With one, if not both, eyes on the crucial Premiership match with Chelsea on the weekend, Manchester United rested much of their starting line-up for today's second leg against Schalke 04. Confident that they had done enough in winning 2-0 away, the likes of Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand weren't even on the bench as Sir Alex Ferguson backed the depth of his squad to have enough on hand to ensure passage through to the Wembley final on May 28th. And so it proved, as United completed a 4-1 victory for an overall 6-1 rout for their over matched opponents.
By the time Schalke had got on the scoreboard, United had already made it 4-0 on aggregate through first half goals from Valencia and Twitter-averse Darron Gibson. Anderson's second-half pair was merely icing on the cake ahead of two huge matches for United, firstly an almost Premiership decider against Chelsea this weekend, with the Champion's League final against Barcelona to come on the 28th. United passed this hurdle without injury or suspension, and can look forward to what might prove one of their greatest seasons. Of course, it might prove to be one of the ugliest if Chelsea sneak a win and Barcelona repeat their triumph from Rome in 2009. It might not have seemed like a good thing at the time, but United's loss to their neighbours in the FA Cup semi-final may well prove a blessing is disguise, as that distraction may have been a bridge too far.
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