Manchester United's Champions League hopes all but went up in flames as another David de Gea error allowed Marcos Alonso to pounce and ensure Chelsea left Old Trafford with perhaps their most precious away point of the season.
An up-tempo and vastly improved United started the game brightly and deservedly took the lead in the 11th minute when former Chelsea player Juan Mata bundled the ball home after Luke Shaw beat Kepa Arrizabalaga to the ball to centre for the diminutive Spaniard.
However, if a Spaniard could beat a fellow countryman at one end, it wasn't long before their was a role reversal at the other, as de Gea misjudged a drive from Antoine Rudiger, his parry falling to Marcos Alonso who cooly finished past the stricken goalkeeper via a friendly clip off the post.
The result means that Maurizio Sarri's side can effectively seal Champions League football with a win and a draw from their final two games of the season. The Blues will face Watford at Stamford Bridge next Sunday before travelling to Leicester City on the final day of the season.
However, Chelsea fans joy may well be tempered by a very strange ending to Eden Hazard's post-match interview with Sky Sports.
"I want to play in the Champions League. We will" 😉
Eden Hazard confident of playing Champions League football for Chelsea next season...
More: https://t.co/oN9kFS5xha pic.twitter.com/4W9Q9pR3TS— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 28, 2019
Asked how important it was for him to be playing in the Champions League next season, the Real Madrid courted Belgian scared seven shades of shit out of the Chelsea faithful with a meandering ambiguous answer followed by a very strange wink.
Chelsea first. Chelsea has to play in the Champions League every year.
It's one of the biggest clubs in the world, so.....
And for myself, also. I want to play Champions League as well, but we will...
***WINK***
Having been preyed upon by the Spanish giants for as long as anyone cares to remember, Los Blancos coach Zinedine Zidane dropped a major hint yesterday that Hazard may well be turning out at the Bernabeu next season when he was asked if Real Madrid could fulfil current Paris Saint Germain star Neymar's dream of one day playing with the Chelsea playmaker.
"Yes. A lot of players want to come here and play for Real Madrid, but let's see what happens in the future", said the Frenchman.
Don't go buying any Hazard shirts pre-season, lads.
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