Paul Haywardon how the double treble glows with life again due to United's remarkable talent for reinvention

FOR MANCHESTER United to be hunting another treble 11 months after the League Cup had been the only trophy to make its way to Old Trafford was another lesson in self-renewal. The unprecedented trio of League, Champions League and FA Cup triumphs 12 years ago was so freakish few expected to ever have a sniff of it again.

The miraculous one-off was encased in the club museum. Competition would be too intense and the calendar would grow too demanding for any side to succeed a second time on three fronts. When Roman Abramovich swept into Chelsea and Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi plucked Manchester City off the fruit tree United’s 1999 rampage began to look even more unrepeatable. Against Chelsea in this second leg, after Ryan Giggs had supplied Javier Hernandez to double United’s aggregate lead just before half-time, the double treble glowed with life again.

A 37-year-old legend sets up a 24-year-old revelation. Giggs made his intervention after Hernandez, Wayne Rooney and Nani had offered Chelsea’s two strikers a masterclass in ambition. It was a lecture too far for Fernando Torres, withdrawn at half-time in favour of Didier Drogba. Chelsea’s ponderous, mechanical forwards were in urgent need of some of the electricity that buzzed through United’s efforts. Nicolas Anelka, too, was punished for his impotence, giving way on 59 minutes, to be replaced by the low-scoring Salomon Kalou.

Seven points clear of Arsenal in the league, United face in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final a City team who lost 3-0 at Liverpool on Monday night and will be without Carlos Tevez at Wembley. Clearly this was no time to be jumping to conclusions about City’s prospects in that cup derby or even the threat still posed by Arsenal in the league.

But for United to be in this position was a remarkable expression of their talent for reinvention. The 1999 campaign remains the zenith, with 2007-08 one grade lower. In that season United defended their league title before defeating Chelsea in a penalty shoot-out in Moscow. Echoes from the game pervaded both these quarter-final legs.

United have found a new strike combination to build another age around. With Rooney grafting behind Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez, a new play-book has rolled off the presses. The leggy, high-stepping Hernandez stretches the play with his sprints and Rooney links front and middle from the number 10 position.

We are now on volume eight of the tactical study of Rooney’s best position but in the last three weeks it has been tempting to slam the book shut. Behind a centre-forward of Hernandez’s energy, Rooney is reborn. With the fast-maturing Mexican to do most of his running, England’s number one striker can see more of the attacking areas in front of him and make more creative use of space. He can even veer left or right, to work as an auxiliary winger. On 26 minutes he employed this trick to swing in a cross which Hernandez buried, only to be called back for a marginal offside.

The Rooney-Hernandez duo is so vibrant Dimitar Berbatov can be left on the bench without it seeming wasteful. Chicharito’s movement inflicted so much stress on Chelsea’s defenders John Terry decided an elbow was the only way to stop him. The England captain took him out with a jab of the arm in the 42nd minute, so Hernandez responded by turning in an arcing Giggs ball 60 seconds later.

Chelsea had been forced by United’s 1-0 away win at Stamford Bridge (and the €58 million spent on Torres) to load the forward areas but there is disguising the lethargy, the lack of conviction in Carlo Ancelotti’s team. As one good judge remarked, Chelsea would once overcome opponents in relentless blue waves. An hour into this match, they were still groping for accuracy, for rhythm, as Ancelotti’s reign approached the point of no return.

In a normal industry, scoring a League and FA Cup Double 11 months ago would keep you safe in your job, but this is football, this is Abramovich, and all across this pitch there was evidence of Chelsea’s staleness. When a red card was shown for a foul on Nani, it was one of the few fresh Chelsea talents who left the field: Ramires, the kind of bright young star Abramovich’s lieutenants have been too slow to invest in.

This was a night of lunging tackles and desperate blocking by a side who cannot cross the Rubicon of a first European title. When Drogba equalised with 14 minutes left, the response was brutal. United surged downfield and fed Park Ji-Sung, who smashed in their second. They all contribute at this relentless club. Twelve years on, the treble is creeping out of its museum.

Guardian Service