WEMBLEY HERE WE COME

 

(Image taken from BBC)

Well we'd already seen off Schalke 04 2-0 in the 1st leg at the Veltins Arena which surely meant that this tie was wrapped up already. And yet the Bundesliga side have proven more than capable of mugging big sides earlier in the competitions. Yet come on...it would be very unlike the Reds to blow this aggregate lead for this Champions League semi final 2nd leg match at Old Trafford. Sandwiched between two big Premiership games though, Fergie decided to take a gamble on team selection. We started 4-3-3. Rafael right back, Smalling and Evens central defence, O'Shea left back(and captain). Scholesy, Anderson and Gibson in midfield, Berbatov, Valencia and Nani up front.

Well it was Schalke that needed to play catchup and they certainly started with that sort of intent but not only came up empty but then United started to put the pressure on at the other end. Still, there was certainly a sense of fair accompli amongst Reds fans. It proved to be well founded though as in the 26th minute Gibson set up Valencia who slotted the ball between the Schalke goalie's legs. In the 31st minute Valenica returned the favour and Gibson took advantage of a goalkeeping blunder to make it two. It was United's defence's turn to blunder in the 35th minute though and Jose Jorrado had the space to fire in a scorcher. Yet the Bundesliga side still had a long way to go.

Well the second halfd very much saw both sides on cruise mode, United complacent and Schalke capitulating. United fans were left to sing the praises of Reds legends spanning the last 30 years and hailing their appearance in the final. In case Schalke did have any real ambitions, Anderson fired home Nani's 72nd minute cross at the second time of asking before getting his second goal in the 76th minute after being set up by Berbatov. The last ten minutes of the match though saw more celebrations to hail a very impressive performance from a far from full strength United side. Schalke had proven useless at this late stage of the competition. Fine by us.

Elsewhere, Bacelona faced Real Madrid at the Nou Camp. Real had a much better start to the game than they did in the first leg but Barca certainly were in no mood to be mugged on their own turf. Still, there were no goals before half time. Barca opened the scoring after the interval though through Pedro but Real weren't done yet with Marcelo equalising for the men in white but Barca then cruised to the finish without retaking the lead on the night. Then again, they didn't have to. The 1st leg result means that Barca won the tie 3-1 on aggregate and surely their fans will fancy their chances of lifting the trophy for the second time in three years.

So, United will face Barcelona in the Champions League final at Wembley in a rematch of the '09 final. The fact is that United were outclassed back then but what's going to happen this time around. Well I expect that everyone on the other side of the Channel will have written United off and as Arsenal found out earlier in the season, Barca on top form are almost unstoppable. For United though this is our third Champions League final in four years and there are plenty of veterans from the '09 and more importantly, '08 finals still around, and a few good quality new faces as well. Yet while I can hope, I most certainly can't expect. This one's too close to call.

Going down a level, the Europa League semi final 2nd leg matches took place. Villarreal best Porto 3-2 at the El Madrigal but though that allowed the home side a degree of pride, the result of the first leg still left Poro going through 7-4 on aggregate. Braga beat Benfica 1-0 at the Estadio AXA with the supposed underdogs grabbing themselves an early opener and then put up a brick wall to stop their more fancied opponents from turning the game round. It's not often that the Portuguese Superliga looks to put on a showcase and while the familiar names, particularly on the Braga team are limited, it'll certainly be an interesting matchup.

So, Porto will face Braga in the all-Superliga battle that is the Europa League final at the Aviva Stadium. Well Porto are clearly the favourites here in that they have pretty much wrapped up the Superliga title, have a few more familiar faces and a club, well they have much more European experience. Braga in the meantime well credit where credit's due they did start the season in the Champions League and in this competition have proven themselves to be very stubborn gits. This will certainly be an interesting battle but if the semis are anything to go by then Porto are plain unstoppable at this level. Proto should surely lift the trophy.

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