Lampard’s late goal sinks United
Lampard’s winner came after referee Martin Atkinson ruled that United defender Chris Smalling had brought down Yuri Zhirkov with 10 minutes to go. United suffered their second league defeat this season despite taking the lead through Wayne Rooney’s first-half strike.
David Luiz equalised with his first goal for Chelsea soon after half-time and Lampard sealed the points before United’s Nemanja Vidic was sent off in stoppage time. Chelsea’s win has done a massive favour to second-place Arsenal. The Gunners can close to within one point of United if they win their game in hand.
Ferguson blasts referee
Later, United manager Alex Ferguson launched an attack on Atkinson saying that his ruling on Smalling’s challenge on Zhirkov was not worthy of a spot-kick. The referee also angered him by failing to send off Luiz for a series of fouls and then dismissing Vidic.
“You want a fair ref,” he said. “I don’t know how he got this game. I must say, when I saw who it was, I did fear that.”
Published in The Express Tribune, March 3rd, 2011.
COMMENTS
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ