If Dwight Yorke continues paying off chunks of his £12.5 million transfer fee
at this rate, Manchester United will not only be in profit by the end of the
season, they may also have won the treble.
The lethal Caribbean striker repeated his goalscoring feat against Inter Milan
to strike twice against Chelsea in their FA Cup quarter-final replay at Stamford
Bridge, the second being an exquisite lob from 25 yards out.
The facts spoke for themselves - it was Yorke's 26th goal of the season and
United's 100th in all competitions as they set up a Villa Park semi-final
against Double holders Arsenal and inflicted Chelsea's first home defeat of the
season.
The Blues may have dominated large portions of the game but they were undone
not only by slack early defending for Yorke's first after just three minutes, a
lack of width and poor finishing but by the unparalleled Peter Schmeichel.
United's back four, with Jaap Stam back at the heart alongside Henning Berg,
were immense and for a side often criticised for not matching their attacking
flair with defensive resilience this marked their seventh clean sheet in 10
games.
Yet again though the headlines were stolen by Yorke.
Both times he was set up by his partner in crime Andy Cole and both times he
finished with aplomb to fully justify Alex Ferguson's single-minded
determination to sign him last summer.
The class of United's victory at least managed to overshadow an unseemly
moment when missiles were thrown at the United players as they marked their
opening goal with a 'baby' celebration - a la Bebeto - in honour of newborn
Brooklyn Beckham.
There was also the worrying sight of Beckham senior having responded to foul
abuse from the Chelsea fans by mouthing his own expletive back at them.
However, if there were any doubts that United are taking the FA Cup seriously,
they were firmly dismissed not only by the ecstatic celebrations to mark Yorke's
second goal but also by Alex Ferguson's line-up.
Back came Yorke and Cole after being rested at Old Trafford in last Sunday's
goalless draw, while Ryan Giggs and Stam also returned in a first-choice team.
Chelsea were boosted by Frank Leboeuf, Celestine Babayaro and Dennis Wise
being back from suspension but had only beaten United in the FA Cup once before
in eight attempts - way back in 1950.
The Blues were also without full-back Albert Ferrer and it was his
replacement, Bernard Lambourde, who gave the free-kick which led to United's
early goal.
Beckham's cross was only headed into the air by Leboeuf and as the entire
Chelsea defence remained rooted to the spot, Cole headed on to Yorke who was
left unmarked to turn and volley past Ed De Goey from close range.
Two minutes later, Leboeuf again misjudged a cross, this time from Denis
Irwin, and only Cole's control let him down.
From then on, Leboeuf and Marcel Desailly were impregnable at the back and
Chelsea dominated possession only to find Schmeichel in fine form.
The Dane saved two shots from Jody Morris and then stormed off his line to
brilliantly block an effort from Gianfranco Zola as the Italian sped onto
Roberto Di Matteo's through ball.
Desailly headed inches wide but Chelsea patently lacked width and were forced
to try to break United down through the congested centre of the pitch, leading
to a string of wayward long-range efforts.
The Blues had to replace Leboeuf with Andy Myers at the break but still they
came forward and Lambourde placed a header narrowly wide.
To add insult to injury, Wise met Babayaro's deep cross at the far post to
sidefoot goalwards only to be denied by team-mate Tore Andre Flo, whose
prostrate body deflected the ball out for a goal-kick.
But however penned back United had seemed, they took their second real chance
of the game when Cole won a 50-50 tackle with Desailly and the ball fell to
Yorke.
A full 25 yards out from goal, the striker spotted De Goey advancing off his
line and produced an exquisite lob to leave the tall Dutchman grasping at thin
air as he furiously back-pedalled.
Referee Paul Durkin, who this time escaped controversy after sending off
Roberto Di Matteo and Paul Scholes at the weekend and failing to dismiss Robbie
Fowler or Graeme Le Saux on his last visit to the ground, pointed to the
centre-circle as United celebrated.
Chelsea did attempt to come back from the dead but Schmeichel did enough to
put off Morris, Di Matteo drove narrowly wide and then substitute Mikael
Forssell froze at the vital moment to fluff his chance from close range.
Teenager Forssell was joined on the pitch by Bjarne Goldbaek but United
responded by introducing Phil Neville for Cole to man-mark Zola and Chelsea were
unable to mount a recovery.
Schmeichel did manage to thwart them yet again to save Graeme Le Saux's late
effort but it was Beckham who came closest to claiming a late goal with a
curling free-kick which De Goey acrobatically pushed over.
The scoreline may not have been quite as convincing as last season's 5-3
humiliation of Chelsea in the FA Cup third round but the performance was.
The rest of Europe as well as the Premiership have been duly warned. What
price Yorke for player of the season?
Teams
Chelsea: De Goey, Lambourde, Desailly, Leboeuf (Myers 46),
Le Saux, Wise, Morris (Goldbaek 71), Di Matteo, Babayaro,
Flo (Forssell 71), Zola.
Subs Not Used: Hitchcock, Newton.
Booked: Desailly.
Man Utd: Schmeichel, G. Neville, Stam, Berg, Irwin, Beckham,
Keane, Scholes, Giggs (Blomqvist 75), Cole (P. Neville 71), Yorke (Solskjaer 84).
Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Brown.
Booked: Yorke.
Goals: Yorke 4, 59.
Att: 33,075
Ref: P Durkin (Portland).
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