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Carlo Ancelloti is 'shielded' by John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ricardo Carvalho, following Chelsea's penalty win over Manchester United |
United 'Foyld' by referee error
Chelsea draw first blood in Premier League close-quarter battle
FA Community Shield
Chelsea 2 Manchester United 2
Chelsea win 4-1 after penalties
SO the beautiful game is back with flashes of petulance, brilliance, magnanimity and hostile confrontation, all played out in front of an animated crowd of 85,896 at Wembley.
The trophy was taken by a delighted Chelsea under the new manager Carlo Ancelotti, but it was Manchester United’s Sir Alex Ferguson who really opened the season’s scoring by fuming at match referee Chris Foy for failing to spot what he thought a red-card offence by Michael Ballack.
An FA official was later heard to comment that Sir Alex was entitled to say a referee had a bad game if that’s what he thought. The ideals of Respect, heard so much last season, didn’t figure too largely as the 87th shield match was contested.
Sir Alex’s comments came just after he had seen his side fail to capitalise on a first-half performance that could have put them out of sight and fail to approach the penalty shoot-out with the same clinical precision as their opponents.
Nani had provided United with a well-earned lead in the tenth minute when he cut back in from the left and beat Petr Cech to the keeper’s left.
Nani continued to trouble the defence and Branislav Ivanovic was booked on 14 after bringing him down a couple of times just outside the box.
It was the shape of things to come and Nani continued his strong running until he was forced off with a badly dislocated shoulder just after the hour mark.
Chelsea’s equaliser came after 52 minutes when Ricardo Carvalho headed in a poor clearance from Ben Foster after good pressure on the left. And five minutes later they could have taken the lead when Nicolas Anelka tested Foster with a long-range effort.
It was Frank Lampard who scored their second on 70 minutes when the goalkeeper could only turn his shot into the net after an incisive square ball from Didier Drogba.
But this was the point of controversy after Ballack had flattened Patrice Evra moments before.
Referee Foy had neither stopped play nor awarded a free kick, because at that time United retained the ball. When they lost it, Chelsea’s attack led to the goal, with Evra still down.
Sir Alex later said: "If the referee sees it properly it’s a red card. He’s (Ballack) clearly elbowed him (Evra). I'm disappointed because he's stopped the game twice before when he thought there were serious injuries. That incident cost us the game really. Yes, we have a grey area with play stopping. I’ve said it for a long time."
At the time Sir Alex’s response was to bring on Michael Owen, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and Fabio Da Silva as substitutes.
United fought back and Wayne Rooney levelled the scores with a brilliant finish, with just seconds remaining, taking the tie to penalties.
Chelsea scored through Lampard, Ballack, Drogba and Salomon Kalou, United through Michael Carrick but with misses from Giggs and Evra.
As for the petulance? Step forward Dimitar Berbatov, who otherwise had a quiet match, to get himself booked in the third minute of the game. His offence? To stick a foot out to spoil a Chelsea free kick.
And the magnanimity? After a minute’s applause for the late Sir Bobby Robson, the FA announced a donation to the cancer charity foundation which bears his name - £85,896, representing a pound for every spectator at the game.
www.sirbobbyrobsonfoundation.org.uk |
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