If I had to choose my best moment last year as a Manchester United and Ronaldo supporter, I honestly wouldn’t know what to pick up. But if I have to say what my greatest relief was, I wouldn’t be afraid to reveal it (even though there could be Chelsea fans around me =D):

Witnessing Cristiano Ronaldo’s header in the Champions League final gave me a lot of relief because I felt the trophy was just inches away from the Reds’ fingertips. But after Lampard hit the equalizer, Chelsea managed to send the game into extra-time and penalties.

Cristiano Ronaldo had missed a penalty against Barcelona in the semi-finals and he was out to correct himself and score his second goal of the night.

(Relive the Champions League final! Watch the video of the penalties by clicking on “Read More”)

At my anguish, Ronaldo simply missed Manchester United third penalty kick.

It then seemed to me as the sky was falling down on the Red Devils; It was up to John Terry to convert the kick of his life and send the Blues triumphing all around the cold atmosphere of Moscow. My distress was so that I even didn’t want to watch this moment really. To think that Ronaldo was the unlucky number of the night was frustrating and sad.

And there came my greatest ever relief in football, when Chelsea’s Captain John Terry astonishingly put his penalty wide!!! Van der Sar completely went the wrong way, with the face of goal wide open to the English defender; I couldn’t believe my eyes, even weeks after the final! I felt more relief than joy and excitment. Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo were saved.

The Reds eventually went on to win the trophy with Van der Sar being the hero of the penalty shoot-out. But for me, if someone ironically deserved praises, it will have been Chelsea’s John Terry – who in fact wasn’t suppose to take the last kick according to Avram Grant. Thanks for allowing Manchester United and Cristiano Ronaldo’s greatest nightmare to fade away, dear JT!

Imagine how it will have been if Terry had not miss his penalty kick. The world would have been falling down on the Man of the Moment, Cristiano Ronaldo.
No Golden Ball, no Fifa Player of the Year Award of course… these are only for winners; the awards would have certainly gone out to this “Honorable-Mister-Righteous-Messiah-Messi” that I hate more than anything in football!

As for Ronaldo, he would have been branded as 2008’s biggest disappointment.
But it didn’t happen that way, and we Manchester United fans all celebrated until the next day without sleeping that night.

What about you? How did you feel during the penalty-shootouts? And what was your greatest relief in football?

Written by: Angela Asante