The community shield contested between Manchester Utd and Chelsea was going to be quite an affair indeed! The red devils were without Ronaldo, which is quite a major change while the blues, for once, had the service of Michael Essien who missed large portions of the previous season injured. It was also confirmed by Terry’s presence that he would remain a blue, for now at least. Manchester Utd took a leaf out of Fabio Capello’s book and left Michael Owen on the bench.
It was all Manchester Utd in the first half of the match. Cristiano Who?!? Nani got the breakthrough with a scorching hit that saw itself whizz into the net past a less than vigilant Petr Cech. This proved to be a catalyst for Manchester Utd’s frequent forward forays that left the blues reeling and wishing for an early half time.
The second half saw Chelsea scurrying around in search of an opening goal and they got it through the most unlikely of sources, Ricardo Carvalho! The center half who was pushed to right winger position vindicated the tactic and Chelsea were back in the fray with 30 minutes to go.
Lampard and Anelka were making themselves a consistent nuisance and had quite an insalubrious effect on Ben Foster’s already frayed nerves. This proved to play into Chelsea’s hand as Lampard got the blue’s second goal of the day thanks to Ben “Butter fingers” Foster. Chesea’s second goal prompted 4 changes on Manchester Utd’s part. In the manner of a hit squad, stalwarts such as Giggs, Owen and Scholes came on. Youngster Fabio was introduced too.
As the 90th minute approached, Chelsea seemed to have a firm grip on the first trophy of the season. Rooney however had other ideas and as though through a contrivance of the gods themselves, Wayne Rooney scored the equalizer with hardly a minute to go hence plunging the match into penalties!
Chelsea have been notoriously bad at penalties with the last match they won was way back in 1997. However, this time through some heroics from Petr Cech and composure of the Chelsea players, the blues walked away with the first trophy of the season. This gave Carlo Ancelotti a trophy on his first day on the job!
Set piece situation 