Chelsea showed Manchester United how it’s done in Bangkok by beating the Singha All Stars 1-0 last night at Rajamangala Stadium, thanks to a Romelu Lukaku penalty in the first half.
The carnival atmosphere outside the stadium that preceded the Manchester United game on Saturday was toned down for the Wednesday night match.
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Jose Mourinho’s first game back in charge of his beloved Chelsea after a six-season hiatus was overshadowed prior to kick off with the news that the Portuguese manager had tabled a bid for Manchester United’s Wayne Rooney, which was rejected. Mourinho speaking to Chelseafc.com said:
“Chelsea is interested in this player, made a bid and what we did we did officially. Now we have nothing more to say, we want the player, we made the bid and now it is up to Man United. We don’t want to make public the bid but it is just a certain amount of money and it doesn’t involve players or players in the possibility of negotiation. No Juan Mata, no David Luiz.”
Rooney is rumored to have asked for a transfer in May. He lasted just a few hours of United’s pre-season tour before departing from Bangkok with a minor hamstring injury.
He was also “angry and confused” at comments from new boss David Moyes which suggested he would play second fiddle to Robin van Persie this season.
Chelsea fielded 21 different players against the Singha All Stars giving the club’s youngsters the chance to impress on a hot night in Bangkok. Just as Manchester United did days earlier, Chelsea took to the field with the names on the back of their shirts in Thai.
An ankle injury to Frank Lampard in the pre-game warm up kept him out of the side, but Chelsea started the match with stars John Terry, Ashley Cole, Petr Cech, Michael Essien, Ramires and new signing Andre Schurrle.
Chelsea’s line-up offered a sharp contrast to the absence of star power on the side that Man U fielded in Bangkok, and the game last night was consequently more exciting.
An assured performance will no doubt have pleased Mourinho and the introduction in the second half of Demba Ba, Eden Hazard, Gary Cahill and Branislav Ivanovic gave the tens of thousands of fans at Rajamangala Stadium value for money. The overhaul of players at half time meant that Chelsea’s second half team failed to add to Lukaku’s penalty. Hazard came close with a free kick that goalkeeper Klanklin did well to parry round the post.
Chelsea now head to Kuala Lumpur and then on to Jakarta.
Liverpool and Barcelona will both play the Thailand national squad at Rajamangala Stadium later this year: Liverpool on July 28 and Barcelona on Aug. 7.
