Man Utd Beat Chelsea on Penalties to Win UEFA Champions League

Man Utd have won a pulsating match at the Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow 6 - 5 on penalties to win the 2008 UEFA Champions League.

Ronaldo opened the scoring on 26 minutes, only for Lampard to equalise in first-half injury time. In an open, end-to-end final there were no further goals and a penalty shoot-out seemed as though it was going to be the only way to settle this one. United won the resulting shoot-out 6 - 5 to take the trophy. Read more

Chelsea v Man Utd: Final Team Confirmation

The teams have been announced for tonight’s Champions League final. With just 45 mins before kick-off, here are the teams;

Manchester United:

Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Hargreaves, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Tevez.

Subs: Kuszczak, Anderson, Giggs, Nani, O’Shea, Fletcher, Silvestre.

The team appears exactly as predicted by CLDsport earlier today. No big surprises.

Chelsea:

Cech, Essien, Terry, Carvalho, A Cole, Ballack, Makelele, Lampard, J Cole, Drogba, Malouda

Subs: Cudicini, Shevchenko, Mikel, Kalou, Alex, Belletti, Anelka.

Rumours that Ballack was to be dropped are proved to be hearsay as the in-form German starts. Ashley Cole is fit enough to start the final, and as predicted by CLDsport, Malouda is picked ahead of Kalou.

Chelsea v Man Utd……The Final Of ALL Finals

UEFA Champions League Final
Venue: Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow
Time: 7.45pm
TV: ITV1 and Sky Sports 1 and HD

With the showcase Champions League final between Chelsea and Manchester United now a matter of hours away, it seems as good a time as any to preview the match.

There has been so much talk about the quality of the pitch, Avram Grant’s and Cristiano Ronaldo’s futures at their respective clubs, and reckless tackles during training. Read more

Champions League Final: Pre-Match Statistics

This is the first ever all-English final, but the 3rd time two clubs from the same country have met in such a match.

In 2000 the final was an all Spanish meeting between Real Madrid and Valencia - with Madrid winning 3-0. While in 2003, the Italians took over with AC milan beating Juventus on penalties. Read more

Champions League Pitch is ‘Not Ready’

The pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium is ‘not ready’ according to English Groundsman Matthew Frost.

Frost, who is in charge of providing the pitch for the Champions League final, said in The Daily Telegraph:

“We’ve done what we can and it is getting better every day, but unfortunately the final is too soon for us. There are dead patches and it looks like dozens of cricket Read more

Russian Visas and £5000 Tickets

Firstly, congratulations to both Chelsea and Manchester Utd who advanced through to the Champions League final this week. A fantastic achievement - and one that makes a great advert for English football whether Frank Rijkaard agrees or not (see here).

Both sets of fans will, I’m sure, now be grasping the reality of their team playing for Europe’s biggest club prize in Moscow on May 21st. After last night’s tense affair between Liverpool and Chelsea, I’m sure there are a few million Blues fans nursing a sore head today! Read more