UEFA Champions League: United halt Chelsea to move into last-four

Resham Ahmed April 13, 2011 0

UEFA Champions League: United halt Chelsea to move into last-four

OLD TRAFFORD: Manchester United continued their unbeaten run at Old Trafford in UEFA Champions League as they defeated Chelsea by 2-1 in second leg of quarter final clash of Champions League and won the tie by 3-1 aggregate.

Ryan Giggs. Courtesy: GETTY IMAGES

It was a much anticipated clash of the month between two arch rivals as Chelsea were looking to break the shackles at Old Trafford and were hoping to repeat their performance of last season when they emerged as the winner in their Premier League encounter but Red Devils were aware of their intentions and they displayed excellent soccer to restrict Chelsea to one goal.

The veteran Manchester United midfielder Ryan Giggs set up both goals for his team as Red Devils Mexican striker Javier Hernandez scored the opening goal just two minutes before the half time as they were comfortably placed by 2-0 aggregate lead at half time.

Chelsea suffered major blow in the second half when Ramires was sent off for a second bookable offence 20 minutes from time. Chelsea managed to equalize in the 77^th minute of the match when Didier Drogba converted a beautiful pass of Michael Essien.

Manchester United strikers celebrate goal. Courtesy: GETTY IMAGES

The Blues fans were hoping to get one more goal from their team as Chelsea could had through to the semi final on two away goals but Giggs had some other plans as he set up the last nail in Chelsea’s coffin in the 77^th minute as Park Ji Sung scored the decisive goal to take Manchester United to the semi final of Champions League.

Ryan Giggs was certainly the star of the match for his outstanding performance in the all important clash. Manchester United will now face either Schalke or Inter Milan in the semi final.

Manchester United team celebrating their victory. Courtesy: AP PHOTO

The delighted Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said, “”I think we’ve hit our form. I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. You’ve seen it in the second half at West Ham and the performance at Chelsea, plus the performance tonight. It’s a really good moment for us and the players are enjoying it. I think they’re relishing the challenges they’ve got now. You see the momentum the team’s under at the moment.”

“Momentum is a great thing. Everyone’s desperate to play on Saturday against Manchester City and they’re all desperate to play in every game now. The bonus I’ve got is that all my players are getting fit again now, and that’s a great boost to us,” Ferguson added.