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Manchester United send 10 man Chelsea out of Champions League - forwardone - 04-12-2011 11:18 PM
Manchester United moved into the semi-finals of the Champions League, where they will surely meet Schalke, and left Chelsea to contemplate the overhaul of this side. All the same, the visitors have spirit and after Ramires was sent off with a second yellow card for his foolish foul on Nani in the 70th minute they still tied the score at 1-1 in this match seven minutes later, with Didier Drogba scoring from a Michael Essien pass. The victors, however, confirmed their own prowess almost immediately with a winner as Ryan Giggs set up Park Ji-sung.
The early vitality from Chelsea was to be expected. Apart from the need to make good the deficit from Stamford Bridge they also had the eagerness of men filled with the awareness that this was their last hope of a trophy. United were hardly passive themselves but they could afford a degree of patience at the outset. Their opponents were too eager in that phase of the game.
Nicolas Anelka ought to have hit the target after a lay-off from Fernando Torres and, following Florent Malouda's set-up work, Frank Lampard did not get enough force into his finish to test Edwin van der Sar seriously. The team selection showed that United were supposed to be their usual adventurous selves, yet the individuals themselves had early inhibitions.
It is difficult to be full of verve against potent opponents when you already hold the lead. Chelsea, for their part, may have felt more settled than they had been last week. The centre-half Alex was fit to start a match for the first time since 28 November and that, in turn, ensured that Branislav Ivanovic could once more assume the duties of a right-back.
That did not mean that Chelsea would be at ease. Indeed they very nearly fell behind after 19 minutes. Javier Hernández was ruled offside by a fraction as he headed in a splendid cross by Wayne Rooney when the Mexican, in effect, was barely leaning beyond his marker. Chelsea's disquiet as United started to take a hold of events was apparent in the tally of three bookings.
Distress took on a more acute form as Sir Alex Ferguson's team recorded the opener in the 43rd minute to establish a 2-0 lead on aggregate. Giggs linked with John O'Shea, who was deputising for the injured Rafael, and took the Irishman's sharp pass to angle the ball towards the far post where Hernández waited to score. Chelsea may have felt confirmation then that time is running out for several of these players.
Last year's victory at Old Trafford was critical to the Stamford Bridge club's success in taking the Premier League title. Carlo Ancelotti will never regret taking that trophy and, indeed, completing the Double, but in so doing the manager had brilliantly postponed the thorough reconstruction of a long-established side.He or a successor will soon have to go much further in that mission.
If only Torres had cut loose since the move from Liverpool there would already be talk of a new Chelsea starting to emerge. With David Luiz ineligible, there was, instead, no disguising the fact that it was the usual group taking on United. The hosts might have been all the more wary since this is a group which, in many cases, has nothing left to achieve but triumph in the Champions League.
guardian.co.uk
RE: Manchester United send 10-man Chelsea out of Champions League - forwardone - 04-12-2011 11:20 PM
Got to laugh. All the millions Chelsea's owner Roman Abramovich has spent on the club and now they are out of Europe and very unlikely to win the Premiership.
Torres cost them £50 million and so far has been a waste of space.
Takes more than money to have a great team Roman, it takes class.
