So, we all thought, here we go again. Ninety minutes of football between Manchester United and Chelsea; how many times have we covered this fixture in the past few seasons? Never mind that it kicked off at 10.45pm local time in the daunting Luzhniki Stadium in Moscow, with a communications problem, more soldiers than you could shake a stick at, and that it was for the ultimate prize in European club football.

Graham Hughes, my colleague, and I took an end each — he Chelsea, me Manchester United — and the drama unfolded. The “best footballer in the world” was tearing up the left wing and United were battering Chelsea in the first half when one of those dream scenarios for photographers was played out in what seemed to be slow motion as Cristiano Ronaldo climbed effortlessly to head home the opening goal. Within minutes the pictures had been edited, captioned and filed to London for our tight deadlines and the clock ticked towards half-time.

Of course, an evening of such high drama was not going to end so easily and when Frank Lampard fired home the equaliser bang on half-time, we knew that there would have to be a winning team celebrating and a losing team shedding tears.

The second half flashed by as the heavens opened, Didier Drogba was sent off in extra time, Chelsea hit the woodwork and United clung on. Time for a talking-to as I reminded myself of the balmy night in Barcelona nine years ago when a huge number of photographers, me included, missed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s winning goal and I was determined not to let myself down in Moscow.

Deadlines were met and the drama of a penalty shoot-out to determine the champions of Europe was to be played in front of me as I positioned myself directly behind the goal. A memory of Jerzy Dudek, of Liverpool, in Istanbul in 2005 was my only thought as Petr Cech and Edwin van der Sar performed yards away.

Who could have written a script that would have Ronaldo’s kick being saved, then John Terry, the heroic Chelsea captain, slipping and missing his chance to win the trophy. A flash of bright orange as Cech dived this way, the familiar green of Van der Sar stretching that way: the tension behind that goal was as bad as for those in the stands.

Van der Sar strained to the right and parried Nicolas Anelka’s effort and the chaos of Champions League victory celebrations unfolded.

I never believed that the drama of Liverpool in Istanbul could be matched, while Barcelona’s victory in Paris against Arsenal two years ago and the Olympic Stadium in Athens last year, when Liverpool lost to AC Milan, were recent highs. But United lifting the European Cup for the third time is up there with the best.