Fergie is the King of Europe again

Watching GMTV this morning (well, it’s now yesterday morning) was incredibley nauseating. I have no idea why, but they sent Fiona Phillips out to Moscow to cover the build up to the Champions League final. Now, this is a woman who doesn’t appear to know much about football and her stupendous contribution at Chelsea’s press conference on Tuesday was to tell Frank Lampard that Chelsea had a “better hotel than Manchester United.” Lampard, naturally, realised that was a stupid remark and replied that United would hardly be living in poverty.

And this morning, her only way of describing everything in the Russian capital was “absolutely brilliant”. This is meant to be a journalist to a decent level? I mean, if shrill, annoying laughter and not really adding anything to the coverage is what is passing for journalism these days, we can forget it.

So, why am I bringing this up? Well, she’s a Chelsea fan, going on the cheering she received while talking to their fans and the subsequent booing from the United lot. All good fun, but her annoyance, added to the fact I can’t really stick Chelsea, made me hope Sir Alex Ferguson’s team emerged victorious from the final.

It was a game I feared could go the way of last year’s FA Cup final, with one goal the difference in a dour, tactical struggle. But it was anything but as England’s top two served up a final that thrilled and spilled up until 1.45am Moscow time.

Ferguson went with a bold team selection, going with his three main attackers in Carlos Tevez, Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney from the start. For Avram Grant, Didier Drogba started up front with Joe Cole and Florent Malouda deployed on the flanks.

And it was United who made the fastest start, with Ronaldo in particular tormenting auxillery right back Michael Essien early on. And it was the Portugese who fired the Reds in front after 26 minutes. An inswinging cross from Wes Brown was met by him and he flashed a header past Petr Cech for goal number 42 of a remarkable season.

United’s dominance continued, and they could’ve been 3 goals up at half time. A sweeping counter-attacking move saw Rooney feed Ronaldo, whose cross was met by Tevez but as his header was saved, Michael Carrick then saw his effort on the rebound clawed away by Chelsea’s number 1. And four minutes from the interval, Rooney’s low ball across the box was inches away from being poked home by Tevez.

And Chelsea made them pay right on half time, as Lampard stroked home after the ball broke to him after deflecting off Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic after Essien had had a shot. All square at the break and for as good as United were in the first half, Grant’s team were in the second period as they piled the pressure on.

They pushed forward and their midfield of Claude Makalele, Lampard and Michael Ballack exerted the same power and poise that United’s trio of Carrick, Owen Hargreaves and Paul Scholes had in the first half. They poured forward and Drogba came so mighty close when his curling effort from around 25 yards smacked the post and rebounded to safety.

Ferguson made his first move, bringing on Ryan Giggs for Scholes and the new record appearance holder for the Old Trafford club was to have an impact on proceedings, but not before the game had moved into extra time and Lampard hit the crossbar with an excellent shot on the turn.

United then went close as a brilliant dart into the box from Patrice Evra saw the ball cut back to Giggs, but his shot was miraculously headed off the line by Blues skipper John Terry.

With tiredness, physically and mentally, proving to be a factor, it boiled over with four minutes of extra time remaining after Chelsea felt Tevez had been unsporting after a break in play for treatment to be given to players for cramp. In the melee, Drogba slapped Vidic and referee Lubos Michel was correct in ordering him off, even though he wanted to argue about it, as he’d done with every other decision.

The game moved onto penalties and it was level at 2-2 when Ronaldo stepped up, but hesitancy in his kick saw his effort saved by Cech. With the score at 4-4 but with Chelsea having the final kick, Terry stepped forward but, agonisingly for him, he slipped as he made contact and sent the ball wide of the post.

The tension by now was unbelievable as sudden death kicks were needed. Anderson and Kalou scored to make it 5-5 before Giggs stepped up to score for United. It was down to Nicolas Anelka to save Chelsea, but instead Edwin Van Der Sar did so for United and they won their 3rd European Cup in the most dramatic of circumstances.

Despite hoping for a United win rather than Chelsea, it was hard not to sympathise with Terry especially, who was heartbroken at the end, his slip proving crucial. Drogba’s stupidity didn’t help them come the shoot-out but it was Ferguson’s night as he cemented his place as Manchester United’s greatest ever manager.

A fantastic achievement by United, and it was fitting that Giggs should net the winning penalty as he broke Bobby Charlton’s appearance record. It was also fitting that United won the cup 50 years after the Munich Air Disaster, which wiped out many of the ‘Busby Babes’ team.

For Fergie, he is the top manager in Europe once again and as he said, United don’t do it the easy way. Ronaldo was so close from going from hero to zero, and his collapse into tears at the end showed he knew it. Chelsea can feel hard done by, but in my opinion United have been better over the tournament.

Undoubtedly, it was a tremendous game and one which actually lived up to its billing for a change. I wonder if Ms Phillips’ will still be banging on about the better hotel for Chelsea this evening, as United parade the European Cup in their “lesser” surroundings.