Euro pain endures for Roman empire
It was a game that would define his stay in England and yet he looked like all he could think about was whether anyone would notice him having just one more cigarette.
Anyone can behave in a certain way but sooner or later they will come unstuck, sooner or later without delivering.
Ferguson was not just putting on a show of being relaxed, he was able to breathe easily, with total confidence in his players, his team, his methods. The same could not be said of Ancelotti, no matter what the Italian had said on the eve of the game, how relaxed he claimed to be.
Sitting 30 yards behind him was Roman Abramovich and as the night wore on, the Russian must have found himself questioning what the hell he was doing here and where all his money has gone.
Nearby was David May, a player he has probably never heard of and would certainly never have been interested in signing but the centre-back from Lancashire has something Abramovich has not.
Almost eight years since he started pumping hundreds of millions of roubles into Stamford Bridge with the initial influx of Hernan Crespo, Adrian Mutu, Damien Duff and Juan Sebastian Veron, there is still no Champions League trophy on the shelf.
Arguably they are no closer than when he started. Abramovich must be wondering where it went wrong. All of those green-light phone-calls and money transfers, the excitement at the big signings, has still amounted to nothing as far as he is concerned, with last season’s Double a distant memory. It seems the more Chelsea want it, the more they are paralysed by the fear of not getting it. The chase of that ultimate, what Ferguson described as ‘the best feeling in the world’ before the match, has only brought them pain upon pain, year after year.
Misery in the rain in Moscow, to bashings on Merseyside to a sense of raging injustice against Barcelona and Inter Milan and here was yet another chapter.
Just a glance at the team-sheet spoke volumes.
Would John O’Shea, Rio Ferdinand, Michael Carrick, Ji-Sung Park, Ryan Giggs or Javier Hernandez prick the interest at Stamford Bridge if it became clear they were available for transfer?
Absolutely not, but here they were, doing their job, keeping their shape, running themselves into the ground for the cause.
Chelsea may have cost hundreds of millions to assemble but they seem to lack something United and Ferguson can take for granted. Even when they had it under Jose Mourinho, they still could not take that extra step.
The Londoners are a team built to play one way, they lack the pace of old and, although they did come from behind to beat United in the Premier League at home, they are not a side that looks dangerous chasing a game.
When Hernandez, a £7m signing last summer, touched in from close range from a Giggs cross with 42 minutes gone, it looked like it would be game over.
And as Abramovich appeared for the second half, what must he made of the news that Fernando Torres, the player he stumped up £50m for three months ago, had been withdrawn for Didier Drogba, a player he must expect to be on his way in the summer?
He allowed his chin to rest on his hand as Ramires trudged off following his red card for a second foul on Nani. All that money.
There was still more cruelty to come as Drogba’s goal gave them hope, only for Park to restore the two-goal lead a minute later.
The United fans have made a habit of singing ‘One more year’ in an attempt to get Edwin van der Sar to rethink his plan to retire but the tune was ringing in Chelsea ears once again. Another summer will pass, Frank Lampard is approaching 33, John Terry over 30, when September comes around again, will they really believe it can be their year?
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