England has been a haven for joyful sporting stories this summer; Mo Farah winning two Olympic gold medals, Chris Hoy celebrating his sixth, Usain Bolt retaining both of his titles, setting a new world record and then doing some press-ups.
It all had to end sometime.
It came crashing to a halt inside Villa Park yesterday as Manchester City won the Community Shield, marking the beginning of the new season south of the border. Second-half goals from Yaya Toure, Carlos Tevez and Samir Nasri gave Roberto Mancini's side their first Shield win since 1972 but the shine was taken off by a decidedly frenetic tie.
There were a succession of niggly tackles, a flurry of eight yellow cards and a straight red for Branislav Ivanovic. Chelsea lost out, despite Fernando Torres scoring the opener and Ryan Bertrand adding another late on, but the match still provided an ugly preface to the closing ceremony of the London Olympics.
The community aspect of this game was missing from the first whistle as referee Kevin Friend struggled to retain control. City's Stefan Savic was booked after just 10 minutes, setting the scene for a tetchy opening period in which both sides were guilty of going too far at times.
Ivanovic was the worst offender. Forced to challenge for a stray John Terry pass – the captain may not have noticed anything untoward given his tumultuous summer – the Serb launched a dangerous tackle straight into his compatriot Aleksandar Kolarov, studs raised.
Chelsea protested but Friend was justified in dismissing Ivanovic, who must now miss next week's trip to Wigan Athletic, plus home matches against Reading and Newcastle United. David Luiz had already been cautioned and that was followed by another yellow card for Frank Lampard, then another for John Obi Mikel.
Typically, Roberto Di Matteo highlighted the red card as a key moment in the match but the Chelsea manager was quick to defend Ivanovic. "The challenge had no intent to hurt the opposition. It was a sliding tackle and he got the ball as well," he said.
"Sometimes a red card is given in those circumstances, sometimes it is not. But there was no intention to harm the opponent."
Chelsea had drawn first blood inside Villa Park. Ramires wove forward from midfield and fed a pass to Torres to calmly slot into the net. Toure then replied with a fierce low drive into the corner of the goal, before Tevez curled another past Petr Cech.
Nasri celebrated as though he had secured the trophy as he rolled in a third in the second half but City were still made to endure some nervy moments as a speculative Daniel Sturridge shot set up Bertrand for Chelsea's second goal.
The match also gave Chelsea supporters their first glimpse of £32m signing Eden Hazard. It seemed a modest debut from the Belgian given his price tag, but Di Matteo remained positive.
"He [Hazard] was lively, caused a few problems, had a couple of opportunities, we saw glimpses of his quality, and he will be a big success for us," said the Chelsea manager. "Fernando [Torres] was also dangerous in what was his first 90 minutes since coming back into training under three weeks ago."
It seems as though it will take a little longer for Micah Richards to return to training as the City full-back continues to struggle with an ankle problem. Goalkeeper Joe Hart had also missed out through injury.
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