Owen Hargreaves’ move to Manchester United in 2007 was a protracted affair, with the Red Devils putting in months of work negotiating with Bayern Munich before the £17million deal was completed.
Hargreaves joined a Manchester United side that had just won their first Premier League title since the 2002/03 season and looked to be in the ascendancy again, meaning the Champions League was a realistic target for Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in the midfielder’s first campaign with his new side.
After a narrow 1-0 aggregate win against Barcelona in the semi-finals, Manchester United booked their place in what was going to be an all-English final against a Chelsea side that squeezed past Liverpool in a seven-goal two-legged thriller in their semi-final.
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Hargreaves reflects on Chelsea victory
Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium hosted the final, with Ferguson’s men able to land a psychological blow ten days before when they pipped the Blues to the Premier League title on the final day of the season.
Hargreaves started in midfield in Russia for what was a tense and often cagey affair. Cristiano Ronaldo opened the scoring on 26 minutes, with Frank Lampard levelling just before the break. Defences then won out, with the tie going into extra time and then to penalties.
When Hargreaves – who FourFourTwo ranked at no.25 in a list of the best England midfielders of all time – stood up to take his spot-kick, the pressure was on, as Ronaldo had just seen his stuttered attempt saved by Petr Cech to give Chelsea the advantage.
“Yeah, enormous pressure,” Hargreaves recalls to FourFourTwo, speaking on behalf of TNT Sports. “There’s no sugar-coating it. But I had been in big shootouts before, for England at two major tournaments, and I’d always put my hand up.
“I was up for taking one when Bayern won the 2001 Champions League Final against Valencia, but on that occasion, the more senior players were sent forward. My mentality was always to step up.
“I always aimed top-left, so I had practised that and was super-confident. That said, you walk towards goal and the whole world stops. In Moscow, I put the ball down, looked up and Petr Cech seemed absolutely massive.
“A lot goes through your head in those moments. I glanced back towards the centre circle and saw Chelsea’s England lads pointing at the top-left corner, guiding Cech, as they knew where I’d shoot.
“I had a little wobble and wondered if bottom-right would be best. But I snapped out of it. I’d practised top-left and I had to stick with it. I knew he would still have to pull off a top save to stop it. I backed myself and smashed it top-left, and thankfully it went in.”
Hargreaves’ successful penalty put his side back on track, with a John Terry miss levelling the score before Nicolas Anelka’s sudden-death spot kick was saved by Edwin van der Saar and the Red Devils were European champions again.
