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Manchester United today celebrate the 12th anniversary of their last Champions League triumph back in 2008. Edwin Van Der Sar and Rio Ferdinand commemorated this occasion with throwback pictures on their Instagram accounts. Manchester United won their 3rd and most recent Champions League on a rainy night in Moscow. They won a hard-fought game which ended in a 1-1 draw at the end of 90 minutes as well as extra time. Manchester United needed penalties to prevail with van der Sar having to pull off some spectacular saves when the penalty shootout went to sudden death.
Van der Sar and Ferdinand relive Manchester United's glorious night in Moscow
Van der Sar posted a throwback picture on his Instagram with him having put a pic of him hoisting the trophy for Manchester United during the trophy lift. He also posted a video of him saving the crucial penalty off Nicolas Anelka's attempt. Van Der Sar would be especially proud of his performance throughout the match. He not only made some crucial saves during the match but was especially clutch during the penalty shootout.
Ferdinand also posted a series of pictures clicked on the night to remember the game. The triumph would have been great for Ferdinand as he was the captain for Manchester United on the night. He was great defensively on the night, repelling waves of Chelsea pressure especially in the second half. He alongside Nemanja Vidic were equivalent to the Iron Curtain for Manchester United on the night.
Manchester United win their 3rd Champions League
Manchester United started the game stronger having taken the lead in the 26th minute through a Cristiano Ronaldo header past Petr Cech. They continued to dominate the game for the rest of the half and should have gone in with a two goal only to be pegged back on the stroke of halftime by a Frank Lampard strike.
Chelsea started the second half stronger but were repelled repeatedly by Manchester United's defence. The defence of Manchester United continued to hold strong for the remainder of the 90 minutes.
The game went into extra time when both teams were biding time for penalties. The game sparked to life in the second half of extra time when there was a melee in which players from both teams took part. During this melee, Didier Drogba was observed by the referee to have slapped Vidic and he was promptly given his marching orders.
The game went to penalties with both teams putting in most of their attempts save for Ronaldo and John Terry. Ronaldo tried to distract Cech with his runup but only succeeded in throwing himself off. Terry had the chance to win the game for Chelsea only to slip while taking his runup to succeed in ballooning his attempt to the skies.
The shootout went to sudden death with Anderson and Ryan Giggs converting their attempts for Manchester United and Salomon Kalou converted his chance for Chelsea. Anelka went up to take his penalty only for Van der Sar to save and trigger celebrations.
Return of the Premier League
Premier League on Monday allowed teams to come to training in small groups as part of Step 1 in the Premier League's Project Restart initiative. Most teams have returned to training with Manchester United returning to training on Wednesday. Manchester United will be looking to restart the Premier League on fire when it returns.
