Chelski denied as Red Devils win the dreadful PK shootout

Playing before a host of survivors of the 1958 plane crash that included Bobby Charlton, in a pouring rain, in what seemed the middle of the night, Ryan Giggs converted the penalty kick in Moscow put Manchester United ahead in the penalty kick shootout. Moments later, when Edwin vander Saar saved Nicholas Anelka’s nervously weak shot, the Red Devils had just won their third Champions League trophy. The shootout is a game that is won more by nerve than by skill; it was appropriate that Giggs, the consummate professional and all-time leader in games played for Manchester didn’t flinch when his turn came.

Giggs and Terry were the fitting protagonists in the PK drama, much as they had been in the first overtime, when Terry had cleared a Giggs shot headed for goal out for a corner kick. Terry, with a chance at heroic victory at his feet, slipped badly on the approach and his resulting shot went wide of the net. Instead of the hero, he is the goat. He will be forever remembered for missing the kick rather than for the brilliant header clearance aforementioned. Of course it took others to be complicit in this Chelsea tragedy, but Terry is the one who will be remembered for failing to deliver the “coup de grace.”

Terry’s miss opened the door for Manchester United’s comeback and they capitalized on that much like they had nearly 10 years ago when they scored two in injury in their win against Bayern Munich.

The first 90 of the game itself, while not dreadful by any means, lacked a certain electricity that characterized some of the matches preceding it this year. The first twenty minutes were more tactical and tense than anything else; the proverbial boxer’s feeling out rounds lasting much longer for any fan.

As if by some strange sign of destiny, red seemed to be the dominant color early on: Drogba bloody tongue and Scholes bloody nose were about the most exciting things that occurred up until the 26th minute, when Ronaldo, mostly known for his pace and fancy footwork, headed in a Wes Brown cross into a corner that Cech could not reach. None of Ronaldo’s 41 goals in 47 matches this year had been scored against Chelsea. That streak was now broken much to Chelsea’s dismay.

The game certainly picked up pace after that . The best action of the entire game came in the 34th minute with end to end play originating with Chelsea attacking through some nice passing from Lampard to Essien to Ballack. Ballack’s shot was cleared by Ferdinand to Rooney, who’se 40 meter pass caught a streaking Ronaldo. His cross to Tevez and the ensuing shot was punched back by Cech, but right back to Carrick, whose own shot was saved by Cech again.

Towards the end of the first half, a defensive lapse by Man U as a shot bounced off of Ferdinand’s back and fell at the foot of Lampard, and with a sprawling vander Sarr, Frank converted with ease to tie the game.

In the second half, Evra’s cross with the 3 Man U players in the box eluded all of them. After that, Chelsea seemed to quietly take over as the Ballack, Lampard, Essien trio started to dominate. Ronaldo, Rooney, and Tevez seemed to isolated from each other. While Tevez and Ronaldo continued running and shooting, it was Chelsea that had the better opportunities in the second half. Rooney largely disappeared.

In the 55th minute, Essien went on one of his trademark hard runs but his shot went high. In the 84th a nice shot from Drogba hit the post, the first of two for the Blues.

The field was causing problems as a number of players started to cramp up. As a result, the game disintegrated into the stalemate that characterized the first 20 minutes.

In the extra time, the Ballack Lampard combination worked beautifully again but Lampard’s shot struck woodwork. In the 101st, Evra’s darting run found Giggs all alone. His deft shot was headed for goal before being headed out by John Terry.

By then, the soccer had ended but the best of the fighting was about to begin. In the 114th minute, a discussion ensued between Tevez and Ballack about a throw in. Shoves and insults later, Drogba slapped Vidic in the face and earned himself a red card. Drogba made a long slow walk in the rain, perhaps playing his last game for Chelsea. He would not participate in the PK’s that followed, and that probably hurt Chelsea big time.

Manchester United’s victory compensates for much of the frustration United has faced in this competition over the last decade (two semifinal and 3 quarter-final defeats). The frustrations for Chelsea continue. Despite having success domestically, Abramovich’s vision of winning it all in his homeland was shattered on this night. This is a team that leaves you wanting for more. Despite having arguably the most talented roster in the world, Chelsea continue the tradition of London clubs inability to win this competition.

JOTTINGS:

As much as I hate the idea of the penalty shootout, I hate what it does to the players who miss, how it can forever haunt a player. Terry now joins the fine company the likes of Gascoigne, Baggio, Beckham.

As inconsolable as Terry was after the game, Giggs must have felt on top of the world. Already in the twilight of a great career, having passed Bobby Charleton in games played for the Red Devils on this very night, Giggs now was quoted as thirsting for more. What more could he need really ?

Blues beat Reds

Chelsea finally break the Reds’ spell.

Following the sensational quarterfinal matchup between Liverpool and Arsenal, it was probably to be expected that there would be a drop off in this semi final matchup between Liverpool and Chelsea. Whatever the reasons, the first leg of this playoff was not nearly as exciting as the two previous Reds’ games in this competition. This game was downright boring. Maybe it was due to the nature of the matchups or the fact that the Chelsea trainer played this game not to win (and Benitez seem to also stoop down to this level of tactics as well). Or maybe it can also be attributed to the fact that in their most recent history in the Champions League, Liverpool and Chelsea are like two boxers feeling it out in the first couple of rounds the entire game, and this results in some very low scoring games.

In the second leg, the Reds and Blues finally finally (after 3 long years) gave us a game for the ages with the winners assuring themselves a spot in a historic first all English Champions League final. And both teams had some interesting history to overcome: Chelsea have never played in a Champions League final and Liverpool hadn’t been able to score at Chelsea for over 700 minutes.

So we should thank Riise for so brilliantly setting up the second leg with his very ill timed own-(away)-goal in the dying seconds of the first leg. Without that away goal that they now had to go and get for themselves, Liverpool could have easily packed 10 into their box (well you get the idea) and dared Chelsea to beat them and so this could have turned into another one of those boring tactical games where one team plays not to lose, or better put, doesn’t play at all.

Instead, forced to try to score the away goal, Liverpool had to come out of its tactical shell. This game was like 3 games in one. In Round 1, Chelsea easily dominated play and had many chances to score early on. Drogba looked menacing as Essien, Ballack, and Lampard controlled things in midfield for Chelsea. Liverpool could do very little really and seemed content to slowly pursue their goal of the away goal (after all, even a Chelsea score didn’t mean they had to score 2, they could still get by with one all of the way to the PKs). The Blues did score on a brilliant low hard shot by Drogba off of a rebound from Kalou’s shot in the 30th minute. From the goal on, Chelsea continued its dominance and Ballack nearly scored a second with a bending free kick in the 42nd minute.

In the second half, Liverpool woke up and started having more possession in midfield.. In this second segment of the match, Liverpool had the initiative and Chelsea looked content to hold on to their one goal lead. Although a lot of their ball possession ended up going backwards, at least they were keeping Chelsea away from their goal. Nevertheless, at the 59th minute Liverpool had now played 770 minutes without scoring at Stamford Bridge.. In the 64th minute, the possession finally paid off as Benayoum, switched to the right flank from the left flank by Benitez, went by 3 Chelsea defenders on a diagonal dribbling run before setting up Torres with a nice through ball that Torres niftly tucked away to Peter Cech’s left hand side.

By now, in the midst of a downpour with an all Engllish final in Moscow at stake, this had all of the inkling of a classic as overtime loomed. Chelsea reasserted itself a bit towards the end of regulation and it was almost capped by a powerful run from Essien that resulted into a shot into the side netting. But at the end of 90 it was even Stevens.

In the extra 30 minutes, Chelsea took over completely. A goal from Essien early in the overtime was annulled due to player interference on Reina. Minutes later, Hyppia was called for a PK and which Lampard converted with astonishing power and ease. Afterwards, he looked to the sky in rememberance of his recently deceased mother. With Chelsea insisting, the icing on the cake came in the 105th minute as Anelka rounded the corner past a befuddled Riise (who could only hold his hand up and pray for an offside call) and crossed to Drogba who struck another low shot past Reina. Ryan Babel’s postage stamp blistering blast into the upper left corner was as they say “too little too late.”

Let us not kid ourselves Reds fans: Liverpool are not as talented as Chelsea. And this time Chelsea were ready for any tactical maneuvering (on and off the field) that Benitez threw at them and which could have possible leveled the playing field. But not having Aurelio and the injury to Skrtel early on really hurt Liverpool's shape in the back. Riise didn't play very well at all in defense (two of Chelsea’s goal featured him on the defensive end) and aside from one really good cross, didn't attack well at all either. In midfield, Alonso and Kuyt also didn't have a good game. As good as Gerrard and Mascheranno are (and I agree with those who think that Mascheranno is now the best defensive midfield in the world), those four were no match for Chelsea’s four midfield players. In this game, Essien performance was extraordinary and for me was the real difference maker.

The Blues now take on the Red Devils in the all English final in Moscow. I’ll be rooting for them to win it all.