Independent:
Mark Clattenburg provides a cruel twist to pulsating encounter between Chelsea and Manchester United
Chelsea 2 Manchester United 3: Dismissal of Fernando Torres allows United to steal a march in title race before post-match abuse row leaves a stain
Sam Wallace
As the extra stewards were deployed around the mouth of the tunnel and the home crowd focused their outrage exclusively on the man in black, Mark Clattenburg will have had that growing sense of dread that in modern football's high court of HD super slo-mo replays, he had been found guilty of error.
By the end of the night, Clattenburg was facing the kind of scandal that could potentially end his career. The question of what he may or may not have said to John Obi Mikel yesterday promises to be the next major storm of English football, just days after the game thought it had put the last one to bed at last.
In the meantime, two definitive decisions are already in on Clattenburg’s performance yesterday: wrong to send off Fernando Torres and wrong to allow Javier Hernandez’s offside winner to stand. It was Mr Muddle day for some of the country’s leading referees at Goodison Park as well as Stamford Bridge, although it should be said this is a bloody hard job they do.
But great games – and yesterday's at Stamford Bridge was a great game – deserve exacting officials, and all the drama and controversy cannot compensate for teams suffering from bad decisions. Chelsea were down to 10 men already, with the dismissal of Branislav Ivanovic, when Torres was sent off for a ludicrous second yellow card. They may well have conceded a third goal anyway, but they deserved to do so with 10 men on the pitch, not nine.
The beauty of this game before the second red card for Chelsea was that it was so finely balanced. To start: a frantic break-out by Manchester United down Chelsea's vulnerable left flank and two goals within 12 minutes. To follow: an accomplished fightback led, in the main, by the triumvirate of Oscar, Juan Mata and Eden Hazard, who have transformed the way Chelsea chase games.
As Roberto Di Matteo patched up and reorganised his team after first Ivanovic and then Torres's red cards, all three of those aforementioned Chelsea attackers were substituted. A team that had gone through United with a needle precision either side of half-time were forced, in their last desperate moments, to push David Luiz into attack and hit a long hopeful free-kick to the edge of United's area.
A pity. A pity that we could not see them fight it out to the very end without such a significant discrepancy in numbers. Ivanovic deserved to go for a denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity by clipping Ashley Young on 63 minutes. But Torres (right) was wrongly dismissed for a second yellow card for what Clattenburg decided was a dive even though Torres's challenger, Jonny Evans, clearly made contact.
The Chelsea striker had been booked for a high boot on Tom Cleverley just before half-time and he was about to be substituted by Di Matteo when he ran on goal with 68 minutes played. The Chelsea striker had been comprehensively outshone by his opposite number Robin van Persie but he did not deserve this degree of misfortune.
As for United, they got the rub of the green but they were particularly good in the first half. First Wayne Rooney and Young opened up Chelsea's left flank – where the hell was Ashley Cole? – to cross to Van Persie, whose shot hit the post and cannoned in off Luiz. Then Antonio Valencia broke again down the same wing, picking out Van Persie to score with Gary Cahill dithering.
At that point it seemed like Ferguson's team had reasserted their authority over the league leaders, but United could not handle Chelsea's resurgence. In that period before half-time, the intricacy of Mata, Hazard and Oscar prevailed and David De Gea kept his side in it with a save from Torres's header at the back post. The Chelsea goal, when it arrived on 43 minutes, was well overdue. Rooney was drawn into a needless foul on Hazard around the edge of the area and Mata scored his seventh goal of the season from the resultant free-kick with the confidence of a man who is one of the league's in-form players.
The equaliser came on 53 minutes, improvised beautifully by Mata and Oscar. First Mata managed to coax a long ball from Oscar out of the air and when the Brazilian retrieved Mata's cross, Ramires headed in the second ball delivered into the box. Providing a wobbly defence could keep Van Persie quiet, the game was there for Chelsea to win.
Van Persie and Luiz are both masterful exponents of the accidental elbow and sought one another out on the quiet without ever having the kind of silly nose-to-nose that draws the referee's attention. Neither was even booked.
The game ran away from Chelsea with Ivanovic's sending off and then Torres's dismissal, until they were left with none of the shape or the poise that they had in their best periods. On 73 minutes, Van Persie's shot was pushed on to the post by Petr Cech and the goalkeeper then scrambled back to scoop it out. Rafael returned the ball into the area where Hernandez finished beautifully.
He was offside, though. In fact, Hernandez was even ahead of Cech. His celebrations in front of the Matthew Harding stand provoked a barrage of coins and goodness-knows what else to be thrown on to the pitch and a steward went down. Chelsea later claimed that he had slipped over and hurt his knee.
United won it and they have closed the gap to Chelsea to a single point at the top of the Premier League yet they could hardly say they quelled the new team emerging at Stamford Bridge without some good fortune. United return on Wednesday for the League Cup but come 4 May when they reconvene in the league at Old Trafford, one would expect Chelsea still to be very much in it.
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Guardian:
Red cards ruin Chelsea's attacking comeback and Oscar's brilliance
Richard Williams at Stamford Bridge
Somehow Chelsea contrived to finish Sunday's match without Fernando Torres, Juan Mata, Eden Hazard or Oscar on the pitch. Although there were extenuating circumstances involving several crucial calls by the officials, this looked like a failure of managerial judgment. Roman Abramovich, sitting high in his East Stand eyrie, would certainly have been wondering what had happened to the £130m he invested in the quartet.
Torres had been sent off for a second yellow card. He could have gone for the first, a high lunge on Tom Cleverley, although the second, for a dive as he ran at four defenders, seemed marginal as there appeared to be involuntary contact with Jonny Evans's leg.
But the other three were withdrawn, one by one, between the 66th and 82nd minutes as Roberto Di Matteo strove to claw back something from a contest in which his side had already made an impressive comeback. Each decision was understandable when viewed in isolation but together they robbed the league leaders of the chance to manufacture a more constructive response to a heavy dose of misfortune.
If the initial comeback had been impressive, the same could not be said about the way they conceded two goals to Manchester United inside the opening 12 minutes. Sir Alex Ferguson had picked Antonio Valencia to play as a conventional winger on the right and Chelsea's surprisingly flimsy cover was immediately stretched to breaking point.
Both goals came from incursions down that flank, although it was Wayne Rooney whose cross from the right provoked David Luiz's own-goal before Robin van Persie hammered in Valencia's precise cut-back. At that point, and for some time afterwards, Chelsea were all over the place.
Their central defence, in the persons of David Luiz and Gary Cahill, had the consistency of wet tissue paper, while Ashley Cole was receiving no help in defending his area of the pitch against Valencia and Rafael da Silva, with little cover forthcoming from Mikel John Obi and Ramires. Gradually, however, their front four players – Torres and the attacking midfield trio – brought them back into the match, with the assistance of a United team strangely willing to give the ball away in their own half.
For half an hour, either side of half-time, Abramovich had the pleasure of watching his team play the way he expects, full of artistry and inventiveness, looking fully worthy of their position at the top of the table as David de Gea held them at bay, making a number of saves with his lower limbs. Torres worked hard and took advantage of United's generosity to put over several probing crosses from the right, Mata and Hazard probed ominously and Oscar had a touch of the divine about his work. The Brazilian, who turned 21 last month, drifts and ghosts about the pitch with a finely tuned sensitivity to the shifting patterns of play. Put the genes of his compatriots Kaká and Juninho Paulista into a test tube and you would come out with something resembling the slender, elusive No 10.
One gloriously sinuous run eight minutes from the interval made three opponents look as though they were trying to tackle smoke. For the equaliser he accepted David Luiz's pass in the inside-left position and floated a ball over to the far post, where Mata's superb control allowed the Spaniard to bring the ball down and clip it to the far post, where Oscar was waiting to regain possession before measuring a cross that Ramires met with a strong header past De Gea.
There will be much more to come from that quarter but aesthetic considerations took a back seat on Sunday to the fact of a victory that brought United level with Manchester City and to within a point of Chelsea. If Ferguson's side were fortunate with several pivotal decisions, then they could be said to have made their own luck through the positive manner in which they approached the challenge of securing their first win in domestic competition at the Bridge in 10 years.
Until he committed the foul on Hazard that enabled Mata to strike the equaliser with a sumptuous free-kick, Rooney had enjoyed an outstanding game. Playing behind Van Persie in a 4-4-1-1 formation, he did everything he does in the Premier League and fails to accomplish in an international shirt. He looked fit, fast and mentally alert, with an adhesive first touch and a near-perfect control of his passing. When he foraged back to win the ball around the edge of the United area, his interventions were made with first-class timing.
He was fortunate, however, that when he made his big error, it did not turn out to cost United the match. Robbed by Hazard 30 yards from his own goal, he turned and chased and made a tackle from behind with the kind of rashness associated with his less admirable displays. He received a yellow card and might have had another when he threw out an arm to obstruct Cole in the 71st minute. Shortly thereafter he was withdrawn by Ferguson, presumably out of prudence.
At the end of such an intense and percussive contest there could be only a sense of relief that the steward who lay surrounded by paramedics in the tumultuous aftermath of United's winner – scored by Javier Hernández, who had come back from an offside position – had, according to Chelsea, merely slipped and twisted his knee
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Telegraph:
Chelsea 2 Manchester United 3
By Henry Winter, at Stamford Bridge
The Premier League continues to be a gripping blend of the sublime, the grubby and the surreal.
This terrific sporting encounter, a game spiced by the brilliance of Robin van Persie and Juan Mata, was scarred by some poor defending, some hapless decision-making by the officials and a claim from Chelsea that the referee, Mark Clattenburg, used “inappropriate language” to John Obi Mikel.
The Nigerian midfielder entered the referee’s room after the match and he was not alone. Chelsea’s manager, Roberto Di Matteo, and others from the home dressing-room went in to complain about Mark Clattenburg.
Their anger was rooted in comments they believe that Clattenburg made to Mikel and one other Chelsea player during the game, comments that would have been heard by the assistant referees and fourth official as they are all miked up.
If true, these are serious allegations requiring swift investigation by the Premier League and Football Association.
Chelsea were also furious that Clattenburg dismissed Branislav Ivanovic (correctly) and Fernando Torres (controversially) and then allowed Manchester United’s winner to stand despite Javier Hernández being in an offside position.
Clattenburg’s clangers were not quite in the same league as those made by Tom Henning Ovrebro as Chelsea tumbled out of the Champions League to Barcelona here in 2009 but they were still costly.
Torres could have seen red, let alone yellow, for a foot up on Tom Cleverley on the cusp of half-time. In the second half, with Chelsea having fought back from a two-goal deficit, Torres ran through on goal, his journey checked by Jonny Evans, who admitted making contact.
Evans looked briefly worried before Torres looked totally baffled, frustrated and furious when shown a second yellow for simulation. This was no dive, as the mark on Torres’s sock proved.
Clattenburg has been involved in decisions that left United smiling before, including ruling out Pedro Mendes’s shot across the line at Old Trafford in 2005 and Nani nicking the ball off Heurelho Gomes two years ago.
Yet it needs emphasising that Clattenburg is one of English football’s most respected officials, deemed good enough for Fifa duty. He was entirely justified in sending off Ivanovic for clipping the heels of Ashley Young.
United will believe this is a case of what goes around, comes around, and refer back to Martin Atkinson’s leniency with David Luiz here last season, the Brazilian receiving only a yellow for a series of fouls.
The year before, United were livid that Atkinson awarded a free-kick against Darren Fletcher which led to Chelsea’s winner.
The case for referees making a short statement to television, clarifying their reasoning behind decisions, is now unanswerable. The case for managers to be allowed one or two appeals to the video-referee per game grows in credence, although this would require a huge change by Fifa.
This was an extraordinary afternoon at the Bridge, of a myriad sights and sounds. It began with the cameras lingering on the suspended John Terry sitting in the stands with a Kick It Out badge on his tracksuit while the Matthew Harding Stand sang loyally “there’s only one England captain”. At least, Ashley Cole and Rio Ferdinand shook hands.
A compelling first half then unfolded, Ferdinand paving the way for United’s first by nipping in to nick the ball, allowing Rooney and then Young to drive deep into the hosts’ half.
Young transferred the ball back to Rooney, who was tearing down the right. He picked out Van Persie with a cutback of pace and precision. The Dutchman met the ball first time, sending it against the post, before Lady Luck smiled on the visitors. The ball bounced out but hit Luiz and rolled over the line.
United were running amok down the right, causing constant problems for Cole. United stormed forward again successfully after 11 minutes. Rafael, and then Antonio Valencia combined to catch Cole out.
Again Van Persie’s movement shimmered with intelligence, losing Gary Cahill, running towards the near-post and meeting Valencia’s cross with a right-footed finish.
United were rampant, Ferguson’s tactics totally foxing Di Matteo for a while. Ferguson had changed the narrow system deployed against Braga in midweek. Diamonds are clearly not forever.
The visitors were effectively 4-4-1-1 with Rooney pulling the strings behind Van Persie, often retreating into midfield when Chelsea had possession.
Van Persie tracked back too, conceding a throw-in. This was classic, old-school Ferguson: width and work-rate. For lovers of the traditional: United’s back-four wore the numbers, 2, 5, 6, 3.
Yet there is such talent and determination in this team of Di Matteo’s. Mata guided the ball around the pitch with his usual elegance. Luiz’s free-kick was prevented access to the net only by David de Gea’s foot.
Rooney twice intervened to stop promising balls reaching Eden Hazard, then Oscar. Still the blue waves rolled towards United’s goal. De Gea somehow kept out a Cahill header with his feet, then a Torres header with one hand.
Rooney then made his first real mistake of the half, fouling Hazard and presenting Mata with the type of free-kick opportunity he relishes. Chelsea’s No 10 curled the ball over the wall, beating De Gea.
The momentum seemed with Chelsea. Eight minutes into the second half, they equalised following a fine zigzagging move. Cahill started it, stroking the ball left to Luiz, who slipped it forward to Oscar.
His pass was perfection, swept over the United backline for Mata to collect with a typically adroit bit of instant control. He turned and lifted the ball across. Ferdinand’s attempted interception merely helped it on to Oscar. Ramires, outjumping Cleverley, headed in Oscar’s return.
“We know what we are,” sang the jubilant Chelsea fans. “Champions of Europe.”
De Gea continued to add to his list of saves, denying Hazard with his feet, but Chelsea’s hopes of victory began to fade when Ivanovic was rightly expelled for bringing down Young. Ferguson seized his chance, withdrawing Cleverley and introducing Hernández.
Torres then departed, his face like thunder. Evans looked relieved, having immediately checked on Clattenburg’s reaction to his challenge that caught Torres on the shin.
Chelsea’s mood descended into the heart of darkness. When Michael Carrick found Van Persie, the Dutchman’s shot was turned by Petr Cech on to the post. Rafael drilled the loose ball back in.
Hernández, clearly offside, turned it over the line. Chelsea fans were now in total meltdown, chanting “3-2 to the referee”. The game was over but the fallout continues.
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Times:
Chelsea 2 Man Utd 3: Hernandez snatches victory
Ivanovic and Torres sent off as Red Devils beat nine-man Blues to narrow gap at the top of the Premier League
Paul Rowan
THE SUSPENDED John Terry wasnt out of his tracksuit all afternoon, but that didnt stop this game from descending into controversy and recrimination as Manchester United pulled off a dramatic victory over the League leaders in a memorable contest at Stamford Bridge.
The game was deliciously poised at 2-2 and had been a brilliant contest when referee Mark Clattenburg ordered two Chelsea players off within a space of six minutes just after the hour mark. First Branislav Ivanovic was rightly sent off for hauling down Ashley Young, but Fernando Torrezs dismissal for diving after he was challenged by Jonny Evans on 68 minutes was a poor decision by the referee. The substitute Javier Hernandez then scored the winner on 75 minutes, though television replays suggested he was offside.
"Everybody could see that it was a foul and that Jonny Evans should have been booked," Chelsea coach Roberto Di Matteo said. "It was a good game between two good teams and the referee ruined it."
Sir Alex Ferguson saw it differently. "Did he intend to dive?" asked the United manager. "He could have gone on and he chose not to. Jonny may have caught him a little bit, but he could have carried on running and scored. I would never have gone down."
Both teams, Chelsea in particular, now need to regain their composure before the two sides meet again in the Capital One Cup on Wednesday, for the controversy spilled over the white lines in this game. During the game and after the final whistle Ferguson argued at length with with Chelseas assistant first team coach Steve Holland, who was dragged away by a steward. Then the Chelsea goalkeeping coach Christophe Lollichon clapped, probably sarcastically, at Clattenburg as he left the pitch. There were also reports that a steward was injured as the crowd reacted angrily to Uniteds celebrations of Herandezs goal. Chelsea said that a steward slipped and hurt his knee and was taken to hospital though there are reports of a chair being thrown by fans.
United took only four minutes to take the lead when Chelsea conceded possession cheaply in a dangerous area of midfield. Wayne Rooney played a one-two with Young and then picked out Robin van Persie in the box. His shot cracked off Petr Cechs left hand upright, bounced off David Luiz and flew into the net.
It quickly became evident that Ashley Cole was being over-run by a combination of Antonio Valencia, Rooney and the marauding United right back Rafael, but Eden Hazard didnt look inclined to help his left back out and in the 12th minute United scored their second. Rafael fed Valencia who got to the dead-ball line and pulled a low cross back across the box. This time Van Persies aim was unerring and he swept a sidefoot shot past Cech.
If the first third of the game belonged to United, the second belonged to Chelsea as Juan Mata started directing the play. The hosts created several good chances but the fightback took proper shape when Hazard was illegally halted by Rooney, just outside the box. Mata aimed his swerving free kick over the head of the diminutive figure of Patrice Evra, who was positioned on the edge of the wall, and the ball crashed into the corner of David De Geas net.
The breathless pace didnt let up in the second half and within seven minutes of the restart Chelsea had equalised. The irrepressible Mata was again the spur. Oscar picked him out with a lovely cross into the box which was just too far ahead of the Spaniard to shoot. Instead he controlled the ball beautifully with the tip of his boot and sent it back across goal. Ferdinands headed clearance landed at the feet of Oscar, whose cross was powerfully headed in by Ramires.
The match had been a superb spectacle up to that point, and then the controversy began. On 62 minutes, Ivanovic was shown a straight red card for running across the path of Young who was through on goal after a brilliant piece of play by Van Persie. Six minutes later Chelsea were down to nine men when Torres, who had been booked in the first half for a very high tackle on Tom Cleverley, received a second yellow after he was judged by Clattenburg to have dived when challenged by Jonny Evans, rather than fouled as most people in the ground believed he was.
Mata was hauled off to be replaced by Chris Bertrand as Chelsea tried to see the game out without conceding again, but they couldnt. Van Persie turned smartly in the box and produced a low shot which Cech just got to diving low to his right. The goalkeeper then desperately scooped the ball away only as far as Rafael. His driven cross found the feet of the substitute Javier Hernandez, who appeared to be coming back from an offside position, but there was no flag and the forward quickly adjusted his feet to score from close range. Even then there was more controversy surrounding Uniteds celebration in the corner. The fallout from this game could go on for days and even weeks to come.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech; Ivanovic, Luiz, Cahill, Cole; Mikel, Ramires; Mata (Bertrand 72), Oscar (Azpilucueta 66), Hazard (Sturridge 82); Torres
Manchester United (4-4-1-1): De Gea; Rafael, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra; Valencia, Carrick, Cleverley (Hernandez 65), Young; Rooney (Giggs 73); Van Persie
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Mail:
Chelsea 2 Manchester United 3: Crazy red card for Torres and Hernandez offside goal hand United victory at Stamford Bridge
By Martin Samuel
Games as good as this should be decided by a moment of magic, a sliver of sublime skill, an act of bravery or great daring. Sadly, Manchester United won here courtesy of one of the worst performances by a referee in Premier League history.
In fact, make that the worst. Even without the incredible allegations that followed, Mark Clattenburg had already lowered the bar. For while some may recall the odd match that plumbed murkier depths of ineptitude, Clattenburg’s display was such a hellish combination of incompetence and arrogance that it warped the narrative of the match and, perhaps, the title race.
These things even themselves out over a season? Really, do they? So Chelsea can recover three points the next time Manchester United visit Stamford Bridge in the Premier League this season, can they? Or was this their only chance? Alternative outcomes are purely hypothetical and maybe United would have won even without the travesty that was the second Chelsea dismissal, or the winning goal that was plainly offside, but few impartial observers would have supported that bet with total confidence.
At the time Branislav Ivanovic was sent off for fouling Ashley Young, United had passed the previous 50 minutes without a noteworthy attempt at goal. Within five minutes the home team were reduced to nine by a false judgment that left them to overcome insurmountable odds, and from that point there was only one winner. It helps if you can score from an offside position, too.
From a blistering start – Manchester United deservedly 2-0 up, Chelsea rightly back in the game through Juan Mata – this match then evolved like a car crash watched in slow motion. In the 45th minute, Clattenburg booked Fernando Torres for a high, reckless challenge on Tom Cleverley that some feel was worth more. The replays looked painful for the young man, but also revealed a genuine, if misguided, attempt to win the ball on Torres’s part. A yellow card seemed fair.
Clattenburg was still carrying the popular vote – although not at Stamford Bridge, it must be said – when he dismissed Ivanovic after 63 minutes. Robin van Persie put Ashley Young through on goal, and the full back got the wrong side of him. In attempting to make amends, he clipped Young’s heels. Again there is an argument that the contact was accidental, yet equally a cynical defender could be quite adept at making the deliberate appear unfortunate. The benefit of the doubt should be with the attacker here and, as the last line of defence, Ivanovic had to go.
And then Clattenburg’s reign of terrible began.
The score still tied at 2-2, Torres burst through. Jonny Evans lunged at the approaching forward, who made to take evasive action. It was too late, Evans hit him and Torres fell. It was a blatant foul, as clear as anything seen all afternoon. The home support chanted vengefully for Evans’s dismissal. Instead, it was Torres who was banished, a second yellow sending him mystified towards the tunnel.
It was an abysmal decision. Not just wrong, but full of the alienating arrogance of modern officialdom. There is no way Clattenburg could have been sure, 100 per cent sure, stone-cold guaranteed beyond all semblance of doubt sure, that Torres had cheated. He knew the consequence of a booking would be a red card. Yet he ploughed ahead, altering the balance of power beyond repair, convicting an innocent man on a hunch. He ruined the game, there and then. It was now a matter of time before United found a way through.
It took seven minutes. Van Persie shot, Petr Cech got his fingertips to the ball and, as it edged towards the goal-line, recovered to kick clear. His desperate attempt found only Rafael, however, who drilled a shot into the area to be turned in by substitute Javier Hernandez. If the sense of injustice inside Stamford Bridge was already palpable it exploded when replays showed Hernandez standing in an offside position when Rafael shot. He was almost on the goal-line, level with Cech at best, but behind every blue shirt. It was not a difficult offside for a linesman to spot. To be fair, Lemon Jefferson could have taken a fair swing at it. Using Ray Charles’s spectacles.
At this point it is customary to trot out the cliche about refereeing being an impossible job and its protagonists deserving of sympathy. No it isn’t and no they aren’t. Not here, anyway. It is not impossible to use common sense, as Clattenburg should have done over Torres, or to spot no blue shirt between a red shirt and goal. Yet Clattenburg’s bravado continued to the bitter end. In stoppage-time, he booked Antonio Valencia for diving when he plainly ran into Mikel. He should not be near a match as big as this for a very long time.
At 2-2 and 11 versus 11, Chelsea were the better team. Yet with 12 minutes gone, thoughts of a home victory would have appeared far-fetched. United started like a team looking to take advantage of the absence of John Terry, as Ferguson had demanded, and were a goal up after four minutes. Young found Wayne Rooney and his shot was met powerfully by Van Persie, striking a post, ricocheting out and hitting David Luiz before rebounding in. It was unfortunate for the Brazilian, although he could have asked for 50 other instances when he should have cost a goal and got away with it to be taken into account.
Soon after, Chelsea fell further behind. Rio Ferdinand played a neat ball to Rafael, who fed Valencia, his cross fired low into the net by Van Persie, this time without assistance.
Soundly beaten in Donetsk last week, the game could have run away from Chelsea, but instead they rallied. They dominated the 40-minute period prior to Ivanovic’s dismissal, David de Gea making several good saves, including a smattering with his feet.
Maybe it was more good fortune, perhaps it is evidence of his individual approach but three times De Gea saved in the manner of a 12-year-old going in goal for the first time. He kept out a 30-yard free-kick from Luiz, a close-range header from Gary Cahill and a one-on-one with Eden Hazard in this manner. It hardly inspires confidence, but it certainly makes for excitement.
As do Chelsea these days. Torres, Mata and Hazard all had opportunities go close, while Evans nearly put through his own net, Luiz-style. Chelsea finally got back into the game with a fantastic left-foot free-kick from Mata, after Rooney had fouled Hazard, and eight minutes into the second half Ramires headed in an Oscar cross, after an initial effort from Mata was over-hit.
The draw a fair result? Not really. Off levels, Chelsea at least deserved to maintain their ten-year unbeaten home record in the league against United. It is the club’s misfortune that in Clattenburg, they had an official channelling the spirit of the notorious Tom Henning Ovrebo who as good as handed Barcelona a Champions League final place here in 2009. Chelsea must hope, long-term, that this result will not prove as influential for United and the title.
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Mirror:
Chelsea 2-3 Man United: Fergie edges thriller after Torres and Ivanovic see red
By Martin Lipton
Unconvincing, unimpressive, maybe just plain lucky.
Sometimes you get what you do not deserve, especially when you throw away a seemingly impregnable position.
But when you get the rub of the green, when ALL the calls that matter go your way, you have to take advantage.
As United ended Chelsea’s unbeaten start to shrink the Blues’ lead to a single point, their first league win at Stamford Bridge since 2002 was shrouded in justified controversy.
While there was little doubt over Branislav Ivanovic’s red card, few could argue with the anger of the home fans towards Mark Clattenburg when he also dismissed Fernando Torres for a dive that never was.
And with Javier Hernandez’s winner blatantly offside – actually behind every Chelsea player including Petr Cech before turning home Rafael Da Silva’s cross-shot – nobody could pretend United did not get away with it.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s guffaws at the end and his jibe at Torres suggest he believes his side have inflicted a potentially devastating blow, setting up another “winter wobble” in SW6.
Yet Chelsea’s response, first to the two goals they conceded inside 12 minutes and then to their double reduction in numbers and the kick in the guts clincher, suggested they may yet gain as much in defeat as they have through their impressive winning run.
That opening spell, in which Chelsea were horrendously exposed, made a mockery of those who claim they are better without John Terry.
Where Terry would have got tight on Robin van Persie, a lone striker with Wayne Rooney dropping into a five-man midfield, David Luiz allowed the Dutchman far too much space.
Not that Luiz could do much about the opener, helpless as Van Persie’s shot, from a Rooney assist – Juan Mata failed to track back after losing the ball – rebounded off the post, against his hip and over the line.
But the Brazilian made no challenge when dragged out wide towards Antonio Valencia, with Van Persie taking a step towards Ivanovic before pulling off Gary Cahill to slam home his ninth goal since moving to United.
Chelsea looked shapeless and vulnerable, only for United to drop deeper, inviting them on, David De Gea’s unwillingness to leave his line a significant factor.
The Spaniard made an unorthodox, hockey-style, foot stop from a Luiz free-kick, another to deny Cahill’s downwards header then plunged to his right to claw away a Torres header from Mata’s cross.
But when Rooney downed Eden Hazard clumsily, De Gea made a step to the left and had no chance as Mata found the other corner from 20 yards, although he foiled his fellow countryman seconds later when Torres played in the scorer.
Still time for Torres to pick up his first caution – it could have been red – for a studs-up lunge on Tom Cleverley reminiscent of the one he was dismissed for against Swansea last season but Chelsea had the momentum and within eight minutes of the restart, parity too.
Mata worked wonders to keep Oscar’s ball in play and when the Brazilian – who made up 40 yards – turned the ball back in, Ramires towered above Cleverley to nod home.
Chelsea’s to win? It seemed like that as De Gea saved with his feet again, this time from Hazard.
But then Ivanovic clipped the returning Ashley Young’s heels – Roberto Di Matteo, unlike with Torres, had no complaints – after Van Persie created space off Cahill to play him in on goal.
And six minutes later, as Clattenburg deemed Torres, caught on the ankle by Jonny Evans, had tumbled unaided, 10 became nine, Fergie’s depth-charge adding fuel to the fire.
Time for the final insult. Michael Carrick played in, Luiz stood off Van Persie, Cech got a hand to the shot but opted to kick it off the line straight to Rafael – rather than fall on the ball.
Hernandez was in the net at that instant, still the most advanced player on the pitch as the full-back drilled across, and while he adjusted his feet brilliantly to turn home, the flag should have been raised.
Victory tasted sweet. Defeat extremely bitter. Game on.
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Sun:
THE United team bus was said to be late getting away from Stamford Bridge.
Apparently it had to wait for ref Mark Clattenburg and his assistants to get on.
Chelsea fans were convinced the officials should have been wearing red shirts for helping United to a first league win at Chelsea since Roman Abramovich took over.
The Blues, who had come back from 2-0 down to level the game, could have no arguments about last man Branislav Ivanovic’s red card for clipping Ashley Young as the United man went through on goal.
But the Premier League leaders had every right to feel aggrieved when Fernando Torres was dismissed five minutes later.
Torres went for a second bookable offence for what Clattenburg deemed a dive as Jonny Evans slid in on him.
Evans definitely caught Torres, who was moving at speed, so it was nonsense to call it a dive.
The Blues were down to nine men and had to try and survive for 22 minutes to gain a point.
They did not make a bad fist of it, either, only to be done by another shocker of a decision.
This time it was the linesman at the centre of the controversy after Petr Cech touched Robin van Persie’s shot on to the post and scrambled to push it clear.
Rafael came flying in on the loose ball and smashed it into the six-yard box where sub Javier Hernandez turned it in.
However, he was not only behind the last defender but also the goalkeeper when the ball was played in. That was double offside — if there is such a thing — yet still the man with the flag could not spot it.
United took the lead in the fourth minute — a move which started with Rio Ferdinand nicking the ball from Juan Mata and Ashley Young feeding Wayne Rooney.
Van Persie was there to meet Rooney’s cross and his shot came off the post, hit David Luiz and bounced back into the goal.
Dutch star Van Persie got a second after Antonio Valencia sent a grass-cutter into the box and Gary Cahill could not cut it out.
But Chelsea battled back and more than deserved their goal just before the break.
Rooney clumsily chopped down Eden Hazard, got booked, and Juan Mata curled in a majestic free-kick for his seventh goal of the season.
The equaliser arrived when Mata did really well to bring down an overhit cross from Oscar and whipped the ball beyond the far post.
Oscar collected and chipped it into the six-yard box where Ramires rose above Tom Cleverley to head in.
At that point, you would have put your money on Chelsea to take all three points — United were distinctly wobbly.
David De Gea saved with his feet for the umpteenth time from Oscar while Van Persie was fortunate to get away with a flailing arm in Luiz’s face.
But, with Chelsea in the ascendancy, United suddenly broke and Van Persie sent Young through on goal. Ivanovic was never going to catch the England man and caught his heels as he approached the penalty area.
But when Torres got his marching orders soon after there was plenty to argue about.
They may not have got a point but they wanted to make a point. For Clattenburg read Clangerburg.
DREAM TEAM
SUN STAR MAN — VAN PERSIE (MAN UNITED)
CHELSEA: Cech 7, Ivanovic 5, Luiz 5, Cahill 6, Cole 5, Mikel 6, Ramires 7, Hazard 7 (Sturridge 5), Oscar 6 (Azpilicueta 6), Mata 7 (Bertrand 5), Torres 5. Subs not used: Turnbull, Romeu, Moses, Marin. Sent Off: Ivanovic, Torres. Booked: Torres, Mikel.
MAN UTD: De Gea 6, Rafael 6, Ferdinand 7, Evans 6, Evra 5, Valencia 7, Carrick 7, Cleverley 5 (Hernandez 7), Young 6, Rooney 7 (Giggs 6), Van Persie 8. Subs not used: Lindegaard, Anderson, Nani, Welbeck, Scholes. Booked: Rooney, Valencia.
REF: M Clattenburg 5
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Express:
CHELSEA 2 - MANCHESTER UNITED 3: SIR ALEX FERGUSON RIDES HIS LUCK
Two seasons ago his rant against Martin Atkinson landed the United chief with a five-game touchline ban and a £30,000 fine. He was seething last season as well, even though his teamcame back from three goals down to claim a draw.
But Mark Clattenburg will probably escape Ferguson’s wrath after this performance. Chelsea, on the other hand, are much less likely to regard the Gosforth referee with a great deal of fondness.
Having fought back from two goals down to level the game on an enthralling afternoon at Stamford Bridge, Chelsea were then reduced to nine men – as first Branislav Ivanovic and then Fernando Torres were sent off – and then 15 minutes from time they saw Javier Hernandez score a winning goal from a clearly offside position.
As weekends, in fact as weeks go, Chelsea have had better. Beaten by Shakhtar Donetsk in the Champions League in midweek, they followed it up with this calamity – their first defeat in the league this season.
Clattenburg will not be on many Christmas card lists around SW6 for a while
But how unlucky they were, and how Roberto Di Matteo’s men fought, even with nine men, to the very end.
Clattenburg will not be on many Christmas card lists around SW6 for a while.
It was, in fact, a rotten display by the man who is regarded as the Premier League’s second-best official and who could represent England at the next World Cup. The sending-off of Torres was ludicrous.
The Spaniard had been rightly booked for a high boot on Tom Cleverley in the first half. But at the time he was sent off, Chelsea were down to 10 men, he was chasing a ball and faced four defenders.
Jonny Evans clearly caught the Spaniard, who went down belatedly. But Clattenburg would have had to have been 100 per cent certain it was a dive to have produced that second yellow. Nevertheless, out it came.
Ivanovic’s red card was marginally more clear-cut, the Serb cutting across Ashley Young and catching him.
The fact was, he was the last man, and he had to go – but it looked harsh. So Chelsea were down to nine after a valiant display. Had they hung on it would have been a triumph. However, Di Matteo’s men ran out of luck there, too.
Robin van Persie turned and shot, Petr Cech palmed the ball away but then had to scramble back as the ball spun towards the line.
The half-clearance went straight to Rafael, who fired the ball back in – but Hernandez was clearly behind every Chelsea defender when the full-back delivered for the Mexican to stab in from point-blank range.
Chelsea could barely believe it. As the teams walked off, Ashley Cole confronted Clattenburg to express his rage. It is far too early in the season to declare that this could be a decisive result. But it will be significant.
And Chelsea will forever point to Clattenburg and his performance as the reason for their first setback in the Premier League.
On a breathless afternoon, United got off to a lightning start after just four minutes. Chelsea were caught out on the left and Wayne Rooney pulled the ball back for Van Persie to shoot.
The ball came back off the post – only to bounce off David Luiz and into the net.
Cole was having a torrid time down that flank as Chelsea looked all at sea and, eight minutes later, Antonio Valencia wriggled free and crossed, and Van Persie, criminally unmarked, crashed in United’s second.
Chelsea were reeling. But gradually, inexorably, they fought their way back into the game, inspired by the magnificent Juan Mata.
A cross bounced off Evans and the post as United escaped and then visiting keeper David de Gea kept out Luiz’s free-kick with a foot and saved superbly from Torres.
But then Rooney gave away a foul on the edge of the area and Mata curled a glorious free-kick into the corner of the net. Chelsea were back in it. In fact, had De Gea not saved well from Mata again with his feet seconds before the interval, they would have been level.
It came anyway. Chelsea now had their tails up. Oscar crossed the ball from the left and there was Ramires to nod down and in.
At that point, Chelsea had the ascendancy and United were the team who were wobbling. But then Clattenburg took a hand.
Refereeing is not an easy job. Let no one doubt that. But performances like this do not make defending the men in black any easier.
But it was some match and how about doing it again?
We do not have to wait long as the teams meet in the Capital One Cup here on Wednesday night.
Chelsea (4-2-3-1): Cech 7; Ivanovic 6, Luiz 6, Cahill 6, Cole 6; Ramires 7, Mikel 7; Mata 8 (Bertrand 71, 6), Oscar 7 (Azpilicueta 66, 6), Hazard 7 (Sturridge 81, 6); Torres 6. Booked: Torres, Mikel. Sent off: Ivanovic 63, Torres 69. Goals: Mata 44, Ramires 53.
Manchester United (4-1-4-1): De Gea 7; Rafael 7, Ferdinand 7, Evans 7, Evra 7; Carrick 6: Valencia 7, Rooney 7 (Giggs 73, 6), Cleverley 6 (Hernandez 64, 7), Young 7; Van Persie 8. Booked: Rooney, Valencia. Goals: Luiz og 4, Van Persie 12, Hernandez 75.
Referee: M Clattenburg (Tyne & Wear).
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Star:
CHELSEA 2 - MANCHESTER UNITED 3: BLUES ARE LEFT RED 'N BURIED
RED cards on the pitch, red faces off it – and finally a Red victory to end 10 years of hurt at Stamford Bridge.
Not since April 2002 had Manchester United won a Premier League game at Chelsea, but what a time this was to end their barren run.
Victory meant United closed the gap on the league leaders to just one point and shattered their 100 per cent home start in the process.
The visitors were two-up in the first 12 minutes through a David Luiz owngoal and a cool strike by Robin van Persie – but the Blues fought back with goals from Juan Mata and Ramires.
Supersub Javier Hernandez then hit a controversial winner – replays showed he was offside – but only after Chelsea had been reduced to NINE men.
Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres got their marching orders in a crazy five-minute spell in the second half.
Referee Mark Clattenburg’s questionable decision to dismiss Torres for diving sparked red faces all round in the dug-outs as the two benches squared up to each other.
But perhaps the reddest face of all belonged to John Terry, who sat helplessly in the stands, serving his four-match ban for racially abusing Anton Ferdinand.
At the end, then, it was Anton’s brother Rio who had the last laugh here – and he took his time leaving the pitch after the final whistle blew.
The United defender wore the ‘Kick It Out’ T-shirt in the warm-up and shook hands with everyone in the line-up, including Ashley Cole, who testified on Terry’s behalf in the race-row hearings.
But while he was a rock for his side at the back, Chelsea badly missed the influence of the man they call Captain, Leader, Legend in these parts.
back of their Champions League defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk, questions will now be asked of Roberto Di Matteo’s men.
Owner Roman Abramovich certainly looked glum up in his box.
Luiz had scored in his last two league games against United at Stamford Bridge, but this time he scored FOR United.
Wayne Rooney pounced on a loose pass and traded passes with Ashley Young before feeding Van Persie, whose shot cannoned off the post and went in off the unlucky Brazilian.
But if Luiz loves scoring here, so does Van Persie. He scored for the sixth time in three visits eight minutes later to double United’s advantage and leave Chelsea shell-shocked.
Ferdinand started it, releasing Rafael down the right, and he fed Antonio Valencia for the cross which Van Persie smashed home in style.
Maybe it was Sir Alex Ferguson’s change of formation, maybe not. But his decision to ditch the diamond for two wingers seemed to be paying off as one of them was involved for each goal.
Luiz forced David De Gea into an unorthodox save at the other end, firing in a free-kick which the Spaniard stopped by flying across his goal to kick clear with his foot.
Chelsea twice went close when John Obi Mikel’s cross-cum-shot struck Jonny Evans and defl ected off the post for a corner, from which De Gea kicked a Gary Cahill header just wide.
The Blues hit the woodwork again when Cahill’s shot rebounded off Tom Cleverley and on to the outside of the upright – and De Gea came to the rescue again.
He flung himself at a bullet header from Torres, who had peeled away at the far post to meet a cross from the outstanding Mata, only to see it tipped away by the United keeper.
Chelsea did not have much longer to wait, though.
Rooney fouled Eden Hazard on the edge of the box and Mata curled an inch-perfect free-kick around the wall and into the top corner.
Mata could have had a second moments later after a poor clearance by De Gea, who made amends by saving his countryman’s shot with his legs after good work from Torres. Luiz then survived a penalty scare when he handled a cross by Valencia – and Chelsea equalised shortly afterwards.
Mata rescued an overhit cross from Oscar and played it back into the danger zone. Ferdinand failed to clear and it fell to Oscar, who picked out Ramires for a close-range header.
De Gea saved with his feet from Hazard, but the Chelsea comeback hit the buffers when Ivanovic got his marching orders in the 63rd minute for a professional foul on Young.
Things got worse for the Blues when Torres saw red for his second bookableoffence, this time a dive, although replays showed Evans did clip him before he went down.
Six minutes later United went ahead through Hernandez, who had only been on the pitch for 10 minutes.
Petr Cech saved a shot from Van Persie, but the ball fell to Rafael who fired it back in, and Hernandez turned it home after coming back from an offside position.
The Mexican scored the equaliser in this fixture last season, when United came back from 3-0 down, but this time it proved to be the winner.
