Rio Ferdinand says he is surprised at Nicolas Anelka’s claim that his missed penalty in the 2008 Champions League final killed his career at Chelsea. The French striker took the final penalty in the shootout against Manchester United in Moscow but saw his spot-kick saved by Edwin van der Sar, giving United a 6-5 shootout victory. In a new Netflix documentary, the 41-year-old said the missed spot-kick cast a shadow over his time at Stamford Bridge.
Nicolas Anelka said “That missed penalty killed my career at Chelsea. I felt like a traitor being there, I’d only come mid-season, I had no business being on the field.”
Rio Ferdinand said “That’s quite damning that, isn’t it? At the end of the day, you’re there as part of a team. We’ve seen goalkeepers brought on in World Cups just to be part of the penalty shootout. It’s part of it, a penalty shootout at that stage. He would have been well aware of the opportunity for him to become a hero.”
