It was the day when, to borrow the famous old quote, Sir Alex Ferguson could reflect on knocking Liverpool off their perch. Manchester United's 2-1 victory over Chelsea leaves them on the brink of overtaking their Merseyside rivals with a record 19th league title and, after almost 25 years in charge, Ferguson could finally proclaim them as "the most successful team in the country in terms of championship victories".
They now need only one point from their last two games against Blackburn Rovers and Blackpool to confirm the 12th title of Ferguson's reign. "It's a fantastic feeling," the most successful manager in the business said. "If you had said to me at the start of the season that we would need one point from the last two games to be the champions, I would have snapped your hand off.
"We will give them [Blackburn and Blackpool] respect and we won't under-estimate them because it would be a dangerous thing to do and we've come too far for that. But one point ... I think we'll get that, and it's a fantastic achievement [overtaking Liverpool].
"I would never have believed it could happen, to be honest. But as soon as we got that first one in 1992-93, the door opened to us. Once we got that first title, we have just improved and improved. The club have taken off."
Javier Hernández opened the scoring inside the first minute and, from that moment, United overwhelmed a disappointing Chelsea side. Ryan Giggs crossed for Nemanja Vidic to head in the second goal after 23 minutes and, though Frank Lampard made it 2-1 from close range midway through the second half, the score barely reflected United's dominance.
"I thought we were brilliant," Ferguson continued. "Wayne Rooney could have scored six on his own. I don't know how many chances we had to score. We got a little bit nervous [after Lampard's goal] because we kept missing all those chances and it gave them a lifeline. We should have been out of sight but that's the way of Manchester United. We take it to the wire, leave those poor souls in the stands having heart attacks, sitting on the edge of their seats, biting their nails – and I was one of them."
The defeat leaves Chelsea staring at the near certainty of finishing the season without a trophy and their manager, Carlo Ancelotti, facing an increasingly uncertain future. "It was difficult because we started so badly," Ancelotti said. "It was very difficult to come back after that first half. The second half was much better but United played better than us and deserved to win. We have to accept this.
"The disappointment is when another team plays better than you. That happened, we have to accept it and we have to accept they were better than us over the season and they have deserved to win the league."
Asked whether he would remain as manager, the Italian replied: "I don't know. I hope so but it is not my decision."
Ferguson, in stark contrast, reiterated that he would still be in charge at Old Trafford next season, regardless of what happens in the Champions League final against Barcelona on 28 May. He also said that he felt "vindicated" to have rested so many players for the second leg of the semi-final against Schalke last Wednesday.
"That won us the title," he said, temporarily putting aside any note of caution about the next two games. "Taking the brave decision to play a different team gave the players the energy to put in a real performance [against Chelsea]. We saw the benefits today. The energy and work-rate were excellent."
Ferguson reserved special acclaim for Hernandez, the first player since Ruud van Nistelrooy to score 20 times for the club in his debut season. "When he came to us, at first we thought 'give him a year' but he has taken all the chances. He's been exceptional."
There was, however, one sour note for United, coming in the form of photographs appearing to show Rooney direct a V-sign at the Chelsea supporters during the first half.
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