Fleet Street has the final word on the Champions League epic in Moscow...
'The momentum was irreversibly United's and, in the end, Edwin van der Sar ensured that the trophy would come to Old Trafford for the third time by saving the spot kick from the substitute Niciolas Anelka. This is a club that cannot come by glory in this tournament until it has scared itself senseless. The Luzhniki Stadium witnessed a spectacle to compare with the comeback in 1999 when Bayern Munich were overtaken at the close of the final.
'The memorability of such a moment depends, as well, on the images of the losers' unforgettable pain. Terry had been magnificent and, 11 minutes into extra-time, had somehow twisted his neck to head away a shot by the substitute Ryan Giggs that was bound for the net. It seemed inconceivable then that such a character could be brought low.
'He is no culprit. The single person meriting blame is Didier Droga, sent off four minutes from the close of extra-time for aiming a slap at the United centre-half Nemanja Vidic following a melee after Chelsea had expected the ball to be returned to them at a throw-in. That folly by the Ivorian did not mar one of the most engrossing Champions League finals of modern times' - Kevin McCarra, The Guardian.
'The heavens opened over this epic all-English final last night, weeping tears of joy for Manchester United and tears of sympathy for John Terry. What a beautiful way for United to mark the 50th anniversary of Munich, but what a brutal way for such an honest pro as Terry to be treated by the sporting gods, his foot slipping on the uncertain surface as he addressed what would have been the winning penalty in a merciless shoot-out. Football, bloody hell.
'If the heart went out to Terry and Frank Lampard, who had also given everything, and the rest of Grant's band of blue-shirted brothers who could easily have won, the heart had to leap with delight at the sight of United laying their eager hands on a third European Cup.
'United's sense of adventure, their commitment to youth, the unbelievable running of Carlos Tevez and Owen Hargreaves, the work ethic of Wayne Rooney and Wes Brown, and the magic of Cristiano Ronaldo all deserved the reward of being crowned kings of Europe' - Henry Winter, The Daily Telegraph.
'All that talk of the rivalry with Rio Ferdinand for the England captaincy didn't matter one bit. Terry was convinced he had let his beloved Chelsea down.
Ironic, then, that during the course of extra-time he had actually kept his side alive with an incredible clearance to deny Ryan Giggs. Twisting his head at an unlikely angle, he diverted the ball away from goal.
'Typical of the man. An out-and-out defender in the old-fashioned mould, one who'll take a hit for the team without a second thought. One who had also done a pretty good job in handling the combined threat of Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez.
Terry stood firm, heading and hacking anything that came near before the cramp that had afflicted so many others on the night caught up with him. Unfortunately for Terry, though, he still retained the legs, not to mention the bottle, to step up for a penalty that might ultimately define his career' - Alan Smith, The Daily Telegraph.
'If it is Drogba's last game for the club, it's one he will never be able to eradicate from his mind.
'Wherever he goes - Inter Milan or anywhere else - he will be haunted, quite rightly, by the agony which his actions inflicted on his Chelsea team-mates.
'But if we agonise over what happened to Terry, Frank Lampard and the rest of Avram Grant's team, we can only salute the resilience and guts of Manchester United. If it was rough justice for Chelsea, no one can doubt that the season could not have ended on a more poetic and fitting note in a year that marked the 50th anniversary of the Munich air crash.
'There could be no greater testimony to the eight Busby Babes who lost their lives on that runway in Germany. What a night for Bobby Charlton - survivor on that fateful day in February 1958 and the most celebrated player ever to appear in a United shirt' - Steven Howard, The Sun.
'After 120 minutes, two goals, 14 penalties, one stupid sending-off and a night that will never be forgotten, United were European champions. Again. Chelsea never have been, and after coming so close here, the blue-clad fatalists trudging despairingly through the Muscovite rain may believe that they never will be, no matter how many millions Roman Abramovich, the owner, throws at the world's most expensive plaything.
'How close did Chelsea come? They hit the woodwork twice, in the second half and in injury time, had a penalty denied in mysterious circumstances and John Terry, the captain, needed to score the fifth penalty in the shoot-out to win it, after Cristiano Ronaldo had missed for United. One hand as good as on the trophy, Terry slipped, shot against the outside of the post and the pressure was on Chelsea again' - Martin Samuel, The Times.
'There is no argument now, no tormenting itch to scratch, no void to fill on his CV. Sir Alex Ferguson has his second European Cup and with it the validation of his greatness that he has so craved. He loves to pick an argument but, if the subject is his European record, he can forever stick up two fingers - one for each Champions League triumph.
'Perhaps it did not come quite the way that he had hoped. He had promised that his team would play the game the Manchester United way - passing, movement, flair. It is the greatest legacy of Sir Matt Busby, a belief in football as a means of lifting the spirits. Giving the working man something to look forward to at the end of a hard week, as Sir Bobby Charlton once summed up the ethos' - Matt Dickinson, The Times.
'And yet, and yet ... it was the wrong match in the wrong place. This was The Big One.
'And yet, and yet ... something was missing. Something barely tangible yet none the less precious for that. Something called mystique.
'For the vast majority of Chelsea and Manchester United devotees all that mattered was that they were in The Final and all that counted in the end was the Reds won and the Blues lost. And yet, and yet ... deep in those congregations, some fidgeted with a sensation that the occasion was lacking its core reason for being' - Jeff Powell, The Daily Mail.
'When Americans or remote jungle tribes ask what's so special about English club football, show them a tape of this astonishing match. No Muscovite, no refugee from the so-called age of elegance could have left the Luzhniki Stadium anything other than spellbound.
'Only our game could have laid on a threehour carnival of the senses that ended with Cristiano Ronaldo, of all people, missing a penalty and then John Terry slipping on the approach to a spot kick that would have placed the Champions League trophy in Roman Abramovich's fist, in the city where he made his fortune.
'Let's say this right away. On the balance of open play, Chelsea deserved to win their first European title. They stood up heroically to United's superior panache and began grinding England's champions to a standstill in a thrilling second half. But justice often goes AWOL on nights like these.
'The deciding factors in the end were Terry's studs sliding across the wet Moscow turf as he tried to shoot and then Nicolas Anelka curling Chelsea's seventh penalty against the arms of Edwin van der Sar. Avram Grant, Chelsea's manager, will probably lose his job for this, possibly as early as today' - Paul Hayward, The Daily Telegraph.
'If you were in the Nou Camp in Barcelona nine years ago and here in the small hours of this morning you never again need to be told that a football match is never lost until the last kick and that sport, like life, can be as wonderful as it is cruel.
'Wonderful for Sir Alex Ferguson, delivering, quite astonishingly Manchester United's third European Cup 50 years after the Munich air tragedy and scarcely a minute after his world seemed to be in ruins and with it so many others', young and old, who have made this club the most romantic football has ever seen' - James Lawton, The Independent.