Will Manchester United’s Edwin van der Sar end his career on a high?
It was May 21, 2008. The vast Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow boasted a capacity crowd. Manchester United and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Ryan-Giggs-c31985 came forward and coolly slotted home for
the Red Devils to make it 6-5. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nicolas-Anelka-c27786 takes the never-ending walk towards the penalty spot. The entire stadium held its breath as tension mounted. However, the calm and collected figure of Edwin van der Sar in the goal stood the exception.
The Dutchman knew this was his moment when Anelka nervously placed the ball on the spot. The Red Devils shot-stopper spread his arms, pointing towards left to distract the Chelsea striker. Van der Sar made his initial movement towards the left, but correctly
dived towards the right to deny Anelka, and to become the European Champion. It was surely a moment to watch at Luzhniki Stadium, which was shaking to its foundations as the Red Devils faithful roared and cheered in frenzy.
The 40-year-old legend will now appear one last time in his career. It had to be a fateful night for the goalkeeper who faces Barcelona with a chance to avenge the 2009 Rome defeat, and to end his career on a legendary high.
One of the best, if not the best, goalkeepers to have emerged in the world of football started his career with Dutch Eredivisie giants Ajax Amsterdam. He played almost half of his career’s football at Amsterdam Arena and made well over 200 appearances for
the Amsterdammers. He broke a plethora of records during his stay with the Amsterdam giants, also managing to lift the big-eared trophy in 1995.
After his nine-year stay at Amsterdam Arena, the Dutchman made a move to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gianluigi-Buffon-c14833, the shot-stopper decided to try his luck
in the English Premier League with Fulham FC in the 2001/02 season. His five-season stay with the English bore little fruit, but was enough to convince Sir Alex Ferguson to add him to the United ranks in 2005.
Van der Sar was already 35 when he landed at Old Trafford. The Red Devils tactician, however, had no issues with his age as long he performed impressively between the posts. In six seasons at United, he won eleven trophies. However, the highlight of his
career still remains that penalty save in Moscow.
The 40-year-old retiring goalkeeper said, “I played a few years at Fulham and remember watching Chelsea's Champions League matches against Bayern Munich and Barcelona and thinking it would be great to be playing those kind of games again. Thankfully I have
managed to do that at United and it is nice that my final match should be on an occasion such as this.”
Saturday, May 28 marks the day Edwin van der Saar hangs up his gloves. Whether he leaves with a broken heart or yet another medal on his chest remains to be seen. One thing is for sure, the Dutch gentle man would go down in the history as one of the greatest
goalkeepers.
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