They say Frank Lampard’s late mother, Pat, was a passionate woman. She certainly went to a lot of Chelsea matches and wasn’t the kind of lady to sit quietly as the game ebbed and flowed and her son did his stuff.

How wonderfully this game would have stirred and then lifted her spirit and though it was played in the shadow of her passing, it was also played in her memory. Chelsea performed with an urgency and a desire that hasn’t always been evident this season.

That the missing Frank Lampard and his mother were on the minds of Chelsea’s players was evident from the moment Michael Ballack scored the first goal. Immediately, the home players gathered near their dugout and displayed a blue jersey with Pat Lampard’s name printed on the back. It set the tone for a match full of emotion; there was joy, anger, relief, frustration, deep disappointment and close to the end there was euphoria on one side, a sense of injustice on the other. Emotions were high due to the penalty decision awarded to Chelsea at the end. The decision looked about right but wasn’t conclusive enough to be accepted by a United team on the brink of its second consecutive Premier League title.

There were countless demonstrations of the game’s intensity; Ballack squared up to Cristiano Ronaldo, Rio Ferdinand reacted badly to a decision and had half of the Chelsea team on his case and when the linesman Shaun Proctor-Green signalled that late penalty for Chelsea, it seemed he had the entire United team blaming him for a great miscarriage of justice. On these occasions it is not unusual for commentators to point out the aggressive behav-iour and lament falling standards. Forget that. This was a match to celebrate and if there was an excess of emotion, that simply made it more compelling.

Chelsea’s manager Avram Grant doesn’t always light up press conferences with insightful observations but he was right when refusing to criticise any of the hot-tempered moments. “Football is exciting because it is emotional,” he said, “I don’t think we need to make too much of this.”

It truly was a riveting match, the kind of occasion that has earned the Premier League millions in television rights. On one point there can be no argument: Chelsea played the best football of the match through a first half they dominated. They seized control by playing at a tempo United weren’t expecting and couldn’t react to. Jon Obi Mikel was excellent and the speed of the team’s passing made spectators of good players like Anderson, Michael Carrick and Ryan Giggs. Wayne Rooney hardly had a kick.

United have learned to defend and to hang in when things are running against them, as they did in Barcelona on Wednesday evening. And there was a lot of good organisation yesterday. Darren Fletcher tracked Ballack as he made his customary runs into the United penalty area but when it seemed United would survive to the break, the German lost his marker and got on the end of Didier Drogba’s cross. He rarely misses when presented with a heading opportunity.

Chelsea’s emotional celebration of the goal was a reminder that in the midst of football’s madness, there is humanity. Asked if Lampard would play in Wednesday’s Champions League tie against Liverpool, Grant said the decision would again be left to the player. The home team lost their goal advantage because they couldn’t stop themselves sitting back when in front. Where everything had been quick and sharp in the first half, they began the second half at a slower tempo. Out of the change in attitude came United’s equalising goal. Ricardo Car-valho’s awful mistake gave Rooney his one chance and he took it brilliantly.

After the Rooney goal, United looked the more likely winners but, for them, the sting in the tail. In the lead-up to the winning goal Drogba challenged for a ball that had run away from him, tackled Mikael Silvestre and their collision resulted in the ball breaking kindly for Michael Essien. From his cross, Carrick was adjudged to have handled. United could hardly believe the decision because few of them saw the handball. Replays showed the linesman got it right. There was the customary pandemonium that follows a controversial decision, Edwin van der Sar tried to upset Ballack but the German struck a good penalty and Chelsea were in front. Five minutes remained and the match that had vibrated drama continued to thrill us right to the end.

Why Sheva’s worth £30m

Andriy Shevchenko was British football’s most expensive player when brought to Chelsea in 2006. But the striker has scored just seven goals in 21 appearances this season and has become a peripheral fi gure. Until yesterday. His 90th minute clearance off the line, above, ensured his team took the full three points yesterday. Now all Andriy has to do is make an impact at the other end...