Here are some the classic matches in the history of Manchester United. Relive the magical those magical moments including the best Champions League nights and much more.
The day belonged to David Villa who scored a hatrick and lead Spain to a commanding win over Russia while Ibrahimovic inspired Sweden to a 2-0 win over defending champions Greece.
It would be an understatement if one said 2007-2008 season belonged to Cristiano Ronaldo. The dazzler from Portugal simply ruled the football world with his skill and most of all goals. He destroyed defences and ended the season with the tags "English Champion" and "European Champion". And apart from that he won several awards in England and is all set to be named the European and World Player of the year. He scored an astonishing 42 goals this season and also 3 more while playing for Portugal. So relive those magical moments of "Rocket" Ronaldo.
Chelsea on Saturday announced that they are parting company with their first team coach Avram Grant. This announcement was on the expected lines after Chelsea lost in the finals of Champions League and ending the season without any trophy. Avram Grant came in as an stop gap replacement for Jose Mourinho, who was sacked by Roman Abrahimovic after a poor start to the season. Grant's first match in charge was against Manchester United at Old Trafford and Chelsea lost that 2-0. And after that Chelsea went on a winning spree in both league and Champions League. Under Grant, Chelsea played more attractive football and scored lots of goals, something that they did not do under Jose. But in spite of the results going his way Grant was under severe pressure from the media that the players did not like him and he commanded no respect but Grant denied them all.
Chelsea, who were 10 points behind the leaders Arsenal at one point kept their focus and reduced the gap at the top of the table. They also reached the finals of the Carling cup. But Grant's tactical mistakes like the team selection and substitution cost them the match which they lost 1-2 in extra time against Tottenham. After this match Grant was under severe pressure. All these can be attributed to the fact that none seemed to like him because Chelsea were doing alright on the field and there were no reasons to complain. Chelsea crashed out of the FA cup against Barnsley. Now they had the league and Champions League to focus. Chelsea emerged as the sole competitor to Manutd after Arsenal lost to United at Old Trafford. Chelsea beat United at the bridge and pushed the title race all the way to the last week. The mood in Chelsea was optimistic as they were in with a chance of winning both the league and UCL. But United won against Wigan to retain the title. And in the finals of Champions League, Chelsea lost 6-5 on penalties. After this result his sacking was expected but the fact is he preserved the long unbeaten record at Stamford Bridge, reached the finals of the Champions League and missed the league title by a whisker. Grant's first and last match were against Manchester United, both of which Chelsea lost.
His style had more flow but his failure to land trophies(especially Champions League) might have been the reason for his sacking. Chelsea are now on the look out for a new manager who can win trophies and more players are expected to follow Grant out of Stamford Bridge.
When Manchester United took on Chelsea in the finals of the Champions League it was a Russian battle in more than one way, they were playing in Moscow and the owner of their opposite team, Roman Abrahimovic was an Russian and apart from supporters of both the teams, the neutrals were bound to be supporting Chelsea. Before the match all the talk was about the pitch but the managers of both teams made it clear that they are not going to give it as an excuse if they end up losing. It was the first ever All English final in Champions League and first for Chelsea. United were making their third appearance in the finals and were hoping to maintain their 100% record in finals.
It was not going to be a typical Champions League match as both the teams know each other very well and all expected a cagey affair, similar to the one in the last years FA cup finals. United started with Ronaldo on the left and Hargreaves on right while Malouda started for Chelsea whose starting 11 had never started together once this season. First 15min were evenly balanced and after that United took control of the midfield and Ronaldo gave Essien, who was at Left Back a torrid time. Scholes had a cut in his face when he fouled Makelele. Both of them were booked in that incident. Scholes came back after few minutes and was involved in the build up to the goal. A neat give and go with Brown let to the defender crossing the ball and Ronaldo rose up to head the ball past an unmoved Cech. United could have sealed the game had Tevez taken his chances but Cech made some brilliant saves and kept Chelsea in it. And towards the end of the first half Chelsea had some luck when Makelele's shot had several deflections and it fell to Lampard who dispatched it. Van Der Sar was never comfortable with the pitch and he slipped on that occasion too.
Buoyed by that goal Chelsea started the second half very well and started dominating midfield. The first half scenario was reversed, United were defending now while Chelsea pressed forward. Ferdinand had a cramp but was back on soon. Chelsea had lot of corners but were unable to score. Drogba who was not in the game for long time had a shot that hit the post. Time was running out and Gigss replaced Scholes to become the leading appearance maker for United getting past Sir Bobby Charlton's record. And with teams all square extra time was needed.
In the first half of ET there were no concrete chances for any of them but for Lampard's shot that hit the post. Drogba saw the Red card for a slap on Vidic when Chelsea players nee. Chelsea were a man down and only 5 min were left. United were unable to force anything in that time . Penalties were needed to decide the winner. Ronaldo missed his kick when the scores were 2-2 and Terry had the chance to win it on 4-4 but he slipped and shot wide. In the sudden death United were leading 6-5 and Anelka came on. His shot was saved by Van Der Sar and United were crowned the kings of Europe. A fitting reward for the only unbeaten team this season in Champions League. It would have been poetic for Roman to see his team win in his home country against one the teams which created the football interest in him but United deserved their crown and Ronaldo lead the Red Army in the finals. He was the leading scorer with 8 goals and it goes without saying he will be the "World player of the year" and "European Player of the year".
Click here for the action:
1-0 Ronaldo ,
1-1 Lampard,
Penalties/Celebrations - Link1 , Link2 , Link3
Trophy Presentation - Link
Player's Celebration - Link
Extras:
Drogba - Hits the bar
Lampard - Hits the bar
Gigss - Great save Terry
Torrents:
Ronaldo Specials:
Link1 , Link2 , Link3 , Link4 , Link5 , Link6 , Link7 , Link8 , Link9
Manchester United had the players award function at Old Trafford. Ronaldo scooped most of the awards including Player's player of the season and Goal of season for his sublime freekick against Portsmouth at Old Trafford. Check out the videos of this glittering function.
Real Madrid signed off an successful season in style as they beat relegated Levante 5-2. The match was in doubt as Levante players were threatening a strike as they had not been paid for few months and that amount is told be in the region of €13m. And Levante who had already been relegated ran the risk going down to third division if they didn't play at the Bernabeu. But the Champions had said the trophy presentation would take place irrespective of the match status. But Levante players finally said they will play at the Bernabeu.
