A fantastic performance from the little French powerhouse, N’Golo Kante saw Chelsea out strength Manchester United by one goal to nil in order to book their place in the semi-final of the FA cup. Despite there only being one goal in the game, the quarter-final at Stamford Bridge had its fair share of drama and excitement. From the moment the players and staff walked out onto the field you could tell that the game was going to be somewhat of a feisty and hard fought encounter. Firstly the Chelsea support created a somewhat hostile atmosphere for Jose Mourinho which although I can understand why you’d want to unsettle your opposition it was borderline disrespectful given what the Portuguese manager achieved for the club.
The match itself followed the atmosphere created by the Chelsea supporters in that it was fairly aggressive and physical from the start. It was clear that Mourinho had identified that if Hazard was shut down and prevented from playing the game he’d like to, then United would have a much better chance at winning this game. In theory this is a great plan but the individual brilliance of Eden Hazard meant that he was able to dance around the physical challenges and in particular those from Spanish central midfielder Ander Herrera. Unfortunately for Herrera, Hazard’s skills and current fantastic run of form made him very difficult to handle which lead to Herrera being sent for an alarmingly early shower. Herrera received two yellow cards within 15 minutes which lead to his dismissal in the 35th minute.
Being a man down so early on in the game could have very easily been a death sentence for Manchester United but you’ve got to give them credit where it’s due, they did stand their ground well with a man down. Chelsea didn’t find their breakthrough until the second half, when in the 51st minute man of the match Kante found the back of the net with a well placed shot from range.
At various points in the game both managers were at each other. More often than not it was Antonio Conte seemingly having very stern words for Jose Mourinho, presumably about his approach to play a very physical game. Following the game Conte revealed that he was in fact fearing for Hazard throughout the game as with so many of Chelsea’s attacks his progress up the field was hampered as he was brought down to the ground. In his post match interview Conte said “A tactic to play and go to kick an opponent? It’s not football for me. I don’t think that I’m crazy and I only see him in this situation.” Conte’s words sound all too familiar after Mourinho regularly complained about physicality towards Hazard during his time as Chelsea boss. But it’s no secret that Mourinho is happy to do whatever it takes to win a match. He’s a character who strives to win every game no matter how and if that means it has to be a dirty game then so be it in his eyes.
United may have been able to shut Hazard down for a lot of the game even if it was through physicality but this only allowed Kante to steal the spotlight. Even ignoring his goal he had a terrific game. With the Manchester United preoccupied with Hazard and Ander Herrera’s dismissal, this created a lot of space in the center of play which Kante was able to use with great efficiency adopting the role of a deep lying playmaker.
Winning the game secured Chelsea a place in the semi-final of the FA cup where they will play against Tottenham Hotspur at Wembley. In the other tie, Arsenal takes on Manchester City.
