United take Shield

Spot kicks were needed to settle the contest after normal time had ended with the score locked at 1-1. Ryan Giggs opened the scoring in the 35th minute with his first ever goal at Wembley, past or present, before new Chelsea signing Florent Malouda levelled on the stroke of half time.

No further breakthrough was made during the second period, and in the absence of extra-time, the game was settled by what proved to be the briefest of penalty shootouts.

Debutant Claudio Pizarro, Frank Lampard and Shaun Wright-Phillips all saw their spot kicks saved by the Dutchman, who headed into the game under some pressure after a series of recent blunders had put his repuation in question.

For United, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick both netted before Wayne Rooney slotted home the winner to give first blood to last season's Premiership champions.

Worryingly for Chelsea, they were forced to start the game without their talismanic captain John Terry, who reportedly sustained a knee injury and is now facing a month on the sidelines.

Equally, there were no places for Andriy Shevchenko or Didier Drogba in Jose Mourinho's starting line-up, and midfielder Joe Cole started the match as a lone striker for the Blues.

For United, new recruits Owen Hargreaves and Anderson sat in the stands, but there was a place on the bench for Nani, who later made his bow, albeit unspectacularly.

The opening 20 minutes were sadly reminiscent of last season's FA Cup final, as both sides were slow to find their rhythm, creating a rather scrappy affair.

But fortunately for the near-capacity crowd at Wembley, that did not last and as the half progressed, the game began to open up.

The first chance of the half fell to United captain Giggs - given the armband in the absence of Gary Neville - but his effort from Cristiano Ronaldo's cut back was turned behind by a combination of Petr Cech and Ashley Cole.

Chelsea hit back with a decent chance of their own minutes later, but John Obi Mikel could not get onto the end of a flicked-on Malouda free kick at the far post.

Giggs' goal came with ten minutes remaining in the half, and it was an absolute beauty. Nemanja Vidic played a glorious cross-field pass - belying his reputation as a traditional stopper - which Patrice Evra controlled on his chest before playing a wall pass with Ronaldo. The Frenchman's cross then found Giggs, and the Welshman did the rest, rifling into the top right hand corner.

But United's lead was not to last long as Malouda introduced himself to the English public with a fine effort just before the half time whistle.

The Frenchman ran on to a long ball through and demonstrated remarkable strength - as well as an unwillingness to go down which will immediately endear him to Chelsea fans - to hold off the challenge of Rio Ferdinand. His finish was equally impressive, as the former Lyon man slipped the ball past Edwin van der Sar with the outside of his left boot.

United stormed out of the blocks after the break, and Ronaldo could have put the champions back into the lead within minutes of the restart. But his first time effort was well saved by Cech and Giggs could not convert the rebound when the ball eventually found him.

Pizarro came on for Malouda soon after to give Chelsea more structure to their attacking play. And the former Bayern Munich man went close to giving his new side the lead on 70 minutes with a neat turn and snap shot that drifted just wide of the mark.

United had a penalty shout five minutes later, but referee Mark Halsey ignored Vidic's claims that he had been pushed in the box. Video replays later showed the Serb had a case.

In the end, the oversight was inconsequential as Van der Sar took centre stage in between the sticks to give United a real confidence boost ahead of the opening match of their title defence against Reading next Saturday.