ENGLISH LEAGUE CUP FOURTH ROUND Chelsea 5 Manchester Utd 4:CHELSEA SENSATIONALLY avenged their bitter Premier League defeat to Manchester United tonight as they won an nine-goal Capital One Cup thriller at Stamford Bridge.
United looked set to pile on the misery for the European champions with a 3-2 fourth-round victory three days after ending their 10-year wait for a league win in west London, in the most controversial manner imaginable.
But Eden Hazard scored a penalty with the last kick of normal time before Daniel Sturridge and Ramires completed an amazing comeback just 24 hours after Arsenal’s astonishing 7-5 win at Reading.
Like on Tuesday, defending was nowhere to be seen as United led three times through Ryan Giggs, Javier Hernandez and Nani and Chelsea hit back with a David Luiz penalty and Gary Cahill header.
Giggs also scored an extra-time consolation from the spot for United as the Mark Clattenburg was briefly forgotten.
Hazard’s penalty took this tie into extra time just as it looked as though Chelsea would come out second-best by the odd goal in five for the second time in three days. Instead Hazard made it 3-3 with virtually the final kick of the match after Ramires had been barged to the floor by Scott Wootton.
Chelsea’s mistakes in defence had threatened to have costly ramifications, starting with a mix-up between Petr Cech and Oriol Romeu before Giggs opened the scoring midway through the first half and, again, when Luiz ran into trouble and Hernandez made him pay with Manchester United’s second goal.
Late on, Victor Moses and Cesar Azpilicueta passed up headed chances to equalise before Wootton’s clumsy challenge gave Hazard the opportunity to prolong the argument by another 30 minutes.
Alex Buttner, United’s left-back, will reflect on the needless penalty he gave away after half an hour, tripping Victor Moses just as Chelsea seemed to be getting frustrated.
Moses had pushed the ball past his opponent but there were plenty of defenders in the penalty area and Buttner’s challenge was asking for trouble.
Giggs’s goal came eight minutes earlier and, from a Chelsea perspective, was a terribly soft one to concede. It originated from Buttner fizzing a free-kick just wide and Petr Cech going behind his goal to retrieve the ball. Oriol Romeu indicated that he was available for a quick pass just in front of the penalty area. As soon as Romeu had collected the ball Anderson was snapping at his heels, nicking it into Giggs’s path. The oldest player on the pitch took a touch to steady himself and then calmly sidefooted his shot beyond the exposed Cech.
Chelsea had put together some neat little passing exchanges but they undermined it all with the generosity of their defending. Two minutes before half-time, Luiz set off on one those weaving runs from inside his own half. From the moment Rafael dispossessed him near the halfway line, Chelsea were short of defenders and in trouble. Anderson played the killer pass and Hernandez ran clear to score with an angled shot.
Sir Alex Ferguson had made 10 changes to his Manchester United side, compared with Roberto Di Matteo’s six, and had a much more youthful list of substitutes, but this was still a fairly experienced side. He did, however, have two young centre-backs, Scott Wootton and Michael Keane, and Di Matteo might have been concerned at half time that the home side had not been able to pose them more questions.
Chelsea’s response after the break was impressive. Sturridge had passed up two presentable opportunities by the time Mata swung a corner over from the left and Cahill issued another reminder about what a handy knack it is when a centre-half can cause problems in the opposition penalty area. His header had flashed past Anders Lindegaard and gone a good yard behind the goal-line by the time Rafael got his head to it and turned it against the crossbar and out.
This was Chelsea’s first spell when they were clearly on top but they were level for only seven minutes. Nani’s dip in form over the last year must be a concern for Ferguson but this was a lovely, clipped finish, bursting into the penalty area and dinking his shot over Cech at the end of a cultured exchange of passes involving Hernandez and Anderson.
Guardian Service
CHELSEA: Cech, Azpilicueta, Cahill, Luiz, Bertrand, Romeu (Oscar 71), Mikel (Ramires 46), Moses, Mata, Piazon (Hazard 55), Sturridge. Subs not used: Hilario, Ferreira, Marin, Saville. Booked: Romeu, Mikel, Luiz, Oscar, Ramires.
MANCHESTER UTD: Lindegaard, Da Silva, Wootton, Keane, Buttner (Powell 46), Anderson (Tunnicliffe 81), Giggs, Fletcher, Nani, Hernandez, Welbeck (Macheda 99). Subs not used: Johnstone, Lingard, Vermijl, Brady. Booked: Wootton, Nani, Keane, Giggs.
Referee: Lee Mason(Lancashire).
