Champions 3 - 0 Ex-Champions

Vidic, Rooney, Berbatov.

The road ahead would appear to be much as Luiz Felipe Scolari feared it might be. More success, seemingly, for this marvellous Manchester United side and trouble for Chelsea.

'Big damage,' was the phrase Scolari used to describe the implications of the result and even Chelsea's manager must realise that damage could go way beyond this season's title race.

Scolari must wonder if it actually represents the beginning of the end, and not just for him but for a team that would seem to be in serious need of an overhaul.

A team that has run out of ideas having failed to force Edwin van der Sar into making a single save.

Their ineptitude appeared to stun Inter boss Mourinho. Long after the final whistle he remained in his seat in the directors' box, staring incredulously at players he once watched receive a guard of honour here at Old Trafford.

They were nothing like the side he guided to two successive championships. Nothing like as determined or well drilled, leaving those who were seated just in front of him to question how prudent it was to part company with the Special One last season.

Scolari has now taken just one point from four top-four contests - something that never happened when Mourinho was in charge. In fact, it was something that never happened when Avram Grant was in charge, either.

The manner of this defeat would suggest so much ground has been lost to the champions of England, Europe and the world, who not only established a new Barclays Premier League record with an eighth consecutive clean sheet but also looked a class apart.

When the team sheets appeared before kick-off, Sir Alex Ferguson's sanity was being questioned. He had left Paul Scholes and Michael Carrick on the bench, opting instead to unleash Ryan Giggs and Darren Fletcher against Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack and John Mikel Obi.

But it proved a masterstroke, 34-year-old Giggs emerging as the man of the match with Fletcher not far behind him. Giggs remained calm amid the chaos of this fiercely contested match, passing with fluency and dictating the tempo of United's vastly superior football.

When Chelsea dominated briefly in the opening 20 minutes, it was the experience of players like Giggs that allowed United to absorb the initial pressure and slowly regain control.

Even when Cristiano Ronaldo had what United considered a perfectly good goal disallowed in the 45th minute - the assistant referee insisting Wayne Rooney's quick corner was illegal because he failed to first place the ball - Giggs kept his head.

He planted the ball back at the corner flag, delivered another corner and then celebrated for a second time when Dimitar Berbatov flicked the ball on, enabling Nemanja Vidic to score with a diving header at the far post.

Prior to that, only United had threatened, with Chelsea's forwards unable to find a way past the formidable pairing of Vidic and the inexperienced Jonny Evans.

Berbatov had squandered one opportunity with a weakly-struck left-foot shot that Petr Cech gathered easily, before John Terry denied Ji-sung Park with a timely block.

United opened the scoring seconds before the interval and Scolari did at least respond by making a tactical change.

Off came the ineffective Deco and on went Nicolas Anelka. It made no difference. If anything, Chelsea's second-half display was inferior to the first, two more United goals underlining the gulf in quality and condemning the visitors to their heaviest Premier League defeat in three years. T

he first came in the 63rd minute and was beautifully executed. A back-heel from Ronaldo, a wonderful cross from Patrice Evra and what initially looked like an own goal for Ashley Cole but was, in fact, a fifth Premier League goal of the campaign for Rooney. It also amounted to another example of Chelsea's defensive frailties.

Frailties that were again exposed in the 87th minute when Juliano Belletti fouled Ronaldo and the Portuguese winger then delivered a free-kick that Berbatov was only too happy to drive into the back of the net.

It helped that Vidic blocked the path of Franco Di Santo - Berbatov's designated marker - but it was a super finish all the same. Not until the 93rd minute did Chelsea even look like scoring, but an easy header was sent embarrassingly wide by a hapless, clearly unhappy Didier Drogba.

Ronaldo had a second goal disallowed - when the assistant referee made a mistake in thinking he was offside - only added to Chelsea's misery.

Had luck been on the side of the player who should today be crowned the world's best in Zurich, it could have been worse still for Chelsea.

For the final 30 minutes, Scolari cut a forlorn figure. He made two more changes but watched helplessly, hands in coat pockets, as his side fell to pieces.

Ferguson and his players had responded brilliantly to the accusations that had come from Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez.

To that first United goal, Chelsea did not respond at all. Had United already won those two games in hand - against Wigan this week and Fulham next month - they would now be one point ahead of Liverpool with the Merseysiders and Arsenal yet to visit Old Trafford.

Now it would only appear to be Liverpool who stand between them and a third successive title, even if the table suggests Chelsea remain very much in the running.

But the table sometimes lies. It lies about the state of this Chelsea side and it lies about their chances of returning to the summit of the English game.

While Mourinho's attention diverted from his former players to Ferguson and was followed by another embrace, raised voices could be heard in the away dressing room.

Manchester United 3 - Chelsea.