Final goes to extra time

The match began with much expectation, but the starting line-ups revealed cagey formations for both sides with Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba expected to lead their respective lines alone.

When – as has happened in so many other matches - the opposition leaves space for these clubs to attack, players such as Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Shaun Wright-Phillips and Joe Cole can be devastating from the wide positions while Frank Lampard and Paul Scholes in particular are to be feared down the centre.

However both managers had evidently warned their charges of the potential damage to be incurred from kamikaze attacking and they certainly took it to heart. There were long periods of passing between defence and midfield from both sets of players, with half-hearted forages forward from the wide players.

Ronaldo did not see much of the ball from his wide-left position while Giggs often found himself crowded when he picked it up.

Rooney was put through on goal three times by Scholes, only for the offside flag to deny him on each occasion. To his embarrassment he shot anyway following two of them, slamming the ball well wide.

The most dangerous moment of the entire half was instigated on 22 minutes. Premiership top-scorer Drogba received the ball inside the Man United half and set off running before unleashing a dipping shot that beat Van der Sar all ends up but was half-a-yard wide of the far post.

Lampard found space in the area following good work by Paulo Ferreira as the right back made a rare run into the United final third. He managed to shoot low and on-target, saved by Van der Sar. Minutes later the England midfielder struck a shot from the left this time that beat the goalie but was a yard over the crossbar and came back off the middle stanchion behind the goal.

United worked their way into opposition territory as Ronaldo and Rooney battled for the ball; when it came to Giggs his low cross in towards the six-yard box was cleared easily.

Both managers must have had a fair amount to say to their players at the break and it showed when they returned for the second half. There was a 15-minute spell where both outfits looked to attack and score the crucial first goal.