Highs and lows of a Moscow circus which thrilled us all

United left themselves lightweight in the middle, by playing two versus three and with Owen Hargreaves in an unfamiliar role out wide on the right and Cristiano Ronaldo matching-up against Michael Essien down the other side.

Dutch delight: Van der Sar is the centre of attention

Even when it may have been tempting to come inside, Ronaldo held the shape well, stretched Chelsea - especially in the first half - and scored his goal in a penalty box full of blue shirts by ghosting in from the touchline.

The formation stopped their opponents getting their full backs upfield, although Chelsea came back into the game after scoring a fortunate goal and then had much of the possession. If United had taken their chances, they would have been 3-0 up by then.

LOW: Didier Drogba. What a poor performance on the big stage. You might say that Wayne Rooney wasn't at his best but even so, he worked for his team. He didn't throw a strop when Sir Alex Ferguson called him out to the wing, there was no complaining when he had to chase back.

Drogba played like he has done for half of this season - on the fringes of the game. He could not get through Vidic and Ferdinand and he should have been taking a penalty.

That was the job of a centre forward, not the centre half. Instead, he had been sent off for raising his hands with a foolish act of petulance. Chelsea supporters in the stadium reacted as if they have had enough.

HIGH: The passage of play that saw Edwin van der Sar's point-blank save from Ferdinand under pressure from Michael Ballack and then the action raced up the other end. Rooney carried the ball, hit a wonderful 40-yard pass to Ronaldo and his cross should have been finished by Carlos Tevez. Instead, Petr Cech saved and then recovered to beat away Michael Carrick's follow0up. English football at its best.

LOW: Guus Hiddink claiming at half-time that the game was 'too defensive' and that it was 'technically not a good game'. Then Clarence Seedorf, Milan's excellent Dutch midfielder, added that it was 'not the beautiful game' and 'not the sort of football we want to see'.

Sorry, chaps, were you at the same game as me? We've seen so much tepid football, especially from the Italian teams over the years. This was rough and ready, but how can anyone complain?

HIGH: The supporters. Good behaviour, it seems, from people understanding the consequences if they didn't. The travelling supporters, who spent a fortune and travelled for hours to get to Moscow, appeared to appreciate the culture of a very different way of life.

LOW: That John Terry, one of the stars of the modern game, will have to live with the feeling that he cost Chelsea the Champions League. Without his clearance off the line from Ryan Giggs in the closing stages of extra time, they wouldn't have got to penalties.

You wonder how long it will be before Nicolas Anelka moves on - he's scored two goals in 24 games since signing from Bolton - but for Chelsea's captain the wounds will take a long time to heal. It was a shame such a contest went to a shoot-out. It deserved to be decided by a stroke of genius, not a lottery.