Salute the Champions

Last night saw us visit Old Trafford in the re-arranged fixture, where the Blues inserted the dreams into the theatre. It was a game that didn't matter anymore, but which could have made a significant difference had it been played when it was supposed to. Lucky us!

We arrived to a sunny evening in Manchester, and after the warm-up, the Man Utd players came out of the tunnel first, to form a guard of honour for us to come out to. A hilarious act, in response to our version, a few years ago instigated by Vialli. It was obviously a bitter pill to swallow this time though, and no doubt something Fergie would use to wind up his own players.

It might have worked. Sherpa van Nistelrooy scored early on and the Manure fans made a bit of noise for about 30 seconds, having been silenced by us in the opening minutes. They sang "You're not Chelsea anymore" to us, but one response of "You're not Champions anymore" shut them up - for the rest of the evening. They were silent for the rest of the game, with thousands of them pouring out of the stands with 10 minutes to go, choosing not to stay around for their players' lap of honour at the end of the season.

Tiago scored a rare and wonderful curler from 35 yards just after the quarter hour to level the score, and two goals in the second half from Eidur and Joey Cole sealed the 3-1 victory.

One quick note about the cash, as it has been suggested on more than one occasion that it is only the money that has put us where we are...Last night, we fielded the less expensive team. Just Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo cost more than the entire Chelsea starting line-up combined.

It was a classy win, played by two teams who know how to play football. An excellent spectacle which both teams should be proud of, although, it did draw parallels with the whole season. One team, outclassing the rest.