John Terry's famous Champions League final penalty slip vs Manchester United happened 13 years ago today!
On a very wet night in Moscow, Terry looked set to win the Champions League for Chelsea for the very first time, just five years after Roman Abramovich had bought the club.
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After a tight 120 minutes between the two Premier League sides, just 10 days after the two sides were separated by only two points in the Premier League title race, the match went down to a penalty shoot out.
Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick both slotted their spot kicks home for United and Chelsea matched them with Michael Ballack and Juliano Belletti both scoring.
Cristiano Ronaldo, after a season scoring 42 goals, including one in the final, incredibly had his effort saved by Petr Cech, after his usual stuttered run up.
Frank Lampard, Owen Hargreaves, Ashley Cole and Nani all slotted home leaving the Blues needing to score their fifth and final penalty to win the title. Upstepped the captain, Terry...
Terry's incredibly dramatic miss, caused by the pouring conditions in the Russian capital, took the shootout to sudden death but he may not have been taking that kick in normal circumstances.
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The England defender was only on duty to take the fifth penalty due to Didier Drogba's sending off in the 26th minute of extra time, when the Blues' striker slapped Nemanja Vidic.
Anderson, on in injury time in extra time and having not touched the ball, scored the first spot kick in injury time before Salomon Kalou again levelled things up.
Ryan Giggs made it 6-5 and then former Manchester City, Liverpool and Arsenal striker Nicolas Anelka stepped up but his penalty was saved by Edwin van der Sar to crown United as European champions for the third time and double winners.
In an interview with FourFourTwo, the keeper revealed how he prepared for the penalties. "I remember studying a lot of Chelsea's penalties on DVD before the match." van der Sar said.
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"So, for example, I think I probably analysed about 40 that Frank Lampard had taken in the past. I had made plenty of notes and noticed that Nicolas Anelka would almost always take his penalties to the goalkeeper's right."
Terry did eventually go on to lift the Champions League title four years later, when the west London side defeated Bayern Munich on penalties in Germany.
However even that victory was tainted for the club captain, as he didn't even play in the game, after being sent off in the semi-final second leg against Barcelona.
Terry was then mocked for turning up in full kit to lift the trophy but given the chance we'd probably all do the same, especially after the pain of Moscow.
Featured Image Credit: PATopics: John Terry, Chelsea, Football, Manchester United, Premier League, Champions League
