The 5 greatest Chelsea vs Manchester United clashes in recent times

Chelsea vs Manchester United, Luzhniki Stadium, Moscow, UEFA Champions League Final 2008

Edwin Van Der Sar celebrates John Terry's horrific penalty miss: UCL Final 2008

Chelsea and Manchester United’s face-offs were not limited to the league and domestic cup matches. Two of the English football powerhouses went face to face in the grandest stage in Europe in 2008. Moscow acted host to one enthralling final by the end of which it was ecstasy in Manchester and heartbreak in London.

Avram Grant’s Chelsea overcame Liverpool in an all English semi-final and Manchester United defeated Barcelona to confirm an all-England final. Cristiano Ronaldo was the first to score with a brilliant header off an inch-perfect cross from Wes Brown. Edwin Van Der Sar’s razor-sharp reflexes, on the other hand, kept Michael Ballack’s close-range attempt out of the goal.

United could have gone two up but it was Petr Cech’s turn to show some heroics.

Wayne Rooney dribbled into a counter and looped a ball into Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo cut the ball into the box which was met by a close-range header from Carlos Tevez. Cech parried away in desperation but the rebound was met with the poised right foot of Michael Carrick. Cech recovered quickly from the first save and stuck out a huge right palm to deflect Carrick's shot.

Cech’s heroics were followed up by a goal at the half-time whistle. Drogba dropped a grounded shot but the deflection from Rio Ferdinand fooled Van Der Sar. While Van Der Sar was unlucky because of the deflection, the ball fell in sweetly for Frank Lampard to even things up.

Chelsea came ever so close to leading, Drogba’s shot came back off the post. Without much proceedings, the match went into extra time. Chelsea had a chance in extra time: Lampard’s left-foot shot came dangerously off the crossbar and Joe Cole messed up the rebound.

Manchester United came close to leading in extra time as well. Ryan Giggs hit a shot into an open net but John Terry headed the ball out before it lifted too high. Things got really heated starting from a conflict between Tevez and Terry. Soon Scholes, Giggs, Ballack, and Drogba all got involved in an intrigued and heated argument.

The referee in an attempt to regain control reached his pockets and lifted the yellow card towards Ballack and Tevez. He showed a straight red to Drogba for a push and a slap on Nemanja Vidic. The match ended at 1-1 and went into the dreaded shootouts.

Tevez, Ballack, Carrick, and Juliano Belletti stepped up in that order and executed their respective spot-kicks to perfection.

Next in line was Cristiano Ronaldo. Ronaldo was pretty unsure about the penalty, he shimmied during the run to confuse Cech but he didn’t budge. Ronaldo went to Cech’s right-hand side but Cech saved the ball with authority to shift the tie towards Chelsea.

Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole and Nani converted from the spot. One successful kick and Chelsea could have been the champions. The captain Terry stepped up with rain pouring hard in Moscow. Terry did beat Van Der Sar but he slipped during his run up and the ball came off the post and went out. Nicolas Anelka was the one who missed the last penalty as Moscow turned red.

Cristiano Ronaldo cried on the floor with tears of joy while Terry wept tears of agony following a nightmare miss off the line. The Champions League final was perfection, Ronaldo the hero in regulation could have been the villain from the spot while Terry the hero in regulation became the villain from the spot.