Manchester United goalscorers Javier Hernandez, left, and Park Ji-Sung celebrate with Wayne Rooney, right.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
- Manchester United win all-English semifinal 3-1 on aggregate after home victory
- Javier Hernandez and Park Ji-Sung score either side of Didier Drogba's equalizer
- Veteran Ryan Giggs sets up both United goals to add to his first-leg assist
- Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti faces the sack as last chance of silverware ends
A goal in each half from Javier Hernandez and Park Ji-Sung ensured a 3-1 aggregate win for the English Premier League leaders, who beat Chelsea in the 2008 final on penalties in Moscow.
United will next face either defending European champions Inter Milan or Schalke, who hold a 5-2 lead ahead of Wednesday's second leg in Germany.
The future of Chelsea coach Carlo Ancelotti is now in considerable doubt after a disappointing season which has seen the London side's domestic title reign realistically over with seven games to play.
A lot of people thought Drogba would play. I thought having signed Torres for the money they did they had to play him
--United boss Alex Ferguson
The Italian raised eyebrows when he chose to start misfiring $80 million signing Fernando Torres up front with Nicolas Anelka and Florent Malouda flanking him, leaving former spearhead Didier Drogba on the bench.
The Ivory Coast striker made an immediate impact after replacing Torres at halftime, and got Chelsea back into the match soon after Ramires' 70th-minute sending-off -- only for poor defending to allow United to regain a two-goal overall lead straight away.
"A lot of people thought Drogba would play," Ferguson told reporters. "I thought having signed Torres for the money they did they had to play him. I wasn't 100% sure but I couldn't see how they could leave Torres out."
Ancelotti admitted he might have made a mistake in starting the Spain striker, who has not scored since leaving Liverpool at the end of January.
"Maybe. Could be. I told you a lot of times this season I wanted to start with Fernando for this kind of game, these type of tactics," the former AC Milan coach said.
"Didier played well in the second half. I wanted to put more pressure up front because we needed to score. Didier was fresh and he could use his power up front. This was the reason I took out Fernando."
The home side, having survived some early scares, thought they had scored in the 27th minute when Hernandez stole in at the near post to head home Wayne Rooney's cross, but the Mexico international strayed marginally offside.
The breakthrough came two minutes before halftime as veteran Ryan Giggs combined well with John O'Shea to burst into the right side of the penalty area and slide a pinpoint low cross with his favored left foot to an unmarked Hernandez at the far post.
Ancelotti replaced Anelka, the club's top scorer in Europe this season, with Salomon Kalou after an hour but United could have gone further ahead as goalkeeper Petr Cech did well to keep out a low shot from Nani and then Giggs aimed a weak header after more good work by Rooney.
Ramires, who was denied a penalty in injury-time in the first leg at Stamford Bridge last week, received his second yellow card after a tackle from behind on Nani.
The first, also for a foul on the Portugal midfielder in the opening half, had already meant the Brazil midfielder would have been suspended for the first leg of the semifinal if Chelsea had progressed.
With Nani replaced by Antonio Valencia in the 75th minute, Chelsea took advantage to level on the night as Michael Essien picked out Drogba with a lofted through pass and the 33-year-old chested the ball down and fired a low shot past Edwin van der Sar.
But Chelsea's excitement lasted less than 30 seconds as United surged forward, with Rooney and Giggs combining to set up hard-working South Korean midfielder Park -- who slotted in a low left-foot shot.
It was the 37-year-old Giggs' third assist of the quarterfinal, having also set up Rooney's first-leg winner.
The win kept United, the European runners-up in 2009, on course for a treble this season ahead of Saturday's FA Cup semifinal against local rivals Manchester City.