DID I feel sympathy for Mr Chelsea' John Terry when he missed that penalty in Moscow?

Not a bit of it, I'm afraid.

Why? Because Terry is reportedly paid a massive £100,000-plus a week to play football, which includes converting spot-kicks like that.

He trains all week to make sure he's in tip-top condition to put away chances like that from 12 yards.

So there are no excuses, he really should have hit the back of the net.

I know he's a defender, and he's English, but how hard can it be to tuck away a penalty when the reward is the Champions League title and victory over arch rivals Manchester United.

It's what we all dream about as a child, stepping up in the last minute (or to take the 10th penalty in a dramatic shoot-out) in a cup final with the chance to secure the trophy for your side.

In our dreams the venue is always Wembley, but it really shouldn't have mattered that it was Moscow in front of a near 70,000 crowd, with millions more watching live on television around the world.

That Terry missed, and in such comical fashion, losing his footing as he slipped over on contact, hooking the ball against the post, was a personal nightmare for him.

United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar had even made it simple for Terry by diving the other way.

Yet the Chelsea and England captain still failed, and hung his head in disbelief, or was it shame, as he waited in vain for the pitch to open and gobble him up, putting him out of his misery.

I'm sure he's not going to be getting much shuteye for the next couple of weeks.

But I won't be losing any sleep for his mishap because Chelsea pay him well, and he wasn't up to the job against the Reds just at a time when he really should have been earning his massive salary.

Chelsea fans, I know, will be very supportive of Terry, and quite rightly so, because he is their captain, and usually a very fine one at that.

They will also be quick to point out it was Frenchman Nicolas Anelka's miss with the 14th penalty that finally did for the Blues, earning United a 6-5 penalty triumph following a 1-1 draw after extra time.

What dramatic theatre the shoot-out made, let alone the previous 120 minutes of all-action end-to-end stuff during the actual match.

TV executives couldn't have dreamed of a more entertaining finale as United bounced back from Cristiano Ronaldo's potentially ruinous penalty miss of his own.

The Portuguese international is a sensational player, probably the best in the world at the moment. But he is also a show pony, a peacock, use whatever other description like that you want.

Trying to psyche out Petr Cech by stopping in mid run-up, Ronaldo got it horribly wrong this time.

The Czech keeper was too smart for the show-boater, who couldn't quite believe he was human after all.

Maybe that miss will bring Ronaldo down a peg or two. I'd like to think so, but then again, it probably won't because, after all, he is a class act.

And to play at the very top level, you have to have a bit of arrogance, which Ronaldo clearly has in buckets.

There are always exceptions, however, and one player who doesn't have an ounce of arrogance in him is Ryan Giggs, who fittingly tucked away the penalty that put Anelka in a spot of bother.

Fittingly because Giggs's substitution for Paul Scholes meant he broke Sir Bobby Charlton's club record of 758 appearances.

A thoroughbred performer, Giggs never lets anyone down. And for me, a devoted Arsenal supporter, to admit that means the Welshman must be something special.