Chelsea came from behind three times to overhaul Manchester United 5-4 after extra time and book a spot in the League Cup quarter-finals on Wednesday, earning sweet revenge for Sunday’s controversial 3-2 league defeat.
Holders Liverpool, fielding a weakened side for the secondary cup competition, were knocked out by boss Brendan Rodgers’ former side Swansea City 3-1 while Norwich City came from behind to beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-1.
Chelsea’s reward for prevailing in yet another high-scoring game is a trip to old foes Leeds United of the second tier in December while fourth division Bradford City will host Arsenal, 7-5 winners over Reading on Tuesday.
Swansea have the luxury of a home clash against second tier Middlesbrough in the last eight following Wednesday’s draw and Norwich will host Aston Villa and their former boss Paul Lambert.
But it took Eden Hazard’s penalty in the final seconds of normal time at Stamford Bridge to save the Blues from falling to a second successive 3-2 defeat at the hands of Alex Ferguson’s side.
There were fewer contentious decisions than in the previous meeting, but referee Lee Mason was still the focus of attention, awarding three penalties and correctly judging that Gary Cahill’s 52nd-minute header crossed the line.
United led three times in the tie – through Ryan Giggs, Nani, and Javier Hernandez – and were pegged back by a David Luiz penalty and Cahill’s header, before Hazard produced a third equaliser.
Chelsea then took control in extra time, with Sturridge and Ramires each rounding Anders Lindegaard to give Chelsea a two-goal advantage and Giggs’ 120th-minute spot-kick coming too late to kick-start a United revival.
Any meeting between these two teams carries with it an extra edge and the tension was intensified in the wake of United’s league win.
Then, Chelsea were left enraged at the decision of Mark Clattenburg to send off two home players – Branislav Ivanovic and Fernando Torres – before Hernandez scored United’s winning goal from an offside position.
And the fall-out from that game was felt hours before kick-off when Chelsea confirmed that they have lodged a formal complaint with the Football Association over the language directed at John Mikel Obi by Clattenburg.
Chelsea made six changes and United 10, yet while the personnel had changed significantly from the previous meeting, the intensity of the game was unchanged.
United made the breakthrough in the 22nd minute as they capitalised on the first of Chelsea’s costly defensive mistakes.
Petr Cech rolled a goal-kick out to Oriol Romeu on the edge of his area, where the Spaniard was quickly pressured by Anderson and Giggs, and when the ball broke, Giggs stroked home for his first goal since February.
Chelsea responded quickly and were level nine minutes later when Luiz converted from the spot after Victor Moses had been tripped by Alexander Buttner, leaving Mason with no option but to award the penalty.
Both sides were creating chances although it was the Chelsea defence that looked the more vulnerable against the pace and movement of Hernandez, Danny Welbeck and Anderson.
And they were guilty of once again creating problems for themselves when Luiz attempted to run the ball out from the back and gifted United the chance to restore their lead in the 43rd minute.
Luiz was robbed by Rafael on the halfway line before Anderson picked out Hernandez’s run through the gap at the heart of the home defence and the Mexico striker finished clinically with his left foot.
United may have had the advantage at the interval but Chelsea’s response after the break ensured they could never consider themselves comfortable.
The home side forced themselves level when Cahill headed home from Mata’s corner.
It took the decision of the assistant referee to confirm the ball had crossed the line before Rafael headed the ball out, but replays confirmed the match officials made the correct decision.
Yet having got themselves back into the game, Chelsea were again opened up when Nani exchanged passes with Anderson before clipping the ball over Cech to make it 3-2 in the 59th minute.
Chelsea responded impressively but their chance appeared to have gone until Scott Wootton barged into Ramires as the Brazilian was about to shoot, handing Hazard the chance to level and setting up a dramatic denouement.
“All we needed to do was see the game out and keep possession. I think the young players started to feel it,” Ferguson told Sky Sports.
“We had control of the game. If you are leading 3-2 in the final seconds of the game you really should see it out.”
Di Matteo was overjoyed after a difficult few days for the European champions.
“We showed on Sunday that we’ve got big characters in the dressing room and we had to show it again tonight. They showed a big big passion and pride to show they didn’t want to lose this game,” the Italian told a news conference.
“It was a very exciting game of football to watch, a typical cup game, quite open at times, a lot of mistakes from both teams because there were a lot of young players involved.”
Liverpool boss Rodgers, who left Swansea in the close season, saw the Welsh side prevail at Anfield to humiliate his stuttering side.
Chico grabbed the opener for Swansea in the 34th minute as Liverpool also played a much-changed side with forgotten man Joe Cole getting a rare look-in but failing to impress.
The weakened hosts went 2-0 down midway through the second half through Nathan Dyer before substitute Luis Suarez pulled one back and Jonathan de Guzman sealed Swansea’s first ever League Cup quarter-final spot late on.
Norwich will also be in the last eight after coming from behind to beat a dominant Tottenham at home with Simeon Jackson grabbing the 87th minute winner.
In-form Gareth Bale had put Spurs ahead on 66 minutes but Jan Vertonghen’s own goal six minutes from time levelled the scores while there was time for Clint Dempsey to have a penalty saved for the visitors after Jackson’s strike.
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