It was touted to be the Moscow re-match. It was also told that the winner would probably pose the biggest title threat in the remaining part of the season. Man United were even taunted by a certain Rafa Benitez that their manager enjoyed unfair treatment by the FA. Jose Mourinho had flown down to Old Trafford to learn about a few chinks United could be carrying into the Champions League. No matter what the odds were, the Red Devils came up with a truly sterling performance to register a thumping win over arch title rivals Chelsea that could well be United's launchpad for a secure looking title defense.United had never really attained their best form this season as yet. Their goal difference, usually something that United would be miles ahead, was so much of a worry for Sir Alex that he feared it could cost them their title! Inspite of having the gifted quartet upfront, United had been struggling to stay close to top for most part, the matches in hand notwithstanding. And yet they chose the best stage to silence all their critics.
It wasn't the brightest of starts you could get to see. Infact, it seemed that hardly any football was being played in the first half. That's something that is seen these day whenever any two of the big four lock horns. Sides are only trying to play non-footballing battles - getting physical, trying to get opponents booked, letting their egos loose and so on.
This game was no different and I'm afraid it probably was the best example of how the top sides shouldn't be playing against each other - neither teams got their act together for most part of the first 45 minutes and instead we got to see about 4 yellows! In my view, Chelsea looked a wee bit better than United early on. But the stop-start play didn't let either teams create any significant chances to score. The only chance of the half fell to Berbatov who could only muster a tame shot at Petr Cech's goal.
Just as it was set for the the curtains to be drawn on a painful half, United tried something really cheeky, a clever corner routine to catch Chelsean defense unprepared which resulted in a Ronaldo goal. What was actually a very smartly taken corner was later ruled as illegitimate by the linesman who couldn't understand it! But United scored off the resulting corner to put that controversy behind. And suddenly, and quite thankfully there was some football that could be spoken about from in the first half!
Second half was expected to see more of Chelsea, similar to the last match between the two sides at the Bridge. But as Chelse pushed for an equalizer, United found more space to play with. United kept made clever usage of the spaces to create the second goal around the hour mark - an Evra cross found Rooney cheekily scoring throught the legs of Ashley Cole! With the second goal scored, United were pretty much running away with the match. Chelsea seemed to have no answers to that. Infact, they harldy even bothered Van der Sar the entire match. The much hyped Scholari was found wanting in the strategy department. United were really rampant after the second goal. So much so that they could add a well planned third goal, this time through Berbatov, to build their tally. In the end, 3-nill was a score worthy of the game United produced in the second half and a score good enough to make a huge dent in Chelsea's title aspirations and their confidence.
It was a one of those performances of the season from United. Sheer quality was oozing out of every bit of play from every player in the United colour. The game was probably won by United in the midfield, where United had fielded a very odd combination of Giggs and Fletcher. Giggs came up with a Man of the Match performance and he dictated play for most part, thwarting the likes of Ballack and Mikel and was ably supported by young Fletcher. Ronaldo, Rooney and Berbatov looked ever so sharp upfront as did Evra and Park. And at the back, Vidic and young Evans did a fantastic job to keep Drogba and co quiet for most duration of the game.
All in all, a game to remember. Glory Glory United!
