Manchester United were crowned kings of Europe for the third time on Wednesday when they beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a breathless all-English Champions League final had finished 1-1 after extra time. United’s 37-year-old goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, saved the decisive spot kick from substitute Nicolas Anelka.
At the top of their game are Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Not so lucky are Derby County, Birmingham and Reading. We present the English Premiership report cards for the four that return to the Champions League … and the ones that got the chop.
It could hardly be more fitting. Fifty years after the Munich air disaster that killed 23 people and rocked a city, Manchester United stand on the brink of a European
triumph, something that means so much to the local people and to the club itself. Eight United players died in the crash in 1958, wiping out many footballers who experts believed could go on to dominate Europe for many years to come.
Sir Alex Ferguson believes his young Manchester United stars will become Old Trafford legends if they win the Champions League. Ferguson’s side retained the Premier League title on Sunday and now the Scot has turned his attention to the Champions League final against Chelsea, the team they edged out of the title.
Ryan Giggs etched his name even deeper into the history of Manchester United as he struck the goal which confirmed the Old Trafford club’s 10th English Premier League title in the space of 15 years. His introduction as a second-half substitute at Wigan on Sunday saw the 34-year-old equal United’s appearance record of 758 games held by Bobby Charlton.
Manchester United clinched their 17th English championship on Sunday by beating Wigan 2-0 in a nail-biting finale to the most thrilling Premier League title battle in years. Pushed to the wire by Chelsea, United claimed the 10th title of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign by two points after their rivals were held to a 1-1 draw by Bolton in their final match.
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/ 6 February 2008
A memorial service was to be held on Wednesday for the eight Manchester United players killed when the team’s plane crashed in Munich 50 years ago as they returned from a European Cup match. The remembrance service, at the English Premier League champions’ Old Trafford ground, was to start at 3.04pm GMT — the exact time of the tragedy.
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/ 5 February 2008
Amid the memorial services to mark Wednesday’s 50th anniversary of the Munich air disaster, for survivor Sir Bobby Charlton the memories of that fateful day are never far from his thoughts. At 2.04pm GMT on Wednesday, exactly 50 years since crash, the 23 people in the disaster who lost their lives will be remembered.
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/ 2 February 2008
For the survivors of the February 6 1958 Munich air crash that took away the heart of the so-called Busby Babes, the 50th anniversary of one of soccer’s worst tragedies — to be marked on Wednesday — is more of an ordeal than simply remembering lost Manchester United teammates.