Chelsea isn’t so much in transition as they are in remedial decline as the last chance for them to win any silverware disappeared after a home loss to Manchester United in the Champions League.
It wasn’t so much “you fucking what” as it was “look at how smug I can look when I score” when Wayne Rooney registered the only goal of the game. It was his seventh in seven appearances in the capital and was the first time that United has won at Chelsea in nine years.
The match officials had a share of the spotlight after failing to award a late penalty to Chelsea. In truth it shouldn’t have got this far without the Blues getting at least one back.
A team packed full of multi-million pound talent should be able to score at least the one goal. Although, when you have misfiring strikers in your team it’s no surprise.
It’s becoming increasingly hard to tell whether Fernando Torres is actually just an elaborately expensive Andriy Shevchenko impersonator. His run without scoring a goal now stretches to nine games for the London club and it’s not that his other contributions are even making a difference.
William Hill is offering odds of 5/1 that Torres won’t register for the rest of the season and even that’s generous. Spokesperson Graham Sharpe said, “He had one or two half chances against United but his confidence is clearly suffering the longer the blank run continues.”
One thing that is becoming abundantly clear is that United have a real chance at the second treble of Alex Ferguson’s career. As they continue to forge ahead on three fronts, Bet365 have the Red Devils at 11/1 to win all three and it would be a fitting end to the Scot’s career.
The night’s other clash was the kind of domination that should be associated with David vs Goliath, before it went pear-shaped for the big man.
Barcelona had five different scorers as they matched Real Madrid’s margin of victory in a 5-1 win over Ukrainian’s Shakhtar Donetsk.
Andres Iniesta, Dani Alves, Gerard Pique, Seydou Keita and Xavi Hernandez registered for Pep Guardiola’s side, as they look at a potential repeat of the 2009 final with Man Utd.
