The curtain call on the European club football season ended with Manchester United crowned 'Champions of Europe' after their penalty shootout win against Premier League rivals Chelsea. The score ended 1-1 after full-time thanks to first half strikes from United's Cristiano Ronaldo and Chelsea's Frank Lampard.
Into a two-15 minute half to try and decide a winner they went and after many near misses the match was taken to penalties. An unnecessary mêlée at the end of extra-time saw Chelsea striker Didier Drogba shown a straight red card after he appeared to slap United defender Nemanja Vidic right in front of referee Lubos Michel.
The petulant Ivorian who may have played his final match for Chelsea might have drummed up his career with such a selfless act.
In the shootout Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick were on target for United, with Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti following suit for Chelsea.
Ronaldo then made a hash of his effort, stopping in his run-up before seeing his kick saved by Petr Cech.
Lampard was successful from the spot and Owen Hargreaves scored under pressure before Ashley Cole's penalty took Chelsea to the brink of victory.
Nani scored to prolong the tension, but with defeat staring United in the face, John Terry threw them a lifeline with his miss.
Substitutes Anderson and Salomon Kalou traded successful kicks before Ryan Giggs threw all the responsibility on Nicolas Anelka as the shoot-out reached sudden death - and it proved too much for the striker, who saw his penalty palmed away by Edwin Van der Sar to crown United as kings of European football once again.
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