Five star chelsea when the blues crushed the red devils

Victory at Stamford Bridge RAY HARPER recalls a famous it – and the players who achieved

CHELSEA’S 1-0 win against Manchester United in mid-April may have virtually won them the league but 16 years ago Stamford Bridge saw a very special win over the great Treble-winning United side.

Seven of United’s team had started the Champions League final that year against Bayern Munich, but Chelsea absolutely destroyed the Reds 5-0 in October 1999.

The win for Gianluca Vialli’s men sent shockwaves through football, because it turned United over for the first time in 29 Premiership games.

Notably too, the game saw Chelsea’s fringe players come to the fore – Chris Sutton, Jody Morris et al. To complete the crazy story, United had the Italian Massimo Taibi in goal, the court jester in a shocking defensive show.

Within 27 seconds of kick-off, Gus Poyet planted a header over the onrushing Taibi, who looked all at sea in the United goal.

There was barely time to register this before Sutton had netted his first and only Chelsea league goal. It could barely have got worse for United when Nicky Butt – playing in the absence of Roy Keane – was sent off on 23 minutes after an ugly clash with Dennis Wise.

Chelsea completed the romp in the second half, with Poyet grabbing his brace on 55 minutes, Henning Berg turning a low shot into his own net and Jody Morris smashing in from close range.

As debate rages as to whether the current Chelsea outfit are one of their best, it’s worth a look at a pretty decent side.

This was a team packed full of players who had won the World Cup, Champions League, Premier League and even the Olympics.

The result arguably signalled the start of Chelsea being considered a real force – 1999- 2000 saw them win their last trophy (the FA Cup) before Jose Mourinho arrived at the Bridge, and their first run in the Champions League – playing out a classic against Barcelona in the quarter-finals.

For United, the result was something of a kick up the backside. They eventually won the title, the second of three in a row.