In another dramatic match in the League Cup, Chelsea edged Manchester United 5-4 after extra time on Wednesday to seal a slot in the quarterfinals. It was a fitting reply to their controversial 3-2 defeat suffered to the same team in the English Premier League on Sunday.
In other games Wednesday, Swansea defeated Liverpool 3-1 while Norwich City beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1.
After Wednesday's victory, Chelsea will now travel to Leeds, while Arsenal will travel to Bradford City. They had a dramatic win over Reading on Tuesday beating them 7-5 despite trailing 1-4 at halftime.
Swansea will host Championship side Middlesbrough while Norwich will host Aston Villa.
The Premier League game between Manchester United and Chelsea on Sunday at Stamford Bridge saw two home players being sent off, an offside winner and referee Mark Clattenburg being accused of allegedly using inappropriate language towards Chelsea's John Obi Mikel.
Wednesday's game at the Stamford Bridge was just as exciting although vastly different teams had been sent out.
Ryan Giggs scored the first goal for United before David Luiz scored the equalizer for Chelsea. United's young defenders - Scott Wootton and Michael Keane's -- inexperience was pretty apparent in the match.
Javier Hernandez scored the second for United giving them a 2-1 lead before the scores were levelled again by Gary Cahill in the 52nd minute.
United led for a third time when Nani scored, however, substitute Eden Hazard, netted from the penalty spot in the final moments for Chelsea to force the match into extra time.
In the 98th minute, Daniel Sturridge scored to give Chelsea the lead for the first time. Soon Ramires netted the fifth for the Blues in the 116th minute making it 5-3.
Giggs scored the fourth goal for United courtesy a penalty but fell just short of making a comeback, as the match ended 5-4 in favor of the home side.
Alex Ferguson, the United manager, was extremely disappointed with the loss. "All we needed to do was see the game out and keep possession," he told Sky Sports. "I think the young players started to feel it.
"We had control of the game. If you are leading 3-2 in the final seconds of the game you really should see it out. It's disappointing, we had to gamble in terms of the young centre backs.
"Its not easy, you can always go with playing young forwards in games of this magnitude but playing young central defenders away from home, it's going to be a difficult night for them and so it proved."
Chelsea boss Roberto Di Matteo seemed overjoyed with his team's victory. "We showed on Sunday that we've got big characters in the dressing room and we had to show it again tonight.
"They showed big big passion and pride to show they didn't want to lose this game. It was a very exciting game of football to watch, a typical Cup game, quite open at times, a lot of mistakes from both teams because there were a lot of young players involved."
© Copyright 2024 Sports World News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.