Chelsea double and CL heartbreak!

I'm wondering why all the forces seem to be conspiring against United during this crucial phase of the season. Rooney was injured against Bayern last week where we gave away a silly goal in the injury time. Chelsea came to Old Trafford hoping to do a rare double (they had won by a controversial goal at the Bridge when United had dominated the game!) and cash-in on the absence of Wayne Rooney. Everybody knew United looked really feeble without him, at least on paper. So, it needed a really determined performance from United to get something against the Blues. But given that we were playing after the away game at Bayern in the mid-week (while Chelsea were resting!) and the fact that we had the old legs of Neville, Scholes and Giggs playing consecutive games, it really looked like a difficult proposition. Chelsea tried to exploit just that. They took the game to United straight-away with pace upfront and United were left to chase the game for a good hour's play having conceded early on. But United being United showed great resilience to make a match out of it in the second half. Though we lacked a creativity, we did pressurise Chelsea a great deal. Just when one could think there was a revival in store, the linesman gifted a crucial goal to Drogba by failing to spot a clear off-side. Though we did strike back immediately, that controversial goal seemed to have put the issue far beyond United. Add to that the inability of Berbatov to convert a couple of good chances, United seemed destined to give Chelsea the leeway in the title race. With tough fixtures still to come for both title contenders, I think there are still going to be more twists in this season's topsy-turvy title race.

Last night was an absolute heart-break. United were 3-nill up in no time at all against Bayern and that too with no real contribution from Wayne Rooney (Nani played like a man possessed!), our biggest goal-scorer, and yet we are out of the tournament by means of away-goal rule. Though it's inexplicable, I will just put that down to sheer bad luck. Young Rafael forgot that he was on a yellow already and obstructed Ribery and got a second yellow in an utterly naive way. The tackle might have warranted a yellow, but most referees would have thought twice about giving it as it was going to be the second for the youngster and given that Ribery was way away from a goal-scoring position. But pressure from the Germans meant the ref had to make the decision in their favour and with almost 30 minutes remaining, you just felt that was it for United. I am sure Bayern would have scored more if they needed to, specially with the players they had. United had already conceded a soft goal and all they needed was a solitary goal to advance. Another contributing factor yesterday was Rooney's injury. Rooney played most of yesterday limping. I don't know why he was persisted with even after we had 3 goals on the sheet. With him struggling, United barely got a move going. Perhaps a quick substitution would have brought us another goal considering the speed with which we had scored the first 3. On a night when anybody would have been forced to think United are not just a one-man army and that we were almost unbeatable when we need to force the issue at Old Trafford, United were knocked out, at the end of the day, by a silly, soft yellow card. And I find it really hard to take.

Like I said before, United still have tough games coming up in the league and we'll have to win all of them as well as hope Chelsea are going to drop points, to win the League title. In season where United didn't look a great side for most part of the season, we still fought hard and reached great positions both in Champions League and the league title race. It would be really unfair if United don't win any silverware apart from just the Carling Cup. Hopefully that will not be the case!