I must say that there are few things I enjoy more than watching Manchester United defeat Chelsea. I love that despite their billionaire owner, Manchester United continues to show them that developing players is more effective than just buying the current top players. There is more to a team than players.
Add all that to the fact that Manchester United knocked Chelsea out of the Champions League is is most likely assured of beating them in the Premier League, and it makes it all even better.
This match was poised to be a great one from the start. Chelsea had to come out attacking because they were down a goal in the 2 game series, and they were away from home. And Manchester is never going to sit back and strictly absorb pressure in their home stadium, the Theater of Dreams. But I must say that the starting line-up was more of an attacking line-up than I expected. The defense was exactly what I expected with O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, and Evra. The midfield caught e a little by surprise with Park starting in place of Valencia. But I really expected Rooney to be the lone striker, with Sir Alex adding an extra midfielder. But as is usually the case, Ferguson picked the perfect line-up. The two surprise inclusions (at least according to me) played big parts in the game.
The game began with Chelsea dominating possession and chances on goal. For the first 10 or 15 minutes, Manchester was limited to one shot on goal from long distance, while Chelsea had several good chances. Fortunately for Manchester several of those fell to the constantly misfiring Fernando Torres. You'd think with the 50 million pounds he cost, and who knows how much he ears, he'd be able to buy a goal. But that's not the case, and that's Chelsea's problem. However, after that first period, Manchester began to regain their feet and maintain more possession. And it looked like they went ahead midway through the half, but Hernandez was flagged for offside after Rooney sent him through on goal.
But as it turns out, Hernandez would make up for it, and get his goal right before half time. It almost seems inevitable that the "Little Pea" (as his nickname translates) will score in any game that he plays in. And they all seem to be important. In the 43rd minute, Manchester won a free kick just outside the Chelsea box, and Chelsea wasn't able to get a good clearance. The ball fell to Rooney, whose vision always amazes. With no open lane on goal, the forward sent the ball across the field to Giggs. O'Shea, so often overlooked when talking about important players, came up in support and received the ball from Giggs. And as soon as Anelka overcommitted on the pass, he sent Giggs free into the box. It was a great interchange between the two, and the pass that Giggs sent across the box was perfect. Just out of reach of the goalie, and any defender, Hernandez snuck in at the back post and smashed it into the top of the net. It's the type of goal that can destroy your spirits. But Chelseas wasn't about to give up.
Shortly into the first half, Chelsea brought Drogba in for Torres. And I still don't understand why they don't start him in games like this. Since they signed Torres, Drogba has proven better time and again. But even with Drogba, the game looked over when Ramirez got red carded in the 70th minute. Not an extremely harsh tackle. But he did come in from behind and take down Nani, and it certainly deserved a yellow card. Too bad for him that he already had one.
But still, Drogba and Chelsea were not about to go away quietly. Less than 10 minutes after the red card, Drogba beat an offside trap and slammed home a goal after going in on Van der Sar one on one. The game at that point was poised for a crazy and nervy finish. Enter Ji Sung Park. Virtually directly from the kick off, Giggs found Park practically alone and in acres of space inside the Chelsea 18 yard box, and he cooly chested the ball down and found the side netting past Petr Cech. Game over.
PS - Barcelona won 1-0 over Shakhtar Donetsk to advance as well. Lionel Messi scored his 48th goal of the season, which is a new record, beating the Brazilian Ronaldo's record back in 196-97.
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