Rooney gives United the edge

SOCCER: Chelsea 0 Manchester Utd 1:THESE ARE two clubs whose modern histories are entangled, but Manchester United did much to separate themselves at Stamford Bridge. An away victory, delivered by Wayne Rooney's first-half goal, holds out promise of going on to the semi-final of the Champions League. Chelsea have no option but to be bold in the return and, to their sorrow, saw here what early endeavour can achieve.

They ought to have had the opportunity to level here eventually but the Spanish referee, Alberto Mallenco, saw no penalty in stoppage-time, although Patrice Evra took Ramires rather than the ball. Soon after, there was only a yellow card for diving when Fernando Torres went down.

Alex Ferguson had selected a team designed to attack.

That same approach had ended in defeat here in the Premier League last month, but United had been unlucky after seeming in control for much of the evening. Once again, the manager picked a pair of forwards in Javier Hernandez and Rooney.

Here, too, the visitors took the lead and did so with a highly polished goal.

Michael Carrick swept a splendid pass to Ryan Giggs on the left. Giggs controlled the ball in full flight, left Jose Bosingwa for dead and with one perfect touch set up Rooney to slot home off the inside of the post in the 24th minute.

It had been a masterful piece of work by United and it appeared then that nothing less than such a moment could overcome the intense concentration of each team.

The mood of the match was taut and when Torres went down in the area after 35 minutes, Nemanja Vidic interpreted it instantly as dive rather than tumble. Strained feelings were unavoidable in teams who have shared and made history in modern times.

There is certainly a fixation with their encounter in 2008 Champions League final.

All the same, it is difficult to tell whether it is the players or simply those who keep asking about the penalty shoot-out who are obsessed with that night in Moscow. Talk of revenge is particularly odd since United did no more than win a match. Chelsea may have been desolate, but they were not wronged.

Any prickliness in this latest instalment of the rivalry arises from the fact that each side was trying to steel itself for a formidable test. An unexpected note of poignancy has also attached itself to this tie. United may be pursuing a treble, but there is no delusion that a squad ageing in some areas will have to be reshaped at considerable cost from this summer onwards.

A similar project is already underway at Stamford Bridge and Torres, at that €56 million price, is the embodiment of the willingness to go to budgetary extremes.

United, too, will have costs to meet in the reconstruction of their squad, regardless of the team’s present effectiveness. Some suffer from wear and tear, even if Rio Ferdinand had at least got over his calf injury to make his first appearance since February 1st.

The first half, at least, had not been gruelling for him as Chelsea needed time to recover verve after conceding a goal. During the build-up to this encounter, Ferguson would have been sincere in the admiration he expressed for the Stamford Bride manager Carlo Ancelotti while aghast at the idea of such a figure being sacked, but the comments also implied that United were pitted against a less stable club.

Even so, the Chelsea players could easily have felt that were on solid ground once more in the 45th minute, had a Didier Drogba cross from the left that came off a post been turned in; Lampard attempted to prod the ball home, but Evra was able to clear.

Any benefit Chelsea took from the incident lay in the proof that it was feasible to break the visitors, as they had ultimately done in the March encounter.

By then, Chelsea had at last established momentum. An overhead kick by Drogba in the 56th minute, might for instance, have missed the target, but it still demonstrated an increasing intent from Ancelotti’s side.

Van der Sar was influential for United when, following a Bosingwa delivery, he stretched to tip away a Torres header that would otherwise have brought the Spaniard’s first goal for the club.

Frustration was shared widely in Chelsea ranks.

GuardianService

CHELSEA: Cech, Bosingwa (Mikel 78), Ivanovic, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Zhirkov (Malouda 70), Drogba (Anelka 71), Torres. Subs not used: Turnbull, Benayoun, Ferreira, Kalou. Booked: Zhirkov, Ramires, Essien, Torres.

MANCHESTER UTD: Van der Sar, Rafael Da Silva (Nani 51), Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia, Carrick, Giggs, Park (Smalling 90), Hernandez (Berbatov 78), Rooney. Subs not used: Kuszczak, Scholes, Evans, Gibson. Booked: Vidic, Van der Sar.

Referee: AU Mallenco (Spain).