Destination Moscow – Scholes shows United the way
Manchester United, take a bow. Out gunned and out classed, but not beaten. 3 games more to go and how things swing from one direction to the other.
There really should be a full match report here, but you’ll have to wait for it tomorrow on Red Rants. I will touch upon a few key points and leave you guys to discuss the rest.
First – Moscow baby! United are through to their first final in 9 years, and while everyone (even Nani) deserves credit for their performance today, a few deserve it more than most.
Ferdinand – simply immense. He has played his heart out for the club over the last 3 games, 3 of the most grueling games of United’s season, and he’s been United’s best player over this period of time.
Brown – second only to Ferdinand in the respect stakes – he made us forget that Vidic was absent from the United line-up, and few defenders can live up to such praise. To all his critics, today’s performance is proof that this boy, when given the chance and his manager’s confidence, can mix it with the big boys at the top level.
Scholes – for having the quickness of mind to take the chance when it presented itself, and for having the sheer quality to score from the slimmest of half-chances. Better chances fell for both sides later in the game, but Scholes took his shot, unstoppable, back of the net, and you knew then that United had their agent on the line to book their tickets to Moscow.
Tevez – a great striker in the making and a world-class team player. He’s got bags of skill and drive, and he was better than Ronaldo on the day, which says a lot about his composure and ability. Plus he wants to stay at United, and hopefully they will keep him.
Evra – an unfortunate injury which could keep him out of United’s last 2 games of the league (here’s hoping that he’s back for Moscow – enough time anyway) but a great performance that has been his trademark this season. He couldn’t completely neutralise Messi and probably did less of a number on him than Zambrotta did on Ronaldo but he did enough and facing such talent, that’s all you can ask for.
Edwin van der Sar – sir, you have been amazing. Regardless of what Kahn, Lehmann, Seaman and even James might think, you’re too old to play this game but you’ve done yourself and your club proud. We can excuse the jittery moments (and there have been a few) as long as you can keep making those timely saves and keep risking head and limb to catch the ball. Your spirit gives the team strength. Rock on.
Ferguson – for sticking to the game plan and playing the best possible team under the circumstances. For backing his players against better opponents in 3 consecutive games and having the strength to hold off on the substitutions until late in the game. For completing almost a full season with only 2 strikers who have been fit for more than a week (and even then Rooney has been injured on and off) and yet producing attacking football day in and day out so that when crunch time came, people expected gods to strut out on the pitch. They were merely mortal, but what a grand number they’ve done.
Fans – the scarf-waving in the last 20 minutes or so of the game was simply amazing. The fans knew they were witnessing something special and kudos to them, they rose to the occasion (like everyone wearing a red shirt tonight) and drove their team on.
It’s a strange feeling being in the Champions League final – it’s like you’re finally coming to where you belong (for opposition fans who threw up in their mouths at reading that bit – think of how you felt when your team made it to the final). It’s surreal and with a stronger side than last season and against weaker opponents than what they’ve faced in the semi-finals this season and last season, United have a great chance of being crowned European champions come 21st May.
But first, there’s the small matter of finishing off the league, and United have a few days of rest to get ourselves ready for West Ham. Knowing Ferguson, the celebrations will be on hold for now until West Ham and Wigan are taken care off.
Moscow, we’re going to Moscow!
Congratulations United. Whoever you play in the final you deserve to win as the only team left in the competition who plays proper football. I just wish it was Arsenal in Moscow with you!
not begrudging man utd a place in the final but barca gifted it to them. you could tell that man utd were a bit shaky and to be honest a real madrid or the current chelsea team would have confidently disposed of the pl champions elect.
no wonder barca are going to make changes in the summer. they are in the same boat as ac milan where they have to rebuild a team around two players, messi and bojan. the funny thing is zambrotta, simply awful tonight, is one of the players ac are looking at.Also awful were milito and iniesta.
Not to take anything away from man utd though, although they were not at their best, none of their players did badly apart from an off-form nani. a great goal from scholes from a zambrotta mistake was all utd had when good build up play by barca lacked the final ball.
Man utd would wipe the floor with l’pool in the final, a one off game where rafa’s supposed brilliant european tactics will count for nothing. Chelsea on the other hand have fate on their side. winning the trophy in front of the country that saved them, it almost seems too perfect.
afc11 u dont know what u r talking about.
barca rested their entire squad for the game before, and even with united playing the toughest game of the season for their preparation, they cldnt take the initiative.
milito and iniesta were “awful only because tevez and carrick made them look so.
and barca rarely threatened in their attack, and everytime united attacked, it looked like they were gonna score
and give united some credit,
to be able to challenge for the domestic league and be in the final of the champions league, in modern terms, how many teams have done that?-just look at last years final, 3rd v 4th of each respective league, disgracful
good to get to the final
btw anyone know what actually happen to evra?
I happen to miss it and they didn’t mention it in the post match analysis on itv here in england.
WILL,
i never said that man utd did not deserve it, all i meant was that barca played poorly. i know that utd were tired from saturday and i agree that although tevez was not a massive threat in front of goal, he was probably the best player on the pitch behind messi. i can respect the fact that utd have done really well this season, hence i called them pl champions-elect.
i don’t know why you have got so pissy, barca kept getting to the edge of the box and messing up, and man utd did not look like scoring every time they went forward.
what was wrong with the last paragraph? do you not agree that utd are streets ahead of the scousers? the chelsea thing was a bit of a joke, but it would be funny.
p.s. barca did it in 2006 and won both. who in modern football has gone the whole league season unbeaten, who has gone 49 league games unbeaten? not taking anything away from man utd but a 100 year record or a 2 year record? which sounds better?
Sagar:
Evra got hit on the face by Deco’s shoes in the last minutes, but it does not seem something serious.
Great Win!!
Tevez was exellent.
common UNITED
Evra is a whiny, acting bitch. There’s no serious injury there. He got nicked on the chin, big deal.
Brian W:
That’s how you kill the last minutes of a game, its part of the sport….every team does it so stop whining about evra
I don’t think I have ever seen a forward player work as hard as Carlos Tevez. He is also incredibly difficult to shake off the ball. I wasn’t totally convinced by him earlier in the season but I now think United should wrap him up in cotton wool until the final.
It was down to luck. Paul Scholes goal was a lucky strike. This match would have gone into extra time even though ManU had the chance to score again they failed to capitalize.
Luck matters a lot in football. I think Barcelona were the better team, over the two legs.
dont know what’s up with some of the comments i’v read. i thought everyone would want an all english final. so id ask some people to stop bitching, i mean if you are a chelsea fan what would be better than chelsea finally proving they are better than united by beating them in abramovich’s backyard. that would be a perfect present for the boss.
and for liverpool who would clinch a sixth title by beating their oldest rivals?
all in all man u were tactically better than barca, barca kept the ball but did nothing with it.
I can’t believe that Park was not mentioned for the credits he rightly deserve for his performance tonight. His performance today was absolutely top notch- and to think some people think he’s out of his depth.
Has anyone in the history of the world ever been so excited about going to Moscow?
I second the mention for Park, he was excellent.
@Jay. Barcelona played some pretty good football but you can’t tell me that they deserved to win given their absolutely horrendous finishing.
Evra got a boot to the jaw – that would stop most people in their tracks. Accusing him of playacting seems a bit harsh.