Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho tried to keep his cool as his side succumbed to a last-gasp equaliser at Old Trafford – though he still struggled to hide his disapproval with officials.
“If I say what is in my heart, I will get in trouble. The red card, I was seeing it coming.” – Jose Mourinho
The league leaders looked on course for all three points after Didier Drogba, in his first league start in two and a half years, headed them into a second-half lead.
But Robin Van Persie equalised with seconds remaining after Branislav Ivanovic was given his marching orders – and Mourinho conceded there were a number of strange decisions from referee Phil Dowd.
He dished out seven yellow cards to the visitors – meaning the Blues now face a likely £25,000 fine from the Premier League.
“If I say what is in my heart, I will get in trouble. The red card, I was seeing it coming,” said Mourinho.
“If I have to speak about the second yellow [for Ivanovic] I have to speak about lots of things – the penalty that Ivanovic should have been given, the accumulation of yellow cards, the throw-ins.”
Mourinho, whose side still extended their unbeaten league run to nine games, insisted he preferred to focus on the performance and called the result an evolution based on last year’s goalless draw.
“I’m very happy. My team played a fantastic game. It’s not easy to play here against a Man Utd who were compact in defence,” he added.
“The second half was much better. From the start of the first half we showed we wanted to win. In the second half we didn’t give them chances they wanted.
“To come here to Old Trafford the way we did – it was fantastic to my boys.”
In an enthralling first-half, both keepers were called into action with Thibaut Courtois saving superbly from Van Persia, before United stopper David De Gea denied Drogba.
There was one contentious moment when Ivanovic was hauled to the ground by Chris Smalling in the penalty area but the referee awarded nothing.
The Blues asserted their dominance in the second half and Eden Hazard was denied by another fine De Gea save as he ran clear through on goal.
But Chelsea did take the lead from the resulting corner as Drogba escaped Rafael to flick on a header at the near post.
And just as the West Londoners appeared to have secured victory, Ivanovic was dismissed for a second yellow card, before Van Persie scrambled home to earn the hosts a point.
“Old Trafford is one of the most dangerous fixtures we have. The result is not the result we want, but the way we performed means we don’t need to look to others,” said Mourinho, whose side are four points clear of second placed Southampton and six points ahead of Manchester City.
