated! The deadlock was broken! Chelsea was down! Could United hold on and get a few more? or could they lose the lead?

Twice more, United played with total dominance, as they failed to convert 2 perfect chances! Unfortunately, the misses might have cost them their confidence and they slowly slowed down. Disaster struck United as a deflection from a Lampard shot off Ferdinand's back caused the ball to roll back to Lampard who cooly slotted it past Edwin Van Der Sar who was trying to get to the ball as he was on the ground trying to grab the ball when the shot was first fired.

1-1 at half time, everyone could only pray for a better second half. But unfortunately it was not to be. United and Chelsea both looked to have slowed down, and looked like they were conserving energy for the extra time.

The extra time saw a new United, as they attacked like they did in the first half. They dominated and the good Chelsea back four was strong enough to challenge and see off United's attack. However, it was soon marred by the brawl that the players had on the pitch over a throw in. It seemed like the match was over for both the teams as officials tried to break them off, however no punches were thrown and unfortunately for Chelsea, Drogba decided a slap on Vidic's chin will do, and hence he got his red card.

It was too late to even compose themselves as Chelsea defended for their lives in the final 2 minutes of the extra time. United came close once, but that was it. It was going to be penalties...

It was heart stopping... People with weak hearts would have died watching this shoot out.

First to step up.. Carloz Tevez against Petr Cech... GOAL
2nd to step up.. Michael Ballack against Edwin Van Der Sar.. GOAL
3rd to step up.. Michael Carrick against Petr Cech... GOAL
4th to step up.. Juliano Belletti against Edwin Van Der Sar... GOAL
5th to step up.. Cristiano Ronaldo against Petr Cech... SAVED
6th to step up.. Frank Lampard against Edwin Van Der Sar.. GOAL
7th to step up.. Owen Hargreaves against Petr Cech.. GOAL
8th to step up.. Ashley Cole against Edwin Van Der Sar.. GOAL
9th to step up.. Nani against Petr Cech... GOAL
10th to step up.. John Terry against Edwin Van Der Sar.. MISS!
11th to step up.. Anderson against Petr Cech... GOAL
12th to step up.. Solomon Kalou against Edwin Van Der Sar.. GOAL
13th to step up.. Ryan Giggs against Petr Cech.. GOAL
14th to step up.. Nicholas Anelka against Edwin Van Der Sar... SAVED!

Oh My GOD!!
it was indeed nerve wrecking to the final minute.. When the last penalty was saved! the crowd was in ruptures! People was cheering... The Best Team has definitely won the match.

GLORY GLORY MAN UTD

Kings of England

Conqurers of Europe

2007-2008

Manchester United 1 - 0 AS Roma @ Old Trafford 10th April 2008

I was a little weary of this match, after the weekend disaster at Middlesbrough, the defence was put to test in this match against the Italian Giants.

Meeting for the 6th time in 2 seasons, Roma looked to avenge their 7-1 defeat here at Old Trafford and shame the United crowd.

After being humiliated by Ronaldo and Rooney in the previous game, they looked fresh for attack and warned Ronaldo about his show-boating.

With United taking on Arsenal in the weekend game, Ferguson rested Rooney and Ronaldo from the starting line-up. He gave Gerrard Pique his 2nd Champions League start and it was relief to see Ferdinand back in the heart of the defence. Tevez played a lone striker role with Ferguson packing the midfield with Park (right wing), Giggs (left), Hargreaves, Carrick and Anderson in the middle of the pitch.

It was good to see Silvestre back in his usual left back position after a long absence which gives Evra a much needed rest. The game exploded into the scene as astonishingly, the midfield was working well. Park and Hargreaves terrorized the Right wing as Giggs found his form after much critism and terrorized the left wing. Anderson and Carrick sprayed balls to Tevez continuously and Roma looked to concede another 7 goals in the first 10minutes.

Luckily for them, their keeper, Doni was alert and kept the visitors in the game. After awhile Roma begin to settle and they begin their attack. They almost got a few goals but the back four and Van Der Sar was alert and that kept them out.

Around the 30th minute, Wes Brown looked as if he fouled Mancini in the box and the Ref gave a penalty to the visitors. It was a debatable challenge but whatever happens, the Ref's decision is final. If Roma were to score, the aggregate would be 2-1 and it would give Roma a new sense of belief to go on and take the semi-final spot from United.

Daniel de Rossi, a former United target, stepped up and tried to score. He missed his chance as the ball flew right into the stands. Disaster for Roma but it was all good for United as they continued their attack on the Roma goal after that.

With the first half drawing to a close, the score was left 0-0. Many anticipated another exciting second half. But fatigue and players slowing down meant that the game moved slowly and sometimes was pretty much boring.

It seemed that Ferdinand who had 3 stitches on his leg during the half time break would have slowed down his pace but in fact he still dived in for tackles and saved Van Der Sar's neck during a scramble in the box. That's leadership qualities and hopefully we'll be seeing him as the next United captain.

In the 70th minute with 20minutes to go. The match came to live once more when Owen Hargreaves crossed a marvelous cross which saw Carlos Tevez diving in for the header. GOAL! It was the end for Roma, as they now had a moutain of a task to break the United defence.

Sir Alex took out Tevez and Figgs later in place for Rooney and O'Shea to come on in much later. He later took Carrick out and sent on Gary Neville who was making his season debut after a horrific injury that took him out of the game for months.

The game ended with United being 1-0 winners, and setting up a mouthwatering semi-final match against Barcelona.

AS Roma 0 - 2 Manchester United @ Stadio Olimpico 2nd April 2008

It seems that Roma here is like another Premier League team,

we've seen them 5 times already in the past year and it has all ended well for United!

The first time these two teams met, Roma beat United 2-1 at their home stadium.
United responded with a classic 7-1 thrashing of the romans at Old Trafford.
Months later, United and Roma were drawn in the same group of the Champions League Group Stages and once again, United prevailed and beat Roma 1-0 at home.
The 2nd game of the group match ended in a 1-1 draw which saw Rooney captain the United side for the first time.

And today... United added another victory over the Italian Giants.

With talismanic striker, Francesco Totti, Roma looked weakened but, nevetheless United respected their opponents and played a 4 - 5 - 1 formation.

Park Ji Sung started in place of Ryan Giggs, while Tevez sat on the bench with the Boss preferring Rooney in the lone striker role.

The match started off with United possessing the ball more than their Italian opponents but neither side managed to break down the defence or the packed midfield.

Anderson, Scholes and Carrick were consistantly seen running back and forth, attacking and defending well while the Italians tried to break the duck in front of their home support.

Ronaldo who was pretty much frustrated at the physical tackles by his markers and the ref decided to play down his requests for numerous fouls. Nevertheless, he remained calm and silently looking for moments to cast his magic.

The moment came when Rooney won the ball in the opposition half and passed it right to Scholes who then crossed in what seemed to be a weak cross across the opponent's penalty box when out of no where, that boy Ronaldo burst into a run and headed the ball right into the Roman's net! It was stunning, I was practically left stunned as I never expected that goal to come.

Ronaldo's 36th goal of the season was the highlight of the first half, but however it was marred by the fact that United's reliable center back, Nemanja Vidic, injured his knee and had to be stretchered off allowing John O' Shea to replace him.

The second half started with United taking their foot off the pedal as they allowed Roma to attack continuously. There was an alarming 10minutes that saw Van Der Sar making a marvellous save to keep the United goal in tact. The solid defending by all the players were also a key reason Roma failed to score in their moment of magic.

With the alarm bells ringing, United were alert once more and this time they seeked for a second goal once again.

The second goal did come, compliments of the heroic run by Park Ji Sung to meet Brown's cross. The South Korean ran and managed to head the ball into the center of the penalty box before it went out. Rooney who was waiting was blessed with the fumble by the Roman defender and the keeper that allowed him to slot home the goal!

It was brilliant and United tried to seek a third goal at the restart. The boss, replaced Rooney with Tevez and Anderson with Hargreaves and the two combined together to set up another perfect chance to extend the lead. Sadly, it was blasted over the net by Ronaldo and the game ended 2-0 for United.

So with 2 away goals, United looked as favourites for the return leg at Old Trafford! Could we be seeing a United vs Barcelona in the Semi Finals? I hope we do!

Manchester United 1 - 0 Olympique Lyonnis @ Old Trafford 5th March 2008

With United on a high after beating Fulham and almost regaining the lead on top of the Premier League... Confidence oozed throughout the stadium and the United players were sure of getting the results they needed.

Once again Lyon proved to be worthy opponents for the Red Devils.

As we saw in the first leg how United were mostly second best, Fergie decided to make a few changes into the squad. The inclusion of Derren Fletcher surprised most people, but the United manager had faith in his fellow country man and knew what he was capable of.

Fletcher was solid in the match against Roma last season where he practically single-handedly kept Totti quiet for the whole match. In this match, he was tasked to do the same against Juninho instead while Ferdinand and Vidic handled Benzema.

The match started off with United getting most of the ball but barely testing the Lyon goal as they try to get a goal. The french international goal keeper, Coupet (from Lyon) barely had much to do as his defence was rock solid in blocking out shots by the United stars.

True United was slacking the enthusiasm shown in the Arsenal game, but nevetheless, they tried to do their jobs well. When it looked like it was going to be scoreless before the half, the moment of magic came when a scramble in the penalty box, led Ronaldo to score his 30th goal of the season.

The second half saw Unite taking it easy as they barely attacked. It was tense as they kept losing the ball cheaply and yes, the fans were eager to see another goal.

Sadly, no other goals were scored as Lyon pressed on till the end.. It was a poor match.. But it was job done for the players. Fergie has already voiced out his opinion on the lack of goals but he can only do this much as it all depends on the players.

Regarding Ronaldo's man of the match award, I would say that I would have given it to Derren Fletcher instead for his excellent display of attacking and defending all together! A loyal player to the United cause, Fergie suggests that he should be a model player for all the youths in the squad!

Olympique Lyonnais 1 - 1 Manchester United @ Stade Gerland 20th February 2008

Fired up from the weekend match, Lyon was made the underdogs of this tie and to me it wasn't a good thing!

On and on reports streamed in with "morale and confidence boosting" comments from various United players but still, i was weary about our french opponents..

True enough, the match started on a high as being the underdogs, Lyon tried to do their best and get the first goal in front of their home support! They tested the defence early on and lucky breaks got United off the hook!

Nevertheless, United managed to do a little attacking of their own and chances were there but were wasted. The best chance of the half was indeed the excellent goal-kick from Edwin van der Sar that set up Rooney only for Rooney to shoot the ball off the keepers leg!

Frustrations were brewing as United found it very hard to break the Lyon defence! Players were almost everywhere and Ferguson's tactic of the day clearly failed as the midfield was not performing well together.

It could be that time has finally dawned on old Giggsy and Scholesy as they definitely was outpaced and outclassed by their counterparts. They never really looked aware and there was a moment when Brown threw in the ball only for it to rebound an unknowing Giggs' back and out for a Lyon goal kick! Chance? Wasted!

The second half started well as United dominated early on... It seemed it would be another display like the one Old trafford on the weekend but, no matter what they did, the chances were there but all failed to convert those chances!

The wake up call for United came in the 54th minute as Fergie's targeted striker, Karim Benzema squeezed in a shot between FOUR, yes FOUR United players and got the Lyon fans estatic! It was a blow... with United playing like that... where is the goals going to come from?

No matter as Lyon dropped back and defended for dear life! And Fergie did the right choice in taking out Giggs and Scholes replacing them with Nani and Tevez respectively in order to bring a new sense of creative attack that these two normally produce!

Immediately the two substitutes linked up and tried a couple of shots which were either wide or saved by the French keeper, Coupet! The man of the match that day would have easily been Jean-Alain Boumsong from Lyon as he slid in for tackles at the exact moment to block out every single United shot.

The 80th minute dawned and it looked like a lost hope as United attacked and Lyon defended... Then there was a moment of hope as Nani, whose crosses seemed very accurate at the perfect moment, crossed in one of those crosses and Tevez was there to scoop it up and place it at the top right hand corner of the Lyon goal! Jubilant? Yes! Happy? Yes!

It was the Tevez factor once again where so many times this year he has scored at the right moment and prooves to Mr. Rooney that you can't always do it alone! United could have added more to that goal but decided to play it out for a draw which was frustrating as no one knows what could happen next! well just hope for the best and hopefully we progress through in the next match!