Edwin van der Sar's secret to saving Nicolas Anelka's penalty in 2008 CL final

It’s crazy to think that the 2008 Champions League final was 14 years ago.

On a rainy night in Moscow, Manchester United and Chelsea engaged in battle to get their hands on the biggest prize in club football.

There were a plethora of legends of show, with two of them in Cristiano Ronaldo and Frank Lampard finding the back of the net in normal time.

Neither side managed to score a second in extra time, although Didier Drogba‘s red card for slapping Nemanja Vidic made sure it was a hugely eventful additional 30 minutes.

So, the first ever all-English Champions League final went to penalties and to say it was a dramatic shootout would be something of an understatement.

Ronaldo of all people saw his tame spot kick saved by Petr Cech, before Chelsea captain John Terry slipped and sent his penalty crashing into the post.

That unfortunate error sent the shootout to the lottery of sudden death, where Edwin van der Sar won the Champions League for United by thwarting Nicolas Anelka.

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21/05/2008: Edwin van der Sar astonishingly denies Nicolas Anelka's penalty to finish off Chelsea and win the 2008 Champions League Final for Manchester United.#mufc #siralexferguson pic.twitter.com/17CBJ4JaKQ

It was a wonderful save from one of the greatest goalkeepers to ever represent the Red Devils.

And the match-winning moment from Van der Sar was not down to sheer luck, oh no. It was the result of some exhausting pre-match preparation.

Back in 2017, the United and Ajax legend reminisced about his save from Anelka’s penalty in an interview with FourFourTwo, revealing the secrets behind it in the process.

Van der Sar explained: “I remember studying a lot of Chelsea’s penalties on DVD before