By MARK IRWIN
NINE goals, 10 yellow cards, three penalties and one crazy, crazy night at the Bridge.
Victory in the fourth round of the Capital One Cup might not mean too much when you are the champions of Europe.
But Chelsea fans will celebrate it like May all over again when it comes at the expense of the team who had mugged them just three days earlier.
With the three minutes of added time expired, United were 3-2 ahead once more and convinced they had won again at the home of their fiercest rivals.
But before ref Lee Mason could blow for full-time, Ramires was barged over in the penalty area by rookie defender Scott Wootton and suddenly all bets were off again.
Eden Hazard calmly rolled his spot-kick past Anders Lindegaerd and United’s young defence never recovered from that sickening setback.
Seven minutes into extra-time time poor Wootton blundered again when he inexplicably headed Juan Mata’s crossfield pass straight into the path of Daniel Sturridge.
The England striker, starting his first game of the season in the absence of the suspended Fernando Torres, was not going to refuse such a gift as he went round the stranded Lindegaard to fire his team ahead for the first time all night.
United’s kids, who had already surrendered the lead three times, were simply unable to respond in the same manner and fell further behind when Ramires was played in by fellow sub Hazard in the 115th minute.
And though Ryan Giggs reduced the arrears from the spot in the dying seconds following Cesar Azpilicueta’s foul on Javier Hernandez, Chelsea were not going to be denied their moment of revenge.
No matter how low this competition might figure in the priorities of both these sides, there is never a low-key encounter when these bitter rivals are in direct opposition.
For Chelsea this was the opportunity to make a point after the events of three days previously, when they had been reduced to nine men before losing to an offside goal.
For United, it was the chance to twist the knife on the team who have emerged as their most consistent challengers in recent years.
In the end it was the team with the slightly less dodgy defence which triumphed to take their place in the last eight, where they will travel to Leeds.
Yet even if this match had a twist in the tale, it had an all-too-familiar start as Chelsea were once again undone by their weaknesses at the back.
Alex Buttner had just shot wide from a hopeful free-kick when Petr Cech took a short goal-kick to Oriol Romeu on the edge of the penalty area.
But the young Spanish midfielder turned straight into the lurking Anderson and could only watch in horror as he surrendered possession to Giggs.
Unmarked and unchallenged, Giggs calmly stroked his shot beyond Cech’s reach for the 165th goal of his extraordinary United career.
Chelsea’s frustration increased when Rafael went unpunished for a check on Lucas Piazon before Mikel collected another yellow card for tripping Danny Welbeck.
But with angry Chelsea fans chanting ‘You’re worse than Clattenburg’ at ref Mason, they finally got a decision to their liking when Moses was tripped by Buttner in the box and David Luiz converted the penalty.
Unfortunately for Chelsea, that goal seemed to convince Luiz that he was a striker rather than a centre-half and charging recklessly forward, he lost possession to Rafael and left a gaping hole behind him for Anderson to thread a pass through to Javier Hernandez.
The Mexican hotshot was far too quick for the labouring Gary Cahill as he raced clear to shoot past the stranded Cech.
Roman Abramovich, sitting next to Andrey Shevchenko in his executive box, slumped deep into his seat as his team suffered yet another self-inflicted wound from the £22million Brazilian.
But the owner’s annoyance was quickly forgotten as Cahill headed Chelsea level yet again in the 52nd minute from another Mata corner.
Yet just as Chelsea dared to believe the tide had turned, they were undone yet again by a moment of pure magic from Nani.
Taking the ball from Hernandez, the Portuguese winger exchanged passes with Anderson before lifting an exquisite angled chip over Cech to restore United’s lead.
But once Chelsea threw on superstar subs Hazard, Oscar and Ramires it was always just a matter of time before the visitors crumbled.
