The BEST of times..

ONLY THE FIZZ WENT FLAT AS UNITED BEAT CHELSEA IN THE ONLY ALL-PREM CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FINAL

THE 2008 Champions League final remains the high-water mark of the Premier League.

The only all-English clash in Europe’s showpiece match saw Manchester United take on Chelsea in the rain in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.

It was the fourth successive year an English team had reached the final – and Liverpool had lost to Chelsea in the semis to underline the power of the Premier League.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s memories of that penalty shoot-out success centre on being drenched – first by the rain and then by something masquerading as champagne in the post-match celebrations.

“In no sense was this a conventional European final,” he said.

“The time zone was the first quirk, which meant the game had kicked off at 10.45pm.

“I always remember, too, that the rain had drenched me and ruined my shoes, so I attended the victory party in trainers – for which I took plenty of stick from the players.

“And in our moment of triumph, there was no champagne to be found at the Luzhniki Stadium. “In the absence of the real stuff, staff were dispatched to a bar to buy some kind of fizzy liquid. Heaven knows what it was. “‘I can’t even offer you a glass of champagne,’ I apologised to Andy Roxburgh, who came into our dressing room to congratulate us. “Whatever was in those bottles, we shook it about and made a fuss. There was a lot of hilarity and nonsense, with the players giving each other stick.” That season also saw Cristiano Ronaldo at his zenith for United.

His headed opener, when Fergie cleverly put him up against Chelsea’s makeshift right-back Michael Essien on the left wing, was the 42nd of his remarkable season.

He was voted FIFA’s Player of the Year for that campaign and was the first Premier League player to lift the Ballon d’Or since Michael Owen seven years earlier.

“What a season Ronaldo had in that European Cupwinning campaign,” said Ferguson. “Forty-two goals for a winger?

“In some games he played centre-forward, but he was essentially a wide man in our system. In every game he would create three chances for himself.”

Ironically, Ronaldo missed his spot-kick in the shoot-out (below) – the only United player to do so. He laid crying on the pitch – even as John Terry (bottom) slipped when missing his kick and then when Edwin van der Sar saved from Nicolas Anelka to give the Reds victory.

Ferguson took several seconds to react because he could not take in the fact that United had won.

“When Van der Sar saved from Anelka to win the trophy for us, I hardly made it off my seat, because I could barely believe we had won,” he said. “I stayed motionless for several moments.”

It was a sweet moment for Fergie after he had waited nine years since the historic 1999 Treble success to get his hands on the Champions League trophy again.

He felt a club of United’s standing should at least match Liverpool’s five wins, although that 2008 triumph remains their last. “Moscow was a relief, because I always said United ought to be achieving more in Europe,” he said.

“It was our third European Cup and took us closer to Liverpool’s five.”