LONDON, 18 April 2006 — Two goals from Wayne Rooney gave Manchester United a 2-1 win at Tottenham Hotspur and denied Chelsea the chance to be crowned Premier League champions again on Monday.
Chelsea, who were hosting Everton later in the day, could at best restore a nine-point lead over United at Stamford Bridge with a further three games to play.
Rooney slid home United’s opener after an eighth minute breakaway and steered home their second from close range in the 36th after a blunder by Spurs’ South Korean defender Lee Young-pyo.
Midfielder Jermaine Jenas scrambled the ball home for Spurs in a 53rd minute melee but their second-half pressure failed to pay off and Dutch striker Ruud van Nistelrooy hit the post for United in the closing stages at White Hart Lane.
Chelsea, still firmly on course for a second consecutive title under Jose Mourinho, have 85 points from 34 games, with United lying second on 79 points from 35 matches. Liverpool are third on 73 points.
With an FA Cup semifinal looming against Liverpool on Saturday, Chelsea’s next chance of winning the league will be a much-awaited showdown against United at Stamford Bridge on April 29.
Defeat for Spurs has put a dent in their hopes of holding on to fourth place and reaching the Champions League qualifiers ahead of north London rivals Arsenal, who are fifth.
Arsenal, who have a game in hand and trail Spurs with 57 points to 61, will host Tottenham at Highbury on Saturday in what should be a thrilling derby.
Spurs manager Martin Jol told Sky Sports: “It’s a big disappointment, because we scored an early goal in the second half so maybe a draw would have been deserved. But we couldn’t do that, so it’s a big blow to us.
“We have to go to Arsenal now and get a result.”
Glamour Tie Kicks Off Champions League Semifinals
A glamour tie between AC Milan and Barcelona contrasts vividly with the surprise meeting of Arsenal and Villarreal in this week’s Champions League semifinals.
Six-times winners Milan, at home in today’s first leg, defend a proud record of having won all their previous semifinals except for the first in the inaugural 1955-56 season.
The Italians will be looking to reach their 11th final and third in four years.
Favorites Barcelona, winners in 1992, want to improve a relatively poor record for one of the world’s greatest clubs of only one European Cup victory from four finals, the last being a 4-0 drubbing by Milan in Athens in 1994.
Barcelona’s Ronaldinho comes up against his predecessor as European Footballer of the Year, Andriy Shevchenko, at the San Siro on Tuesday.
The Spaniards will miss the suspended Deco and injured Lionel Messi in the creative department.
“We are more beginners than them in the matter of semifinals, they are more experienced,” said Barcelona keeper Victor Valdes. “We must be careful because the Italians start slowly and then end up scoring against you.
Milan are aiming to make amends for last season’s final defeat by Liverpool in Istanbul by reaching this year’s showpiece at the Stade de France on May 17.
Arsenal will not feel they are upstarts if they follow Liverpool into the final, although Arsene Wenger’s young side have already surpassed expectations by taking the Londoners further than they have been before.
Villarreal have also broken new ground with every round they have played in their debut Champions League season and are unbeaten in nine meetings with British sides.
The tie pits Frenchman Wenger’s pan-European connection against a South American-inspired Spanish club from a small coastal town which lies between Barcelona and Valencia.
At Highbury on Wednesday, there is an appetizing confrontation in prospect to match that between Ronaldinho and Shevchenko.
Villarreal’s influential playmaker Juan Roman Riquelme will try to prise open an Arsenal defense that has not conceded a goal in eight Champions League games dating back to September.
“I see a complicated tie, like the previous one against Inter Milan,” the Argentine said referring to Villarreal’s quarterfinal win on away goals.
“Arsenal are a team with great players and (striker Thierry) Henry is the one who makes the difference,” Riquelme told his club’s website.
Riquelme’s midfield tussle with Arsenal’s Cesc Fabregas is in doubt with the Spanish teenager nursing a foot injury.
His absence would deal a severe blow to Arsenal’s chances after he showed a maturity beyond his years in the victories over Real Madrid and Juventus in the previous rounds. Fabregas’s compatriot Jose Antonio Reyes is banned and Villarreal’s Uruguayan goalkeeper Sebastian Viera is also serving a susp
