Chelsea and Manchester United have finished 1-1 in an feisty Community Shield encounter at Wembley Stadium on Sunday with the result now to be decided in a penalty shoot out.

All the pre-kickoff theories that the match might end up with a feel of a friendly were out of the window in no time as both sides showed passion in their bid to score the psychological points at the start of the season.

Ryan Giggs scored the opening goal of the match to put United in the ascendancy while new boy Florent Malouda restored parity for the Blues with a fine strike.

In the opening quarter, both teams fought predominantly a midfield battle devoid with any clear-cut opportunities. However, the game was thoroughly competitive from the word go and Wayne Rooney in particular looked all pumped up.

The first real attempt came from United skipper Giggs but Chelsea keeper Petr Cech was quick to race off his line to block the former Wales captain’s shot after Cristiano Ronaldo had covered a lot of ground from left to set up the chance.

Michael Carrick’s long-ranger then missed the target narrowly as United upped the ante. The Blues responded in earnest and in the 26th minute, John Obi Mikel failed to connect on with his head as Michael Essien had glanced his header off a free-kick from Malouda, close to the United goal.

Cristiano Ronaldo saw his cross at the other end of the pitch go begging as left-back Mikael Silvestre failed to get on the end of it with the Blues right-back Glen Johnson doing well.

Giggs scored the only goal of the half in the 35th minute with a sweetly-struck first-time shot from inside the 18-yard box, off Patrice’s Evra’s reverse pass after Cristiano Ronaldo had sent the Frenchman through with a lovely ball.

A crucial role in the goal was played by the Red Devils defender Nemanja Vidic, whose free-kick from deep was pin-point accurate with Evra, who was playing in advanced position, chesting the ball down for a one-two with Ronaldo.

Chelsea looked to be more adventurous towards the last five minutes and pushed more bodies upfront.

Malouda made a great start to his Blues career scoring the equaliser in the 45th minute after being set up with a superb long ball from Ashley Cole. The France winger outmuscled England defender Rio Ferdinand and put a brilliant finish on the ball to beat Edwin Van der Sar.

Early in second half, Evra caused a flutter into the rival defence as he raced past a horde of Blues shirts in the box and found Ronaldo, whose curling shot was palmed away by Cech. But the scrappy defending from Jose Mourinho’s side then presented Giggs a chance to have a go, but his shot was however blocked.

New signing Claudio Pizarro came in for Malouda, who had a brilliant game, in the 52nd minute.

A great chance was squandered by the Blues at the hour mark after former Bayern Munich striker Pizarro had won the ball and set up Joe Cole on left. However, Cole failed to produce a valiant effort on target.

Johnson came out with a good defensive header on a free-kick United had in the 63rd minute as Ronaldo gave a touch down to Giggs, who curled in a measured delivery.

United brought in new signing, Nani for Silvestre on in the 68th while the Blues replaced Ashley Cole with Lassana Diara.

Steven Sidwell, Chelsea’s free-transfer arrival from Reading, came in the 78th minute in place of Johnson.

Ronaldo’s attempt was thwarted in the 84th minute by Cech and Tal Ben Haim after the Portuguese ace moved menacingly towards the Blues goal. The former Sporting Lisbon ace however failed to head the ball home off the resultant corner-kick as Cech had missed the catch.

Teams:

Chelsea FC Team: Petr Cech, Tal Ben Haim, Ricardo Carvalho, Ashley Cole (Lassana Diarra 68), Glen Johnson (Steve Sidwell 78), Joe Cole (Scott Sinclair 82), Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Florent Malouda (Claudio Pizarro 52), John Mikel, Shaun Wright-Phillips.

Substitutes not used: Carlo Cudicini, Henrique Hilario, Harry Worley, Lassana Diarra, Steve Sidwell, Claudio Pizarro, Scott Sinclair.

Manchester United Team: Edwin Van der Sar, Wes Brown, Patrice Evra, Rio Ferdinand, John O'Shea, Mikael Silvestre (Luis Nani 68), Nemanja Vidic, Michael Carrick, Ryan Giggs (Darren Fletcher 81), Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney.

Substitutes not used: Tomasz Kuszczak, Phillip Bardsley, Gerard Pique, Chris Eagles, Darren Fletcher, Lee Martin, Luis Nani.

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