Michael Ballack scored twice as Chelsea drew level with Manchester United at the top of the Premier League after a 2-1 win at Stamford Bridge.
Ballack headed the Blues into the lead on the stroke of half time before Wayne Rooney levelled matters after an error from Ricardo Carvalho, only for Ballack to grab the winner from the penalty spot with four minutes to go.
The two teams are now level on 81 points with United's far superior goal difference separating the two teams with two games remaining in the title race.
In my opinion, Chelsea completely dominated the game bar a few moments early in the second half. Salomon Kalou was immense and frustrating at the same time. Essien was unbelievable, the amount of times he ran up and down the park was amazing and continued that right untill the 95th min.
United without Ronaldo and Tevez, it was clear that they were struggling offensively. Surprisingly, Anderson was the one I was fearing everytime United came forward with the ball.
Chelsea's opening goal came right before half time. Drogba showed great ability to turn not once, but twice on the same player before laying a beauty of cross. Ballack arrived late in the box and powered the header past Van Der Sar, who had no chance of getting to it.
Second half, United started out with a team on a mission. Sir Alex clearly had something to say during the break as they came out and pegged Chelsea back. Out of the blue, Carvalho needlessly, took a quick freekick and layed the ball into the path of Rooney, who was half injured, but still managed to find a crisp finish.
Chelsea now surged forward looking for the winnner, which Inevitablly allowed space at the back. United were hitting Chelsea on the break but were time and time again being stopped by an outstanding Chelsea defence. Nani was guilty of wasting possesion on a number of times. Still, United's defence was doing as well as Chelsea's and Ferdinand wasn't allowing Drogba anytime on the ball.
In the end, it was a freak incident that decided the game. Essien tried to cross the ball but hit Carrick on the arm and the linesman did not hesitate to signal for a penalty. After a furious United protest, up stepped Ballack and scored his second goal of the game to effectively seal the match. Although, United STILL had time to score again.
The fourth official signalled 5 minutes added time and that gave United time to push on a find an equaliser. They almost did that, with TWO goal line clearances in the space of 2 mins. First Ashley Cole cleared the line from after Ronaldo's shot passed Cech and then Shevchenco cleared the ball after Fletcher touched the ball goal-bound.
The final whistle was met with loud cheers from the home supporters in the stadium and in 'my' house.
I was over the moon about the result AND the performance. We actually outplayed United for most parts of the game.
Credit must also be given to Avram Grant. With the score at 1-1 he promptly went for the winner and put Anelka on for Ferreira. And then, he was about to bring on Belletti but saw Chelsea go 2-1 up and decided to shore up the midfield by putting Makelele in.
It was a fantastic game, with top qualty football being played all over the park for the full 95 mins. Finally a big game lived up to its billing and its credit to the two teams.
Now i wish United goodluck on Tuesday and I hope we meet them again in the CL final ( if we get through, hopefully).
15 comments Last one added about 1 year ago — Leave a Comment
Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
Bit harsh on Carvalho...his team mate dropped him in it by taking the kick. It was a tense exciting game but with very little football.
Fair play to Chelsea...pity about the on pitch bust ups...im starting to see Grants lack of ability in that department.
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Salomon Gonzales about 1 year ago
Carvalho was the one that took the freekick wasn't it? Although it was off the camera, the comentator said he took it. The drogba/ballack bust-up was annoying to see...
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Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
Nah mate the ball was passed to carvalho when he wasn't ready....
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Salomon Gonzales about 1 year ago
Seen. Dont know how you know that but uhm, okay then..
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Andrew McNair about 1 year ago
I saw a replay haha
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Salaar Arshad Shamsi about 1 year ago
Ferriera took the Free Kick..Interesting game..can't say anything because neither of the two teams were at full strength.
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Salomon Gonzales about 1 year ago
Chelsea were only missing Lampard....
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S B about 1 year ago
When the big matches come along the one they say is the best in the world C.(wanna be a) Ronaldo always seems to come up with nothing.
He seems to be good at scoring 100 goals on Barnsworth United and the likes.
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S B about 1 year ago
When the big matches come along C.(wanna be a) Ronaldo....billed by some as the best in the world.. always seems to contribute zilch.
His thing seems to be scoring 100goals on Barnsworth United and the likes.
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Matt S about 1 year ago
To be fair to Ronaldo he only played around 25 minutes in this game so to accuse him of “going missing” is pretty harsh.
He was unlucky not to score when Ashley Cole cleared his shot off the line and arguably should have wona penalty when Ballack was all over him from the corner. In comparison to other United players he contributed a lot more in a much shorter space of time.
All this talk of his “not performing” in big games frankly smacks of desparation on behalf of those trying to find some way to criticize him. In the six games against the rest of the Top Four he has 3 goals in 6 games (one as sub). A pretty good record, one which I don’t think can be matched by any other player this season. If Ronaldo doesn’t perform in big matches then neither does anyone else. No matter how good you are it is impossible to score/perform in every game you play against a top team.
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Salomon Gonzales about 1 year ago
To be honest, I don't think he was meant to play at all. With Rooney getting injured Sir Alex was forced to make a change up front. The Ballack/Ronaldo incident, for me, wasn't a penalty. For the simply reason that, scuffles like that happen at almost EVERY corner kick and are hardly given. If referees start giving penalties for that, every game would see 3 or 4 penalties which quite frankly isn't good for the game at all.
I do agree though. Somehow, it must be stopped......
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S B about 1 year ago
Having a lot of trouble posting these days ...sorry about the double comment.
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Matt S about 1 year ago
To be fair to Ronaldo he only played around 25 minutes in this game so to accuse him of “going missing” is pretty harsh.
He was unlucky not to score when Ashley Cole cleared his shot off the line and arguably should have wona penalty when Ballack was all over him from the corner. In comparison to other United players he contributed a lot more in a much shorter space of time.
All this talk of his “not performing” in big games frankly smacks of desparation on behalf of those trying to find some way to criticize him. In the six games against the rest of the Top Four he has 3 goals in 6 games (one as sub). A pretty good record, one which I don’t think can be matched by any other player this season. If Ronaldo doesn’t perform in big matches then neither does anyone else. No matter how good you are it is impossible to score/perform in every game you play against a top team.
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Matt S about 1 year ago
Looks like you're not the only one having trouble posting! I got a proper error page though so not my fault - honest!
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Salomon Gonzales about 1 year ago
Haha Matt/Keith, its all good man. Shit happens.....
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