LONDON, 21 March 2007 — Champions Chelsea beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1 and league leaders Manchester United overcame Middlesbrough with a Cristiano Ronaldo penalty on Monday to book their places in next month’s semifinals of the FA Cup.
United will meet Watford and Chelsea will take on Blackburn Rovers, with the final scheduled to return to the rebuilt Wembley stadium.
A magical 55th minute goal conjured against the run of play from Andriy Shevchenko and a second scorcher nine minutes later from Shaun Wright-Phillips earned Chelsea their win in Monday’s quarterfinal replay.
The Ukraine striker took a pass from Wright-Phillips on the right, stepped inside Steed Malbranque and sent a left foot shot into the top left of the net from 20 meters.
Seven minutes later Ivory Coast striker Didier Drogba expertly chested a ball, passed from deep by Ashley Cole, to Wright-Phillips on his left and the diminutive winger belted it past Paul Robinson in the Spurs net.
Chelsea looked to be cruising until Ricardo Carvalho brought down Dimitar Berbatov in the Cheslea area in the 77th minute and Robbie Keane sent a penalty past Petr Cech.
After an uneventful first half this set up a grandstand finish with the home side pouring toward the Chelsea goal but, despite six minutes of time added on, Spurs failed to break through.
United had Middlesbrough on the backfoot from the first kick in their replay and might have scored half a dozen but for some fine goalkeeping from Mark Schwarzer.
He plucked the ball from England striker Wayne Rooney’s feet and denied him twice more in the second half with Middlesbrough constantly unbalanced by Ronaldo’s jinking runs. The tie was finally decided by a Ronaldo penalty after the Portuguese winger was brought down by Jonathan Woodgate in the 74th minute. James Morrison was sent off in the last minute after hacking down Ronaldo in frustration.
“We did lose our discipline in the last few minutes and it’s not acceptable,” Middlesbrough coach Gareth Southgate said. “But my players gave everything.” After the London tie an angry fan raced on to the pitch and aimed a punch at Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard who managed to duck out of the way. He was manhandled to the ground and led away by security staff.
“Maybe they (security) were sleeping a little bit,” Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho commented afterward.
Tottenham officials said two people had been arrested for encroaching on the pitch.
Mourinho, who is desperately keen to win the only English trophy to elude him so far, said his players had shown great commitment. “We want very, very much to win this competition,” he said.
Spurs coach Martin Jol said he felt Chelsea had not been the better team and his own side’s pressure had panicked them at times but Tottenham had been unable to find the net.
“Shevchenko scored a great goal and that was the difference today,” he said.
