So how good was the final?

So how good was it? I saw the game at a bar and there was rather mixed opionions just like here. so was it a good final and for what reason?

Thought it was quite a good match. Initially very slow, then with loads of intensity and tension but no quality and tactics, but in the 2nd half it improved a lot.

3.5 from me.

Short of one or two more goals, I can't see much more you can expect. Some good football, some poor football, great performances, woeful performances, a game of two halves that ebbed and flowed, loads of chances, a near mass brawl, a red card and penalties to boot where it looked like one team had won and then handed it to the other.

4/5.

Hmm, twas ok. Better than I expected as I fully expected to see a dour, turgid and goalless 120 minutes with the only entertainment coming from penalties.

I was pleasantly wrong however on one count.

Brilliant final

- very even game, with both teams dominating various periods
- some heart in mouth moments - Cech clearing from Carrick, Terry from Giggs, Ballack at the other end, two off the frame of the goal etc.
- fast paced through, highly competitive attacking football from both teams
- Ronaldo had a good all round game for once
- Giggs breaking appearances record
- Ballack being $h!t
- Highly dodgy refereeing
- Terry/Ronaldo in tears

I would have give it 3 chins I guess..it was brilliant in second part of the first half. Watched until extra time, then I started to call a girlfriend..which was more interesting.

3/5.

This is the view of one of 365's writers. He clearly enjoyed it:

`A Sustained Heavyweight Clash Of Equals`

Posted 22/05/08 08:16
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John Terry talked beforehand of how his performance in Moscow could help him win back the England captaincy. And, when he twisted his head back while running the other way across goal to deny Ryan Giggs a potential winner, the Chelsea skipper's commitment and skill would surely have impressed Fabio Capello. Forget the nonsense about the trampoline, this was Terry giving his best.

Alas, by the end of the night the England captain he was bringing to mind was David Beckham: in Istanbul, in Lisbon and, given the tears, in Gelsenkirchen.

It was an extraordinary end to an extraordinary night. The claim that penalty shootouts are a lottery is belied with the monotonous regularity with which certain teams (and nationalities) win them and certain teams (and nationalities) lose them. And perhaps a poor choice of footwear contributed, who knows. But in wretched weather, something had to give, and it proved to be Terry's foot when he had the chance to win the trophy his master so covets.

Had Terry converted his kick, then Cristiano Ronaldo would have got what he deserved. These days more or less any style of run-up is allowed. But when you stop dead and fail to out-psyche the goalkeeper, fail to persuade him to commit, you are short of power and are left with placement. Get that wrong and the price can be a bitter one. The Arrogant One had scored a fine header to give his team the lead, but he is certainly a player in need of regular reminders that he is only human and Petr Cech's saved could have been the biggest one yet.

In the end, Ronaldo escaped and it is Nicolas Anelka whose saved effort proved decisive. He cut a sympathetic figure, which is not something I expected ever to write. Luckily there was the thought of Peter Kenyon and Roman Abramovich to bring a smile to my face, as well as Paul Scholes (and quite possibly others) going over to comfort Terry, and the infectious joy of the United players.

The sight of a drenched, joyous Sir Alex Ferguson brought to mind a key managerial precept: never carry an umbrella.

It was less mad, but in a way this was a superior final to that of 2005; certainly there can be no disputing that those were the best two finals of this century so far, or that in 2008 we had two groups of players who fully deserved to be at the pinnacle of the game. In Istanbul we had a mismatch, with the underdogs buried yet enjoying a stunning resurrection then hanging on to snatch it. In Moscow we had a sustained heavyweight clash of equals.

Manchester United were clearly the better team and deserved their lead; Chelsea capitalised on a moment of fortune through the superb alertness of Frank Lampard, then were on top in the second half and Didier Drogba struck the outside of a post in the closest anyone came to a winner in normal time.

Both sides were trying to win the game - even if penalties were needed, no one was settling for them. Sometimes extra time is a pointless farce - remember Milan v Juventus in 2003 - and all concerned should be praised for their approach, as aching limbs gave way but commitment did not. Lampard hit the underside of a bar; Terry denied Giggs superbly.

Drogba, that shot on to the post aside, was largely contained in what was perhaps his last game for the club - what a way to bow out, failing to bottle up his temper. A red card or two looked likely from early on - you would never have thought Claude Makelele was the oldest outfielder - and the only surprise was it took so long for Lubos Michel to show one.

The needle throughout was a jarring sour note on a rare night when the spectacle lived up to the hype. Another, of course, was Clive Tyldesley, not least for dubbing a prime exemplar of untrammelled capitalism in action as "the Red man".

It is important to end on a positive note though, to reflect a positive night. And where better to finish than with Edwin van der Sar?

As he said afterwards, expletive undeleted, he has suffered in shootouts. In 1996 - as he vividly recalled - he was on the receiving end in this final, as Ajax lost to his future club Juventus. A month later, he lost another, as Holland exited Euro 96 to France in the quarter-finals. In 1998 he lost a World Cup semi-final shootout to Brazil. He lost a Euro 2000 semi-final shootout to Italy.

He did win a quarter-final shootout at Euro 2004. He did win a shootout in the Charity Shield against Chelsea at the start of this season. But f***** nothing could compare to this.

i voted for 2

I only watched the penalties because I couldn't care less about the predictable rest. Every sain person knew it had to be pens.... It was so obvious!

The pens were quite excited

Fidel wrote:Brilliant final

- very even game, with both teams dominating various periods
- some heart in mouth moments - Cech clearing from Carrick, Terry from Giggs, Ballack at the other end, two off the frame of the goal etc.
- fast paced through, highly competitive attacking football from both teams
- Ronaldo had a good all round game for once
- Giggs breaking appearances record
- Ballack being $h!t - Highly dodgy refereeing
- Terry/Ronaldo in tears

BLUES' MAN OF THE MATCH Michael Ballack 8
Was Chelsea's best player by some distance with a superb all-action midfield display.

the mirror

The Mirror


Thought it was a good game..4/5 i'd say.

RicardoJol wrote:i voted for 2

I only watched the penalties because I couldn't care less about the predictable rest. Every sain person knew it had to be pens.... It was so obvious!

The pens were quite excited

You decided it was a $h!t match about a month ago.

Toni Kroos wrote:

Fidel wrote:Brilliant final

- very even game, with both teams dominating various periods
- some heart in mouth moments - Cech clearing from Carrick, Terry from Giggs, Ballack at the other end, two off the frame of the goal etc.
- fast paced through, highly competitive attacking football from both teams
- Ronaldo had a good all round game for once
- Giggs breaking appearances record
- Ballack being $h!t - Highly dodgy refereeing
- Terry/Ronaldo in tears

BLUES' MAN OF THE MATCH Michael Ballack 8
Was Chelsea's best player by some distance with a superb all-action midfield display.

the mirror

By all action midfield display they mean he fouled enough players to be considered to have done his job defensively, and took enough shots (mostly blazed high and wide) to be considered to have done his job offensively. The ones actually running the midfield were Lampard, Makelele and Essien.

Didn't enjoy it at all. Maybe just because im a Liverpool fan I suppose.

Only seemed worth watching for Terry's penalty miss.

Toni Kroos wrote:

Fidel wrote:Brilliant final

- very even game, with both teams dominating various periods
- some heart in mouth moments - Cech clearing from Carrick, Terry from Giggs, Ballack at the other end, two off the frame of the goal etc.
- fast paced through, highly competitive attacking football from both teams
- Ronaldo had a good all round game for once
- Giggs breaking appearances record
- Ballack being $h!t - Highly dodgy refereeing
- Terry/Ronaldo in tears

BLUES' MAN OF THE MATCH Michael Ballack 8
Was Chelsea's best player by some distance with a superb all-action midfield display.

the mirror

He was far from the worst player on the pitch, granted. Although kudos to the English press, for showing they aren't as anti-German as we are led to believe

overall more enjoyable than i expected, haven't laughed as much in a while when arrogant coont has his pen saved, hopefully (though i doubt it) he'll show a little more humility in future having been bailed out by a slip and his team mates

Kimbo wrote:

RicardoJol wrote:i voted for 2

I only watched the penalties because I couldn't care less about the predictable rest. Every sain person knew it had to be pens.... It was so obvious!

The pens were quite excited

You decided it was a $h!t match about a month ago.

Loads of people did that.

Didn't watch bar the last 10 minutes and the penalties.

According to the statistics the total of shots on goal for both teams combined in 120 minutes was.......8

Sounded to me like I didn't miss much, but I might be mistaken

Axeslammer wrote:Didn't watch bar the last 10 minutes and the penalties.

According to the statistics the total of shots on goal for both teams combined in 120 minutes was.......8

Ballack had 10 shots alone i think, all though they were pretty much all off target...

Senor Woody wrote:

Toni Kroos wrote:

Fidel wrote:Brilliant final

- very even game, with both teams dominating various periods
- some heart in mouth moments - Cech clearing from Carrick, Terry from Giggs, Ballack at the other end, two off the frame of the goal etc.
- fast paced through, highly competitive attacking football from both teams
- Ronaldo had a good all round game for once
- Giggs breaking appearances record
- Ballack being $h!t - Highly dodgy refereeing
- Terry/Ronaldo in tears

BLUES' MAN OF THE MATCH Michael Ballack 8
Was Chelsea's best player by some distance with a superb all-action midfield display.

the mirror

He was far from the worst player on the pitch, granted. Although kudos to the English press, for showing they aren't as anti-German as we are led to believe

Really? Who was worse?

Rooney was shite

Does shots on target include the two that hit the bar for Chelsea?

There was loads of chances for either team.

Ronaldo's goal, Carrick and Giggs shot, Tevez two chances for Man United. For Chelsea Lampards goal, their two shots off the post and Ballack's chance as well. Plus alot of scrambles at either end, like Vidic's two clearances that could of resulted in goals with weaker defending.

Rosicky? wrote:

Axeslammer wrote:Didn't watch bar the last 10 minutes and the penalties.

According to the statistics the total of shots on goal for both teams combined in 120 minutes was.......8

Ballack had 10 shots alone i think, all though they were pretty much all off target...

Lol, I put a joker on the maximum amount of shots *off* target in the predictions thingie : easiest decision in my life

1 shot on target every 15 minutes, c'mon people : that's shocking !

Football Genius wrote:Rooney was shite

Yep, didn't play consistently well. Had two amazing moments - pass to Ronaldo and cross to Tevez, but more out of the game than in it. One wayward pass lead to a good counter attack for Chelsea.

3/5

Better than I expected. Wasn't much quality football on display, but it was quite exciting in parts, spoilt by a lot of play acting.

Calidad wrote:3/5

Better than I expected. Wasn't much quality football on display, but it was quite exciting in parts, spoilt by a lot of play acting.

Much the same way i saw it allthough there was time where i was bored really.

Axeslammer wrote:Didn't watch bar the last 10 minutes and the penalties.

According to the statistics the total of shots on goal for both teams combined in 120 minutes was.......8

Sounded to me like I didn't miss much, but I might be mistaken

Just goes to show that you shouldn't watch a game on paper.

Kimbo wrote:

RicardoJol wrote:i voted for 2

I only watched the penalties because I couldn't care less about the predictable rest. Every sain person knew it had to be pens.... It was so obvious!

The pens were quite excited

You decided it was a $h!t match about a month ago.

i did that indeed. I also decided a month ago to watch only the penalty kicks because I knew this game would end like that... The reason i wanted to see the pk's was only because I knew Van der Star would be crowned as the hero of the night!

RicardoJol wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

RicardoJol wrote:i voted for 2

I only watched the penalties because I couldn't care less about the predictable rest. Every sain person knew it had to be pens.... It was so obvious!

The pens were quite excited

You decided it was a $h!t match about a month ago.

i did that indeed. I also decided a month ago to watch only the penalty kicks because I knew this game would end like that... The reason i wanted to see the pk's was only because I knew Van der Star would be crowned as the hero of the night!

You really are Mr Football aren't you.

Kimbo wrote:

RicardoJol wrote:

Kimbo wrote:

RicardoJol wrote:i voted for 2

I only watched the penalties because I couldn't care less about the predictable rest. Every sain person knew it had to be pens.... It was so obvious!

The pens were quite excited

You decided it was a $h!t match about a month ago.

i did that indeed. I also decided a month ago to watch only the penalty kicks because I knew this game would end like that... The reason i wanted to see the pk's was only because I knew Van der Star would be crowned as the hero of the night!

You really are Mr Football aren't you.

tnx mate!

Excellent game, full of drama and thrust 4/5