UNITED GRAB EDGE IN SEMI

 

Last time around, United faced Barcelona in the Champions League semi finals, in what looked like a virtual final. The first leg was at the Nou Camp, and the result was a tight battle which in theory, Barca should have won but in the end it finished 0-0. The second leg was at Old Trafford. United scored the first goal of the tie in the first half of that match and it proved to be the only goal, despite Barca doing their best to break down both United's defence and a wall of noise late on. That second match will certainly be remembered for years to come, particularly as it set us up with a shot at European glory for the first time in the best part of a decade.

This time around, well we face Arsenal. Of course, the Gunners are familiar foes from the Premiership. We've also played FA Cup finals against them over the years and even League Cup and Community/Charity Shield encounters. We had never faced them in European competition up till now though. The last and only time we have faced another Premiership side in the Champions League though was in the '08 final, when we faced Chelsea at the Luziniki Stadium. That match finished 1-1 in normal time so forced extra time. When that failed to produce a winning goal, the match had to be decided in the tensest of shootouts which United managed to win.

This time around, well this hasn't exactly been a vintage Arsenal season though Gunners fans can still claim to have already beaten us in the Premiership once. However this is a Champions League semi final first leg match and for the first time this season the two sides were facing each other at Old Trafford. 4-3-2-1, Van de Saar in goal, O'Shea right back, Evra left back, Carrick, Fletcher and Anderson in midfield, Rooney and Ronaldo as support strikers, Tevez up front. For Arsenal, this was their last best chance to get a trophy this season. Given the gulf in class between the two sides, United were well capable of killing this tie off in the first leg.

Well United were soon welcoming the Gunners to OT by foring them back into their own goal. It was only a matter of time until we scored and sure enough, in the 17th minute Anderson's corner found Carrick, who found OShea who stuck the ball in from close range. After that, United continued hammering the Arsenal goal and the biggest surprise was that we weren't able to get a ssecond. It looked like we'd certainly caught Arsenal's better players on an off night. Bottom line, this tie should have been over after 45 minutes. A one goal lead was still nothing to complain about though, we had plenty of time to put the Gunners to the sword and a second goal still seemed inevitable.

And yet it apparantly wasn't. We kept hammering the Arsenal goal but our finishing proved to be iffy and our dominance continued to provide limited results. As for Arsenal, well Sam's biggest complaint about his time was that they were trying to "walk the ball into the net". The Gunners did eventually get some chances, with a Nicolas Bendtner header providing a nervy moment but it was still United that were the team to hit the net for a second time - unfortunately our effort was ruled offside. Overall, well, I can't exactly complain about any United win but with the tie now heading to their place, the question has to be, is one goal enough?

Elsewhere, Chelsea faced Barcelona at the Nou Camp. Well the La Liga giants dominated the first half but Chelsea just smothered them. It helped that the home side's star players seemed strangely off form and yet still they had more than enough opportunities to deep fry the Premiership side. The tournament favourites kept hammering the Chelsea goal in the second half but again they were unable to score, despite being invincible of home turf this season up till now, Samuel Eto'o having their best chance of the match but that was still saved. Bottom line, it's a blank slate for the 2nd leg at Stamford Bridge and that can only be to Chelsea's advantage.

Going down a level, the UEFA Cup semi final first leg matches were taking place. In an all-Bundesliga affair, Hamburg beat Werder Bremen 1-0 at the Weserstadion and with Hamburg the away side on that occasion, that surely gives the advantage to them. The bigger surprise was in the all-Ukraine Premier League encounter where Dynamo Kiev could only draw 1-1 with Shatkar Donetsk at the Lobanovski Stadium, thus giving Shatkar at away goals advantage for the second leg. Both matches look to be tight though and I can't see Dynamo in particular taking the first leg result lying down. That tie in particular is certainly not over yet.

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