2008 UEFA Champions League Final

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2008 UEFA Champions League Final

Winner

Runner-up

Score

Date
21 May 2008
Venue
Luzhniki Stadium
Man of the Match

Website
UEFA Champions League

The 2008 UEFA Champions League Final (Russian: Финал Лиги чемпионов УЕФА 2008) will take place on Wednesday, 21 May 2008 at 20:45 CEST or 22:45 local time at the Luzhniki Stadium, home ground of Torpedo and Spartak Moscow, in Moscow, Russia to decide the winner of the 2007–08 UEFA Champions League. The final will be contested by Manchester United and Chelsea, making it an all-English club final for the first time in European Cup or Champions League history. This is only the third time that two clubs from the same country have contested in the same Champions League Final – the others being the 2000 and 2003 finals.

In a series of coincidences, in the week during which Manchester United qualified for this Final in Russia, Russian side Zenit St Petersburg advanced to the 2008 UEFA Cup Final hosted at the City of Manchester Stadium in Manchester, England. This sees the Russian billionaire owner Roman Abramovich bring Chelsea to the first European Cup final staged in Russia. The Moscow location makes this the easternmost final in the tournament's history. It is also Chelsea's first European Cup/Champions league final in their history.

The final will be played on natural grass that was temporarily installed for this match in replacement for the original artificial turf.^[1] Due to the time difference, this will be only the second European Cup final to be played over two days, scheduled to finish at 0:30 local time if there is no extra time or penalties. The first European Cup Final that was played over two days was in the 2005 Final at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium when Liverpool beat AC Milan after extra time and penalties which took the game beyond midnight.^[2]

In recent years, the Champions League final has been given an identity of its own with a unique logo, a design concept, and an overall theme. The objective is to help promote the final and enhance the prestige of one of the world's biggest sporting events. The initial idea that inspired the creation of a new identity for each final was to develop a design with a distinctive flavour of the host city. On 31 October in Moscow, the Final's new design was presented to public. The ceremony was held in the press conference room at the Luzhniki Stadium and the design was unveiled in presence of the ambassador for the final, former Russian goalkeeper Rinat Dasayev.

1 Background
2 Route to the final
3 Match details
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Background

Manchester United go into the Champions League final as champions of England for the 17th time and undefeated in the 2007–08 Champions League. Chelsea came second in the league, finishing with just two points fewer than United, and have lost just one Champions League game, the quarter-final first leg away to Fenerbahçe. In the Premier League games between the two sides in the 2007–08 season, United won 2–0 at Old Trafford in Avram Grants' first game in charge of Chelsea on 23 September 2007. Chelsea won 2–1 at Stamford Bridge in the return game on 26 April 2008. Chelsea also won the last cup game between the two – a 1–0 win in the 2007 FA Cup Final in May 2007, although United got revenge in the Community Shield the following August – winning 3–0 on penalties after a 1–1 draw in normal time.

[edit] Route to the final

For more details on this topic, see UEFA Champions League 2007-08.

[edit] Manchester United

Manchester United were drawn in Group F along with Roma, Sporting and Dynamo Kyiv. United won their first five group games before securing a 1–1 draw away against Roma, in a game where both teams were already guaranteed to progress from the group, United as group winners.

In the first knockout round, United were drawn against Olympique Lyonnais, against whom they drew the away leg 1-1, thanks to a late equaliser from Carlos Tévez. The Red Devils then won the second leg 1–0 – Cristiano Ronaldo scoring the only goal – to ensure a 2–1 aggregate win and a place in the quarter-finals, where they were again drawn against Roma.

The quarter-final matches represented the fifth and sixth times these two clubs had met in Europe in just over 12 months. United went to Rome and secured a very creditable 2–0 win, before securing the tie with a record 11th consecutive home Champions League win, winning 1–0.

The semi-final pitted United against FC Barcelona; the teams had not met since the group stage of the 1998–99 tournament, the last time United won it. The teams also had identical records going into the semi-final, each having won eight and drawn two of their ten games, scoring 18 goals and conceding just five. The first leg at the Nou Camp was a drab affair, with United spending most of the game defending, whilst Barcelona tried to pass the ball around them. United were awarded a penalty in the first minute, but Cristiano Ronaldo sent the ball wide, hitting the stanchion behind the goal. That was about as exciting as the first leg got for either team and it ended 0-0. The second leg at Old Trafford was a game of higher tempo, which United won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Paul Scholes after 14 minutes. This result increased Uniteds' consecutive home win record in the Champions League to 12 and ensured that United reached the final unbeaten.

En-route to the final 2008, United won 9 and drew 3 of their twelve matches, dwarfing their record of 4 wins and 6 draws in the 10 games they took to reach the final in 1999 (in 1999 there was no first knockout round and teams advanced from the group stage directly into the quarter-finals). United scored 20 goals en-route to the final, Cristiano Ronaldo scoring seven of them, more than any other player.

[edit] Chelsea

Chelsea were placed in Group B, along with Schalke 04, Rosenborg and Valencia. Chelsea's first match in the group was against Rosenborg at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea's home ground, where they were held to a 1–1 draw. Chelsea's second match was against Spanish club Valencia, whom they beat 2–1, leaving Chelsea with four points from their two matches. Chelsea's next two matches were against Schalke 04 of Germany. The first match was played at Stamford Bridge. Chelsea won the match 2–0. The return match against Schalke 04 ended in a 0–0 draw. Chelsea's final two matches in their group resulted in a 4-0 demolition of Rosenborg and a 0-0 draw with Valencia. Chelsea progressed as group winners with 12 points out of six games.

Chelsea faced Olympiacos in the first knockout round. The first leg in Athens ended in a 0–0 draw. The second leg saw Chelsea run out 3-0 winners with goals from Ballack, Lampard and Kalou to send Chelsea into the quarter-finals.

Chelsea were drawn against Fenerbahce of Turkey in the quarter-finals. The first leg was held at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium, and ended in a 2–1 loss. Chelsea had opened the scoring when Deivid deflected the ball into his own net. but Fenerbahce equalised on 65 minutes, when Kazim-Richards scored. Deivid won the match for Fenerbache with a strike from outside the penalty area in the 81st minute. The second leg at Stamford Bridge was won by Chelsea, who scored two goals, to claim a 3–2 aggregate victory over the Turkish side.

Chelsea faced English opposition in the semi-finals in the shape of Liverpool. This was the fourth time in succession that these teams had met in the Champions league. The first leg at Anfield was drawn 1–1. The game looked to be heading for a Liverpool win but an own goal by John Arne Riise in the 95th minute gave Chelsea advantage. Chelsea won the second leg 3–2, with goals from Drogba on 33 minutes, Lampard on 98 minutes and Drogba again on 105 minutes sending the Blues through to the first Champions League final in their history.

[edit] Knockout stage

Manchester United
Lyon A 1–1	Tévez 87'	First knockout round First leg	Olympiacos A 0–0
Lyon H 1–0	Ronaldo 41'	Second leg	Olympiacos H 3–0	Ballack 5' Lampard 25' Kalou 48'
Roma A 2–0	Ronaldo 39' Rooney 66'	Quarter-finals First leg	Fenerbahçe A 1–2	Deivid 13' (o.g.)
Roma H 1–0	Tévez 70'	Second leg	Fenerbahçe H 2–0	Ballack 4' Lampard 87'
Barcelona A 0–0		Semi-finals First leg	Liverpool A 1–1	Riise 90+4' (o.g.)
Barcelona H 1–0	Scholes 14'	Second leg	Liverpool H 3–2 (a.e.t.)	Drogba 33', 105' Lampard 98' (pen.)