A "who can kick Eden Hazard" more contest, inevitably, led to a red card for Manchester United and Jose Mourinho endured another night to forget at Stamford Bridge as Antonio Conte's Chelsea powered their way into the semifinals of the FA Cup.
Ander Herrera was shown a second yellow card in the 35th minute, Chelsea regrouped at the break, and then saw their player-of-the-year midfielder N'Golo Kante fire a brilliant shot from 25 yards into the back of the net, a goal that was more than enough to take them to a semifinal against Tottenham next month.
For most of the time, events on the touchline and tactics that don't really endear Mourinho to the masses took the spotlight in this intriguing quarterfinal clash of the oldest cup competition in the world.
With Hazard clearly targeted by Manchester United, Conte made his feelings known to Mourinho on more than one occasion and so did the fans who used to sing "special one" songs in the Portuguese's name.
A few calls of "Judas" came raining in and while Mourinho replied back to the crowd with three fingers held up for the three titles he won here as Chelsea manager, the night would end on a sour note for the current Manchester United manager.
This always looked like being a fractious match, with Mourinho deciding that bringing the intimidation factor was the best way to try and get this Chelsea side off course.
Without Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Manchester United were missing their one consistent outlet for goals, and that meant keeping a clean sheet was essential.
So, Chelsea's best creative force, Hazard, was targeted, with Michael Oliver having to call over the Manchester United captain Chris Smalling to talk to him about the tactics.
Unfortunately for Manchester United, soon after the warning was given, Herrera decided to bring down Hazard – yes, the Belgian made the most of it – and having already been on a yellow card, Oliver showed a second with ten minutes to go to halftime, and the game was Chelsea's.
It still took a strike from distance to decide the game, with Kante finding space about 25 yards from goal to fire in the winner in the 51st minute.
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