The Korea Herald

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Chelsea ousts United from cup

Swansea rolls to 3-1 win at Anfield; Blues file complaint with FA about abusive referee

By Korea Herald

Published : Nov. 1, 2012 - 19:39

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LONDON (AP) ― Chelsea came from behind three times against Manchester United on Wednesday before a nine-goal thriller was settled by Ramires’ extra-time shot clinching a 5-4 victory and a spot in the League Cup quarterfinals.

Three days after losing an acrimonious Premier League encounter to United, Chelsea was heading out of the tournament until Eden Hazard scored from the penalty spot in 90th minute to make it 3-3.

In extra time at Stamford Bridge, Daniel Sturridge and Ramires gave Chelsea an apparently comfortable lead ― until Ryan Giggs scored his second of the night for United, and the game’s third penalty, in the 120th minute.

“It’s just about putting a smile on the fans’ faces again because I feel that they were disappointed after the weekend,” Sturridge said.

Chelsea will now travel to Leeds in the quarterfinals.

Also Wednesday, Liverpool’s title defense ended when manager Brendan Rodgers’ former club Swansea won 3-1 at Anfield to set up a last-eight match against Middlesbrough.

Norwich beat Tottenham 2-1 and will play Premier League rival Aston Villa. In the other quarterfinal match drawn Wednesday, Arsenal will travel to Bradford.

Chelsea was hosting United only three days after losing 3-2 in an acrimonious Premier League encounter that led to another racism investigation in English football being opened.

United fans unfurled a banner at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday backing referee Mark Clattenburg, who has been accused by Chelsea of directing “inappropriate language” at midfielder John Obi Mikel on Sunday that has led to police opening a racism investigation.

Despite the intense focus on him, Mikel started against Chelsea but was withdrawn at halftime after being booked for a foul on United striker Danny Welbeck.

The first half hadn’t gone Chelsea’s way, with sloppy defending helping United hit the front.

Oriol Romeu was robbed of possession by Anderson after a short clearance from goalkeeper Petr Cech. Anderson quickly released the ball to Giggs, who swept home from outside the penalty area in the 22nd minute.

Spain

Two goals by Karim Benzema and one each from Kaka and Jose Rodriguez gave Real Madrid a 4-1 away win over third-tier club Alcoyano in the first round of the Copa del Rey on Wednesday.

Benzema headed in after Alcoyano defenders Javier Selvas and Arkaitz Perez failed to clear Alvaro Morata’s cross in the 21st minute.

Alcoyano made a fast-passing start and had pounced on three of Madrid goalkeeper Antonio Adan’s short clearances, causing Madrid to have to chase the ball hard in midfield.

“They played as I had expected ― with joy, with intensity, with motivation and with self-belief because up until we started to score against them they even looked better than us,” Madrid coach Jose Mourinho said.

Kaka controlled Benzema’s assist outside the penalty area, took a step forward and hit a left-footed shot low into goal in the 35th.

Germany

Claudio Pizarro scored twice and set up two more goals Wednesday for Bayern Munich to beat second-division club Kaiserslautern 4-0 and progress to third round of the German Cup.

Bayern made nine changes to the team that started in Sunday’s 2-1 league loss to Bayer Leverkusen, with Arjen Robben captaining the side in his first full game since recovering from a month out with muscular problems.

“It wasn’t an easy stroll, I have to pay the team a huge compliment,” said Robben, who also scored twice. “They hadn’t had much match practice. I’m very proud of the guys.”

The 34-year-old Pizarro opened the scoring in the 12th minute, striking first time after Robben played the ball into his path.

Pizarro returned the favor for Robben to make it 2-0 in the 49th, and the Peru striker scored his second when he rose to meet Xherdan Shaqiri’s free kick nine minutes later.

Italy

Defending champion Juventus scored a stoppage-time winner to beat Bologna 2-1 on Wednesday and extend its unbeaten Serie A run to 49 games.

Paul Pogba headed in the winner to cap an excellent game from the young midfielder, who showed exactly why Manchester United was so desperate to keep him before his move to Italy in the offseason.

Fabio Quagliarella put Juventus in front in the 54th minute, but Bologna midfielder Saphir Taider leveled in the 71st.