The curse between the sticks struck again, however, and as United fell to their first defeat of the season, Massimo found his Old Trafford career over. High profile blunders against Liverpool, Southampton and now Chelsea meant that after 360 minutes of first team action he was shipped back to Serie A. Bosnich and Taibi were joined at the club by Mikael Silvestre and Quinton Fortune, two young French and South African players with huge potential. Both made their debuts within two weeks of each other - Fortune against Newcastle and Silvestre against Wimbledon in August and September. The Chelsea defeat, 5-0, was United's biggest since 1996, and was followed by losses against Aston Villa in the Worthington Cup, Marseille in the Champions League and Spurs in the Premiership.The horror of October was relieved by seven wins out of nine in November and December before the Reds jetted off to Brazil for the FIFA World Club Championships. The club had withdrawn from the FA Cup to take part in the inaugural tournament, amid much press criticism. Out in South America, a draw and a loss in the first two games, against Necaxa and Vasco da Gama, ended the Reds' interest in the tournament. A 2-0 win against South Melbourne was academic. Upon returning to England, Fergie's boys lost to Newcastle in the League before setting off on a fourteen-match Premiership streak without defeat, the last eleven of which were victories - a new Premiership record - and included a 7-1 stuffing of West Ham. Meanwhile, Roy Keane signed a new contract amid speculation he would leave Old Trafford in May. The League was in the bag four matches before the end of the season, but celebrations at the Dell were tempered by the Reds' exit from Europe the match before - a demoralising 3-2 home defeat by Real Madrid.