European exit a blessing for Blues

HE MIGHT not have known it at the time but Jose Mourinho might have been handing Carlo Ancelotti the Premier League title when he was stripping away Chelsea’s Champions League place.

Whisper it quietly around Roman Abramovich, who has made Europe his stated aim. But it seems Chelsea are about to profit from their own misfortune.

There can be no other conclusion to draw from Chelsea’s first-half superiority against a ‘leggy’ United outfit that struggled badly without Wayne Rooney.