The UEFA Champions League quarterfinal’s second leg kicked off at Old Trafford with astonishing news from Chelsea’s camp about Carlo Ancelotti leaving out Didier Drogba on the bench and including Fernando Torres in his starting lineup. The visitors also
included Alex Dias da Costa, their Brazilian center back, in the starting eleven as Jose Bosingwa was relegated to the bench.
Branislav Ivanovic took up the Portuguese full back’s berth on the right side of Chelsea’s defense whereas John Terry and Ashley Cole marshaled the left hand side of the Blues’ back line. Up front, Fernando Torres played as Chelsea’s solitary striker with
Nicolas Anelka in close attendance from his trequartista role. Florent Malouda, Frank Lampard, Michael Essien and Ramires Santos made up Chelsea’s four man midfield at the Red Devils’ soil.
On the other hand, Manchester United kept a relatively unchanged side from their first leg’s away win at Stamford Bridge by 1-0 against Chelsea. Sir Alex Ferguson opted for the Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez combination upfront while Ryan Giggs and Michael
Carrick started as United’s two central midfielders.
On the wings, Luis Antonio Valencia was benched as Luis Nani came into the Red Devils’ starting line up along with Park Ji Sung. At the back, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were deployed as Ferguson’s two entrusted central defenders whereas John O’Shea
and Patrice Evra played as Manchester United’s two full backs. Surprisingly enough, it was Chelsea who started as the much brighter of the two sides at Old Trafford.
Manchester United took some time to settle into the tie as Chelsea dominated the midfield area due to their compact approach to the match. Ramires and Malouda tucked on both ends of the field to crowd out Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs in central midfield.
In the 6th minute of the match, Manchester United showed their offensive intent when Luis Nani skipped past Ivanovic down the right hand side of Chelsea’s defense. However, the Serbian defender fouled the Portuguese winger and the home side was
awarded their first free kick of the encounter.
Nani stepped up to take the free kick but the ex-Sporting Lisbon winger’s delivery into the Chelsea box was too close to Peter Cech. The Czech Republic international gathered the ball with utmost ease. Cech then had the vision to find Fernando Torres with
a wonderful long throw but Park Ji Sung sniffed out the danger and intercepted the throw before Torres could reach the ball. Manchester United regained possession of the ball and in the 10th minute, Manchester United was seemingly dealt a massive
blow as Rio Ferdinand pulled up with an injury.
Sir Alex Ferguson spotted the defender’s injury troubles from the sideline and sent Chris Smalling for a minor warm up. However, luckily for the home side, Ferdinand ran off the knock and got back on the field without any serious medical attention.