Chelsea’s bid to win an unprecedented four titles in one season stayed on course as Jose Mourinho’s Blues beat Manchester United 2-1 on Wednesday to set up a League Cup final showdown with Liverpool.
After Ryan Giggs had cancelled out Frank Lampard’s first-half strike for the Blues, Damien Duff curled in a cross-field free-kick five minutes from the end at Old Trafford to give Chelsea a 2-1 aggregate triumph after a 0-0 tie in the first leg at Stamford Bridge.
While it was more glory for Chelsea, who have a 10-point lead at the top of the Premier League and are going strong in the Champions League and FA Cup, the result ended Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson’s proud record of 19 games unbeaten in domestic cup semifinals.
Chelsea will meet record seven-time winner Liverpool in the February 27 final at Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.
Most of the first half was virtually a passing contest in midfield with virtually no action in front of goal to warm the fans.
But the only chance of the first 45 minutes was taken as Chelsea went ahead.
Lampard started and finished the move with a through ball to Arjen Robben, who found Didier Drogba on the left. The big Côte d’Ivoire striker cut inside and pulled the ball back to the unmarked Lampard, who steadied himself before stroking the ball inside the far post.
Nine minutes later, United had a justified penalty appeal when Quinton Fortune, running away from goal, went down under a challenge from Wayne Bridge but referee Rob Styles angered the home fans and players by ruling there was no foul.
What had been an even-tempered game boiled over in the second half with two flare-ups. The first happened after Roy Keane’s needless late foul on Lampard, and the second, which led to 12 players pushing and shoving each other, led to yellow cards for Cristiano Ronaldo and Claude Makelele.
Ferguson sent on Wayne Rooney for Fortune and the England striker set up a chance for Keane whose powerful shot flew across the face of the Chelsea goal.
But the visitor looked dangerous on the break and were denied by two good saves by Tim Howard.
The goalkeeper did well to dive low to his left and push a shot from Lampard round the post after the United defence allowed the England midfielder too much space on the edge of the area. Then the American stuck out his right leg to prevent a shot from Robben going in after Drogba’s 50-yard run had pulled the home defence apart.
After Rooney had a goal-bound shot blocked, the Reds levelled in the 67th minute with a wonder goal by Giggs.
The move started deep in the United own half and Giggs ran on to meet Gary Neville’s long through ball, reaching it at shoulder height with his left foot to lob the ball over advancing goalkeeper Petr Cech into an empty net.
The equaliser was a reward for United’s strong fight back but the Reds fans were silenced again with five minutes to go when Chelsea regained the lead.
There seemed little danger when Duff floated in a free kick from the right, but the ball curled past everyone and goalkeeper Howard was horrified to see it bend, bounce and fly into the top corner.
The action wasn’t over because Bridge blocked Mikael Silvestre’s header on the line and Cech dived to his right to turn a shot from Ronaldo round the post. — Sapa-AP