Before the Champions League Final in Moscow, Andy Gray said that either of these sides would beat any other team in Europe.
Sir Alex picked Paul Scholes because he missed 1999 and that decision almost cost him the European Cup. In the second half, Scholes could not run any more.
RONALDO : Against Ashley Cole, who is very quick and agile, Cristiano Ronaldo struggles. But Essien is not as quick and agile as Ashley Cole, so Ronaldo was on the left and he turned Essien inside out all through the first half and rose to head a fabulous goal in 26 minutes.
His footwork, while Wes Brown’s cross was in the air, was exemplary. He put himself exactly where he needed to be to score with a perfect header in a Champions League Final.
ROONEY showed amazing technical assurance in the first half but never got the ball in the second because Scholes and Carrick were overwhelmed.
Rooney did three wonderful things in 34 and 42 and 70. When Carvalho went down the left and beat Ferdinand near the corner flag, Rooney chased back and picked up the ball, beat Carvalho comprehensively, cruised down the touchline with his head up, and fired a phenomenal 60-yard crossfield pass over Essien’s head to Ronaldo.
Ashley Cole had raced right across the field to cover the danger but Ronaldo crossed to give Tevez a diving header straight at Cech and when the rebound broke to Carrick in the D, he hit his shot straight down Cech’s throat. A bad miss by Carrick. Eight minutes later, Rooney took Carvalho out to Chelsea’s left back position and beat him with beautifully measured low cross that rolled beyond Makelele. But Tevez, lunging in to make it 2-0, missed the ball with his left foot. An even worse miss.
Then, in the middle of the second half, Rooney’s pass from the left side allowed Hargreaves to set up Carrick for a shot. In a game as tight as this, played on a soaking wet pitch after it had rained all day, those misses could have cost United the trophy.
DROGBA : Chelsea’s front three have not been scoring. Malouda did OK but he is not a goal threat against Man United. Joe Cole continued his poor form but was facing a very tough Evra, who was United’s best forward at times. When the suited Drogba walked on the pitch wearing big headphones I thought : what a prat ! Moody, schizo, playing his last game….I had doubts about Drogba from that moment on.
He was dominated by Vidic and Ferdinand and was only in the game twice. He headed back a cross to Ballack, who forced Ferdinand to head at Van der Sar, who palmed over. And at 1-1 his bender from the D hit the post. Apart from that, Drogba did nothing.
ESSIEN : You don‘t waste your best player at right back. His speculative 35-yard shot hit Vidic, rebounded off Ferdinand’s back and bounced gently twice into the stride of Lampard, whose finish was tidy and typical for 1-1 in stoppage time, 47 minutes. Lampard runs into that position again and again during a match and if the ball comes he knows what to do.
SUMMARY : First half, fantastic flashes from Rooney, a superb goal by Ronaldo, a compelling 45 with Chelsea grabbing a rather lucky equaliser just before the interval after United missed chances for 2-0. Second half, United were swamped in midfield, Chelsea dominated so much that Scholes was taken off and Hargreaves switched inside from the right flank.
AVRAM GRANT : To win the game, Grant needed to bring on Belletti for Malouda, push Ballack up with Drogba, and switch Essien into the Ballack position. If he had done that, Chelsea would have become the first London club to win the European Cup.
Grant’s other mistake was bringing on Anelka rather than Shevchenko. When Anelka went to take his penalty, he looked terrified. A short run telegraphed his shot and Van der Sar saved to win the game.
SIR ALEX has won one more European Cup more than Sir Matt and Jock Stein in many more attempts. He is level with Brian Clough who won two out of three.
In the final analysis, Chelsea are a defensive team and Manchester United are a team with a great defence.
Chelsea line-up wasn’t really 4-3-3. It was 4-1-4-1, so Drogba never had his back to goal and was never able to play his “wingers” into the game or bring his “midfielders” in either.
BOTTOM LINE: United lost the midfield but won on penalties
MOSCOW was important because (1) It showed that a billionaire can buy the title but can’t buy the European Cup Final because it’s one match and anything can happen in one match and (2) this success will create a whole new generation of Manchester United fans around the world.
Most people are glad United won because they are a proper football club. Their victory is good for football because they value flair as well as method. They are a team with huge vitality and promise and their style is a benefit to the sport in general. They almost blew the title, almost blew the Champions League Final, but won both and deserved both.
Man United is a big club run by big people. Chelsea is a small club run by big people. But there are, of course, different sizes of big. David Gill is a good bloke. If David Gill was at another club, he would still be a good bloke. If Peter Kenyon was at another club, he would still be a marketing bozo from Umbro.
Next season, Chelsea will be re-modelled. Their team is set up for Lampard to make runs into scoring positions. If he stays, and the format changes, he will not score 20 goals a year. If Carvalho goes they are losing the dirtiest great defender since Passarella. Anelka now looks a bad buy at £15 million.
Next season, Manchester United will be stronger. Their best line of attack, their most penetrating line of attack, will still be Anderson to Tevez, then a short pass to a sprinting Ronaldo or a sprinting Rooney.
They will probably sign a six foot centre forward because they need that option. Stylistically, Berbatov would be perfect. Temperamentally, he wouldn’t.
Since July 1, 2003, the day Abramovich bought Chelsea from Ken Bates for £59 million, Premier League football has been all about how the other big clubs reacted to that Chelski bombshell.
Liverpool reacted by getting to two Champions League Finals. Arsenal reacted by getting to one Champions League Final and building the Emirates Stadium. And Manchester United reacted to Chelsea’s titles in 2005 and 2006 by winning the next two in 2007 and 2008 and giving the oligarch the biggest defeat of his football career in his hometown.
Sir Alex reacted by realising that to beat Jose Mourinho’s super-strong squad, he needed his own super-strong squad. Instead of relying on O’Shea, Fletcher and Alan Smith, he is now relying on Tevez, Hargreaves, Nani and Anderson. The knight from Govan, who earned his treble and his K after Peter Schmeichel saved Dennis Bergkamp’s penalty in 1999, ended up competing with a manager who was no longer there.