Thursday, November 11, 2010

Manchester United Beat Chelsea 3-1 in Community Shield Thriller

Manchester United got the better of Premier League Champions Chelsea by 3- 1 in a thriller Community Shield encounter at Wembley, on Sunday.

This is the traditional curtain raiser at the start of the season.

This was Manchester United's first win after Carlos Ancelotti took charge of the Blues.

Chelsea under Ancellotti in the last season won both the Premier League and the FA Cup, and beat United both at home and away. They also won the Community Shield.

Ageless Paul Scholes was the hero on the day for Manchester United; he was brilliant in midfield with incisive passes that kept Chelsea on the run, for the most part.

The 84,000 odd spectators who witnessed the match at Wembley booed the England players who had returned from their miserable World Cup. That did not deter Wayne Rooney from executing a brilliant low pass to Valencia to open the United scoring.

The first goal came in the 41st minute of the first half when Rooney running down the right found an unmarked Ecuadorian Valencia with a stunning first-time ball and Valencia found it a piece of cake to put the ball past Hilario, in the Chelsea goal.

Javier Hernandez came on as a second half substitute and got a lucky goal in his debut match.

All in all, Javier Fernandez had a great debut for Manchester United. The diminutive Mexican combined brilliantly with Dimitar Berbatov who fired in passes from the right wing.

The match opened on a lively note with both teams enjoying chances of scoring.

A half-hearted lob that Valencia attempted was a wasted opportunity as was a wide volley by Scholes within 16 yards of the goal with only the goalkeeper to beat.

Nicolas Anelka leading a three pronged attack with Kalou and Florent Malouda counter attacked for Chelsea.

Manchester United goalkeeper, Van der Sar, who was brilliant on the afternoon, committed a rare blunder, as he did not quite manage to hold on to the ball after a long range shot from Anelka, but Kalou was caught at a tight angle and could not capitalise on the rebound.

Branislav Ivanovic would have scored with a header but for a brilliant palming of the ball by Van der Sar.

After a frenetic start, the two teams settled down to a more sedate pace, a period that Scholes dominated with a series of brilliant passes.

He chipped the ball deftly for Rooney to do the rest but the England striker failed to score from the acute angle he had to contend with.

Chelsea's left back Ashley Cole was also caught out of position, time and again by incisive crosses from Scholes.

It was one of those crosses that Rooney transmitted to Valencia to put United ahead with four minutes to go to half-time.

Chelsea had a successful outing at Wembley when they were last here in May, defeating Portsmouth to win the FA Cup.

After the break they came out firing, with long distance shts at goal by Michael Essien, back from injury, and Malouda. Kalou had a shot stopped by Van der Sar.

Coming in as a second half substitute, Hernandez dazzled with spins and flicks. The mercurial Mexican also displayed his ability to create space.

In the 76th minute, Javier scored his first goal in English football, and it was a stroke of luck. John O'Shea's pass down the United right found Luis valencia racing in to take advantage of an out of position Ashley Cole and his pass found Hernandez at the far post. Hernandez fell over even as ghe kicked the ball into his own face and to his relief the ball rolled into the net.

Seven minutes later Chelsea reduced the margin. Edwin van der Sar in the Man U goal parried away a 20-yarder from Daniel Sturridge and Salomon Kalou slid in the rebound.

An injury time goal made it a decisive 3-1 for Man U, with Berbatov grabbing hold of a Nani pass to put it over the Chelsea goalkeeper.

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