Cech Rues United 'luck'

Petr Cech claims Manchester United 'didn't really win' against Chelsea in the 2008 Champions League final.United head to Stamford Bridge on Wednesday for the first leg of the teams' quarter-final meeting, and Sir Alex Ferguson's men may feel they have the mental advantage after defeating Chelsea on penalties to become champions of Europe for the third time.However, Cech believes that luck was the defining factor in United's success, which came at the end of a 1-1 draw after John Terry and Nicolas Anelka missed their penalties in the shootout."The records will say that they won the game, but they didn't really win it," he said. "They just had more luck in the shootout than we had."Cech is keen to highlight Chelsea's recent victories over United, with the Blues coming out on top in their last three Premier League meetings and not having lost a home match to the Red Devils since 2002."What's in the past is in the past," he said. "We are looking forward to the future and we hope this time it will be us who go through."We still go into that game with confidence because our record against Manchester United in recent years is very good, especially at home."We know their players and their team, and going to Old Trafford we will not discover anything new.

We've played there many times and won there last season, so we can be positive."Terry, meanwhile, says he is determined to end the talk of Chelsea's Champions League 'jinx'."I am fed up talking about it being just one of those things," Terry said in the London Evening Standard. "I am so desperate to win it but we need that bit of luck. Time is on our side but, hopefully, we will get that this year."There have been many years where we have played well and got knocked out and others played badly and got through. It is a strange game, especially in this competition."It's about being solid throughout and at times getting a bit of luck because we have certainly been the better team at home to Barcelona and not got the luck we deserved. It happened in previous years against Liverpool as well and obviously with the final against Manchester United. I just aim to go one step further."The club's failure in Europe has, perhaps, hit Terry hardest given that his penalty miss in Moscow cost them their greatest chance of glory in the competition to date, but Ricardo Carvalho, now of Real Madrid, has praised the way he handled the situation."I was so impressed with John," he told The Guardian. "He is a classic English centre-back - so strong, such character. He was angry and crying like all of us, but he didn't hide away in his room. He looked dead but he was there for us. If that had happened to me, I'm not sure I could have done the same. That was incredible."