The match started with Man U being more adventurous of the two.
Man U also seemed more confident and played the better passing game
until Lampard scored. Chelsea continued to put up a good fight
right to the end.
It might have been very different had Chelsea scored first,
Chelsea afterall even outside of this match has always seemed more
capable at defending a lead. Even during this match itself,
Chelsea's defence seemed more composed even though they were under
more pressure early on.
Both sides had decent chances to score and win the game
throughout the match. Man U found it hard to beat Cech who played
superbly and was not to blame for the first goal. Chelsea did
better in beating the keeper but couldn't beat the post on a number
of occassions.
Ronaldo caused lots of problems on Chelsea's right flank while
on their left flank, Ashley Cole had lots of decisions going
against him.
Drogba was actually having a not too bad game, did his usual of
holding up the ball and bringing team mates into play. But the red
card was deserved and it was a foolish thing to do on his part.
I expected Joe Cole to have a better first half and he did have
a better second have with some good defensive work. I think he was
tasked to mark out Ronaldo together with Essien. But he never quite
seemed like be the threat I expected him to be. Maybe due to lack
of service.
It's a pity that Park Ji Sung wasn't even on the bench for Man
U. Did see him in the celebrations.
I felt it was great that Lampard scored again and I feel he
showed why Chelsea needed him. He scored the important equaliser in
the first half and in the second, he did nicely to turn his
defender and his effort fully deserved a goal, but sadly he hit the
post. It would have been nice to be able to see him and his family
being able to celebrate a Champions' League Victory but it wasn't
to be. And between him and Ronaldo, the two regular penalty kick
takers, he was the one who still managed to put away his penalty
after extra time while Ronaldo missed his.
Actually when it came to penalties, I expected Chelsea to win
it. Van Der Sar does not have a fantastic record when it comes to
penalty shootouts and I think any other keeper would have saved
Ashley Cole's penalty. Chelsea in my opinion also had so many
experienced players who have been to this level before like Anelka,
Carvalho. And other than Lampard, players like Ballack are penalty
takers for their national team as well. Besides, the Chelsea
players were older, more mature players as compared to the many
younger ones Man U had taking the penalties.
Just to comment on a few refereeing decisions, I felt Makelele
didn't deserve that yellow card from his tussle with Scholes.
Then there was the issue of the free kick given for Ferdinand's
foul on Lampard, the one where Ferdinand got a yellow card. If that
foul and free kick was given, I feel a similar challenge by Brown
on Cole earlier in the game should have been a foul as well. I've
actually seen these challenges not being penalised in EPL, but I'm
not so sure how it is viewed in Europe. But I'd expect at least
some consistency from the same ref within the same game.
I've already said the red card on Drogba was fully deserved.