Man United seals Champions League place by beating Chelsea, like everyone does these days

Man United seals Champions League place by beating Chelsea, like everyone does these days

After a year away, Manchester United is back in the Champions League, having taken their final step at poor Chelsea’s expense.

Man United stomped the Blues 4-1 on Friday, handing them their ninth loss in 13 games under caretaker coach Frank Lampard.

Erik ten Hag’s first season in England has not seen linear progress, with Liverpool humiliating them in March and Sevilla serving up a rude reminder about the standard required in Europe in April.

However, the Red Devils ended a six-year trophy drought by winning the Carabao Cup, have the FA Cup final still to play, and are now assured of a return to global soccer’s biggest club event. It hasn’t been perfect, but after descending into “banter club” territory in recent years — last year was in fact their worst-ever Premier League season — it’s major progress.

Speaking of banter clubs, Man United pounced on another woeful Chelsea showing from virtually the opening whistle. Casemiro made their strong start count, heading home a set piece just six minutes in.

Chelsea offered a bit of pushback, but Man United signed off in the first half with Casemiro and Anthony Martial tearing the Blues apart to set Jadon Sancho up for a tap-in.

Bruno Fernandes would pile on with a second-half penalty kick, and Marcus Rashford would add an exclamation point with his 30th goal in all competitions after a defensive error that was embarrassing even by Chelsea’s 2022-23 standards.

Chelsea would get a very late goal from João Félix, but it hardly slowed the celebrations down at Old Trafford.

“This club belongs in the Champions League,” ten Hag told Sky Sports after the match. “It’s not easy [to win] Premier League, so a lot compete for that. It’s massive when you get it done.”

“We’re still not where we want to be but we’re back in the Champions League, and I think that was a really important step,” added the Dutch coach, who had continental success with Ajax that included a run to the semifinals in the 2018-19 Champions League.

Like ten Hag, Fernandes was both pleased to be back in UEFA’s biggest showcase, and not satisfied with where Man United is overall.

The Portugal midfielder called being back in the Champions League merely “decent,” adding that “it’s not perfect because we want more. For what we did this season, it’s perfect… Now it’s about finishing the league well and going to [the] FA Cup.”

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