Chelsea 0, Manchester United 1

Not the result I was expecting, but better than I could’ve hoped for. United will feel elated, first at having secured a 1-0 first leg lead, secondly at having secured an away goal, and 3rd, having ended a 9 year winless streak at Stamford Bridge. Not a bad night’s work.

Chelsea will feel angered. A missed penalty decision, failure to captilise on possession dominance and home ground advantage, and again, a mis-firing strike force that, once again, failed to live up to its billing….and its price tag.

Chelsea controlled much of the game, and had much the better attacking footballer through out, but, what they truly lacked was a final ball. There always seemed to be a missing link in between the midfield and the strikers, something they seem to not have addressed for quite some time now. Fernando Torres went missing for large parts of the game. Didier Drogba fought hard but ultimately fruitlessly, claiming most of his touches out on the wing, away from where he truly does his damage. The introduction of Nicholas Anelka did seem to spark them up a bit, but again, they missed that killer final pass.

United hardly played brilliantly, but what they did, they did well. Any United fan would say that all they were really after in this game was an away goal, and once they got that, anything else was a bonus. United won the midfield battle though, no doubt, and two men especially deserve some praise for this. One gets a lot of the praise week in, week out. The other, not so much. Wayne Rooney was magnificent. Apart from the way he took his chance for the only goal of the game, he consistently dropped into midfield to provide almost an attacking midfielder role. Whilst Hernandez busied himself running around up front, Rooney constantly found himself getting the ball from clearances in defense, holding it up, and feeding the wide runners. It was just what United needed in this sort of game, and he fulfilled his role to perfection.

The other will probably draw some derision, but I made a point of focusing on this player tonight, because for a long time, I feel he’s been rather unfairly picked on. Michael Carrick certainly doesn’t get a lot of plaudits for his role, but when you actually watch what he does, given the role he has in the team, he does do his job very well! His distribution from the back line was superb, peaking his his superb ball to Giggs for the goal. But time and time again, we saw him break up attacks by getting his foot in the way of a Chelsea run. Its not the most glamorous role in the side, but, after watching him last night, I realise, its a very important role.  And if you look at our recent lineups, you’ll notice Ferguson appreciates what he does. That’s why he keeps getting picked!

As for the penalty. No doubt, it was a penalty. I have absolutely no arguement against that. But, I’ll join the chorus of Ferguson and Ferdinand in their post match interviews in saying that if Chelsea want to complain about that, then just think back to a few weeks ago when John Terry’s handball wasn’t awarded and David Luiz wasn’t sent off.  These decisions all level themselves out in the end.

So on to Old Trafford. I don’t know what Chelsea have to do, but they need to do something. I wouldn’t be surprised if they play a 3 man attack and start Anelka as well, as they need a goal, and they’ll need it quick. If United settle in front of their home crowd and boss the midfield much like they did tonight, then Chelsea will be making an early exit.

Barcelona v Shakhtar

Well, we can basically say that 3 of the 4 semi-finalists have been decided. Its a bit sad that what could’ve been some cracking quarter-final ties look all but over after the 1st leg. Barcelona’s 5-1 hammering of the Ukranians looks like it will be enough. You can’t really see Barca losing 4-0 in the return leg, can you? As I said, its a pity. But, at least we can look forward to what SHOULD be a cracking semi between Real and Barca. Mind you, Spurs could turn it around…..they won’t, but they could.