WOW. A final that lived up to its Champions League tag.
Drama, quality, triumph and disaster.
Chances missed, brilliant saves, woodwork scuffed, defenders slapped and a red card you could not really argue with.
It was a colossal night.
A night when the Premier League, with its reputation as a hugely overblown and overpaid circus, came up with the goods for the planet to see.
The world was watching and we did not let them down.
This was theatre on an epic scale in the teaming rain of Moscow, United might have been three up at half-time with Tevez guilty of missing two and Carrick another. Chelsea could have won it in the second half as their power and determination got a grip on the game.
Pubs and living rooms up and down the land will have been torn between the devils and the deep blues of Chelsea.
The entire world would feel for Frank Lampard whose mother Pat has just died. No winner's medal can take that away. But it would have helped even grieving Frank, because football means that much to people.
See how the winners and losers react. The look on Edwin van der Sar's face after he saves Nicholas Anelka's penalty to win it for United told the story. He will never feel that good again in his life.
And John Terry will probably never feel that bad again after missing the penalty that would have won the trophy for Chelsea.
Terry will not sleep properly through the summer and nor would Christiano Ronaldo had his missed penalty in the shoot-out been the difference between the teams.
All this in a game that mirrored the Premiership season. Manchester United take a lead with flowing dynamic football but Chelsea pull them back with dogged physical power and not a little class.
Then Chelsea are in the ascendancy. They believe it is their time. But it was not.
In the end the two men you would put your life on to score from the penalty spot both missed.
But the game hit the spot for billions around the world. And that's champion.
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