Barcelona v Real Madrid

First was the match between Barcelona and Real Madrid. This time Real Madrid at least give it a go and didn’t play negative football. They were also unlucky with a disallowed goal when the ref (for some reason) thinking Ronaldo had fouled Mascherano in the build up to the goal. Ronaldo was fouled himself and then when he fell and rolled, he rolled in Masherano. Masherano then rolled over about 3 times as if he had been shot.  When a cheat!

The game overall was much better than last week which had all the playacting. We did of course have some playacting but a lot less than last week. In between some dives, some actual football broke out. However, Barcelona were too good and Messi was brilliant – the speed, the control and the passing is amazing. And this is all between him being kicked about all over the pitch!

The game ended 1-1 with Barcelona going through, 3-1 on aggregate.

Manchester United v Schalke 04

This was a much closer match than last week. It wasn’t hard as Schalke were awful. However, United were very comfortable and didn’t threaten much. Raul was once again pretty anonymous. Neuer had a mixed game making some excellent saves but he was at fault for the 2nd goal.  It was a bad mistake – an almost Gomes type error.

For tonights match, Fergie decided to rest several players. He had the weekends game against Chelsea in mind and the strong position of being 2 goals up on aggregate. 3 of the back 4 were not the first XI. He rested Rooney, Carrick, Rio and Park completely. The bench was very strong though with Chicharito, Vidic, Giggs and Fletcher.

In the end, United won 4-1 (6-1 on aggregate) with a brace from Anderson. That doubles his goals hes scored in his United career. Anderson played well but really should score more goals. Gibson played well too with an excellent pass for the 1st goal (and a bit of a lucky 2nd). Once again Valencia was excellent. Since coming back from injury hes been in great form.

It will be interesting to see how plays against Chelsea on Sunday and also who plays against Barcelona in the Champions League final. A lot of the players tonight were, in a way, playing and performing to try and get in the team. Anderson now has a chance. Valencia already had a good chance to play but it all depends who Fergie plays. He usually likes to play Park in big games and that would normally leave it between Nani and Valencia on the right wing. However, he may play Park more centrally so Nani and Valencia could both play. That would mean in the middle would be Park and space for 2 more midfielders (I think he will play with just Rooney upfront). Fletcher has just come back from injury so if he plays and plays well in the remaining 3 games he has a chance too.

I think it will 3 out of Fletcher, Park, Carrick, Giggs and Anderson. Will be interesting to see how Fergie will set the team up to stop Messi!!

Anyway, to the actual match. The match finished 2-1 and had plenty of incidents. Before the match there was talk about whether Rooney should have even been on the pitch for his elbowing incident in the Wigan game.

Full of incident

The incidents in the game included:

• Terry’s hand ball near the start. To be fair it was hit at him very hard and looked like he was trying to move arm away
• Torres disallowed goal – didn’t see much before the goal which was wrong. Got away with it there.
• Vidic 2nd yellow card I thought was harsh. He was holding him off but he went down very easily. Maybe justified to go down with Vidic holding him off like that?? Disappointing to see some photos afterwards with some players surrounding the ref (even if he had a crap game) and also Vidic going head to head with the ref.

However, the main talking point post-match is all about the penalty – which was really soft – and also for Luiz and how he wasn’t sent off. He was given 1 yellow card but had a late challenge on Chicharito which went un-punished but also a cynical tackle on Rooney.

Karma??

I suppose its karma. United are still in a strong position and will be a point clear of Arsenal if they win their game in hand. It will be interesting to see how Arsenal react after their Carling Cup final and also without Van Persie for 6 weeks and Fabragas and Walcott for a week or so.

Karma I guess??

Not sure about if he has another year on contract but I think he will stay until at least the end of next season.

I personally would like either Pep Guardiola, David Moyes or Jose. They all have there pros and cons. Pep Guardiola has done really well at Barcelona but still not that much experience. Also, he is very much part of the Barce family and probably would not want to leave.

David Moyes is a top manager and done good things on a low budget but maybe not a “big” manager and able to attract the “big” players.

Jose of course has won loads, is certainly a “big” manager and proved last night when Inter beat Barce that he knows his stuff. However, he never stays at a club for that long and would he change United’s style of play?? From what he has said in the past, he really seems to like United.

(I think Martin O’Neil would be a fairly good option too).

Whoever succeeds Fergie it will be an almost impossible job replacing the best manager ever.

United went into the game as the team most in form but Liverpool had a couple good games with a win against Pompy and also in the Europa Cup. Also there top striker Torres had scored 4 games in those 2 games.

The game started of fast for about the first 15 minutes. Torres scored with a good header after some poor defending by United. Still cant take anything away from a good Liverpool goal. However, United equalised after about 11 minutes with a Rooney penalty.

There was all sorts of debate whether it was a penalty or not. There is no denying that Macherano had hold of Valencia out of the box and a bit of pulling. Valencia fell in the penalty box but there is lots of debate saying he let go just before getting into penalty box. With the tugging and pulling, just because he let go doesnt mean he isnt a penalty. Thats what I thought anyway and I later found out that by the letter of the law – it WAS a penalty.

The law states:

If a defender starts holding an attacker outside the penalty area and continues holding him inside the penalty area, the referee must award a penalty kick.

Anyway, after the first 15 minutes it was a bit of an odd game. Liverpool played very defensively and Torres had very little service. Gerrard once again was annonymous. Not too bothered as a United fan but its not a good sign as an England fan – hes not played well this whole season.

United pretty much controlled the midfield with 5 midfielders. Fletcher had another excellent game and was MOTM. Personally, I though Park was MOTM. He was playing in the middle of the midfield and was pretty much playing just behind Rooney. He made some great runs, had some chances he maybe should have done better but he scored with a diving header from a great cross by Fletcher (and excellent run outside by Neville). I loved his celebration!!

One thing I have to mention is the behaviour of Torres. It seems to have gone down recently. Hes clearly frustrated. When United were awarded the penalty, he kicked the penalty spot trying to take a chunk out of it. Arguably could have got a yellow card for that. He had a few all moments as were having a go at Park thinking he dived and then waving an imaginary card. I do like Torres and think hes a clearly world class player and admire the loyalty he has shown and what hes said but his recent petulance is not a good side to him. He seems really fired up and on another day and maybe with a different ref he could have been sent off?? Well maybe??

It certainly does seem that Ronaldo left on good terms with Fergie and United. I have said it before, ever since Ronaldo has left United he has said some very nice things about United.

Back to the subject of Ronaldo maybe one day returning to United, he said “I don’t see it happening if things go wrong at Real Madrid necessarily, but he loved Manchester United so it may happen. He loved the club. If you look at the six years he had with us, he never missed training and he was never injured. He always played. He was fantastic.” “It wasn’t easy to see him leave. I had a good chat with the boy about it but he had made up his mind. Last year he was begging me to let him go but this year it was a sensible discussion.”

Fergie also said that he believes Ronaldo is the best player in the world by miles. Streets ahead of Kaka and Messi. “There is no doubt it is a huge loss. It is a challenge for us because it won’t be the same without Ronaldo. He is the best player in this world of ours – by absolutely miles. He is streets ahead of Lionel Messi, streets ahead of Kaka. Look at his figures. They are unbelievable. The attempts he has had on goal, the attacks in the penalty box, his positions, his headers, his shots.”

Anyway, good luck to Ronaldo but if United play Real in the Champions League I hope he ends up on the losing side!! So far his Real Madrid career hasnt gone to well playing 45 minutes against Shamrock Rovers (who finished last season in 7th place in the LOI premier division) and didnt play that well – and Real Madrid only won 1-0 with a late goal by Benzema. On the other side, new United no.7 Michael Owen has played in 2 games and scored 2 goals.

Owen > Ronaldo > Tevez

The museum had all the usual things you expected with the various trophies and exhibitions. Surprisingly there was also a whole section on Ronaldo, who had only recently been sold to Real Madrid. United spent all the money with the exhibition and then he leaves!! They have apparently said its some a “farewell appreciation“.

As well as the museum there was also a “speed goal” thing to see how hard you could kick a football. £1 for 3 kicks. The fastests I kicked it was 53mph, my mate just beat me with 55mph with his last kick!! Compared to professionals and the fastest was I think Rooney and Ronaldo with speeds of about 74mph.

The main thing I was looking forward to was the stadium tour. Watched round the stadium, sat in the dug out, saw the changing room etc. The dug out had some really comfy Recaro seats! The players lounge was not as “posh” as expected. The changing room was as expected – seen pics and videos of it before after United have won league etc. There had the shirts up to show where each player sat. Ronaldo’s space was empty (of course). He used to sit next to Rooney. Tevez’s spot was also empty.

Took a few photos which you can see on Facebook. I have also uploaded some to Flickr.

I wasnt sure what to think at first especially with him being a former Liverpool player. However,thinking about it more it could work out to be a good deal for everyone.The exact details of the deal have not been announced but its a 2 year pay-as-you-play deal with a signficant salary cut from the £110k a week he was getting at Newcastle. It will be based on bonuses for playing and scoring. One thing this shows is that it seems he has the desire to succeed – to perform for United, help us win trophies and it may also help him get his England place back.

No matter what you say his goal / game ratio is still very impressive. At Newcastle he only started 58 league games but scored 26 goals. Total appearences were 71. For Real Madrid, the 13 goals he scored were mostly from the subs bench so he could come on as a sub to “change the game”. A different option. He may be the goal poacher United need??

The most obvious worry when signing Owen is his injury record. He has had lots of injuries including his ankle, groin, knees and the dreaded metatarsal. However, he was given a rigorous medical examination so hope the United medical staff properly checked him out.

One thing though, with the signing of Owen it looks unlikely we will sign another striker (even though we have arguably lost 2 with Tevez (more or less gone) and Ronaldo (who was pretty much a striker). Will having Rooney, Berbatov, Owen and the 2 youngsters Macheda and Wellbeck be enough?? Personally I would have preferred David Villa or Benzema. Benzema is at Real and Villa will properly go to Barce. Are United going to make another signing?? Do we need a central midfielder?? How come getting Lampard???

Anyway, good luck to Owen and hope he gets his form back and plays like the days when he was at Liverpool. Since we have signed him quite early in the summer, he will get a proper pre-season with us. His debut is likely to be United’s first game in the tour of south-east Asia against malaysia XI on 18th July. His home debut will be on 5th August against Valencia on a pre-season friendly.

NB – By the “Law of Returning Players” he is almost certain to score against Liverpool next season!!

It was a poor game really and United didnt play particularly well. Arsenal played better and hit the post. There was not much to say about the game. Rooney continued to play very well with good form. Tevez had a quiet game and was subbed in the 2nd half. When he went off, the crowd booed, he clapped and then waved to the crowd. It looks more and more like he will be leaving United. He wants to stay but it appears United dont want to pay the money to keep him. United fans love him as he always puts in 100% effort and has scored some crucial goals for us.

There are plenty of videos online on the BBC Sport site and also Youtube of various celebrations and interviews (heres someone with several vids). Some showing inside the dressing room including an interview of Anderson by Ronaldo – pretty funny.

It could be his last game for United and possibly the last start. United play Hull next weekend and likely to play and weakened team with the Champions League final the following Wednesday. Players like Rooney, Ronaldo, Ferdinand and Vidic will almost certainly not play against Hull.

Players Awards

It was the Manchester United players awards last night. Vidic won the fans award (voted on manutd.com) and also the player’s players of the year award (voted by his teammates). Ronaldo won goal of the season for his 40 yard screamer against Porto.

Well there never seems to be a straight forward Champions League match nowadays!! United played Arsenal on Tuesday and won 3-1 (4-1 on aggregate). It was an excellent performance by United. United played almost a 4-3-3 formation with Ronaldo playing as a striker and Park and Rooney to the right and left. Park played excellently and as also Rooney was amazing.

Arsenal were poor and its not about 5 years since Arsenal won anything. Wenger is going to need to spend some money!

There was abit of luck in the 1st goal and arguably the 2nd goal (freekick) was not a foul but there is no denying the fact that the 1st goal was well taken by Park and Ronaldo’s freekick for the 2nd was amazing – although the keeper maybe should have done better.

The 3rd goal from United was a brilliant super fast attack with about 8 passes from one end of the pitch to the other. It pretty much started from Ronaldo’s back heel to Park, who passed to Rooney, who passed to Ronaldo to finish excellently.

Shortly after the 3rd goal the cameras showed David Beckham in the crowd rubbing his hands in glee and with a huge smile on his face. A United legend!

The only bad thing of the night was the ref card for Fletcher. To be honest, the ref generally performed poorly giving freekicks for everything! The slightest touch seemed to get a foul and sometimes a yellow card. Fletcher’s red card was for a challenge on Fabregas in the penalty box. It was clear to everyone that he got the ball. After getting the ball he of course contacted Fabregas but it was no penalty and pretty much everyone things so.

The rules state that there can be no appeal unless its mistaken identity (which it wasnt). However, the latest news today is that Fletcher could still be able to play in the final.

Chelsea v Barcelona

If there was controversy in the United game, thats nothing compared to the Chelsea v Barcelona game. I am sure this will be in the news for the next few days and it will be interesting to see what happens.

The game finished 1-1 will Barcelona going through on the away goals rule. Chelsea scored early on with a brilliant volley. However, must of the game Barcelona had the vast majority of the possession. Something like 70% to 30%. They certainly played the Barcelona way with lots of passing in pretty shapes but not really getting anywhere. Eto’o was very quiet and Messi was marked by about 3 players so pretty much kept quiet. In fact, Barcelona didnt have 1 shot on target till the 92nd minute.

The main talking point of the game was the ref. He had a really poor poor game. He wasnt completely biased as some decisions went against Barcelona but Chelsea properly should have had at least 2 penalties, maybe even as many as 4! They included a couple hand balls.

Barcelona, had a red card against them with Adibal sent off. It was for a tackle on Anelka but it seemed like a very minor touch and Anelka may have tripped himself up. Also, at least 1 Barcelona defender was in-between the player and the goal. Also, Alves (who was really poor and tried his best to get the ball into the crowd) got a yellow card for a nothing challenge really and that means he misses the final.

The game was almost finished with 4 minutes injury time. Just after the 92nd Alves finally didnt fall over like he had been shot and also finally put in a half decent cross which was poorly cleared by Essien. It ended up at the feet of Messi who passed to Iniesta. He scored a great goal right in the top right of the goal.It left Chelsea shell-shocked but they still had some time and the game eventually finished in the 97th minute.

Near the end of the match, Ballack did his best to show what an idiot he is running after and waving his hands all around the ref after another hand ball by Barcelona. Never knew he could run that fast! Then, Drogba had a go at the ref and had to be pulled back. He had been subbed (he went off “injured” – he spent the whole match doing his usual diving, play-acting and it back-fired when his feigning injury confused his own manager who ended up subbing him) and came out from dressing room in his flip-flops. He also said to the TV cameras that the ref was a f*cking disgrace. Drogba is going to be in trouble with UEFA!

As a United fan I am happy playing Barcelona as we should really beat them with what they have shown in semi finals. Chelsea were a lot more organised and much better tactics. Also, Barcelona will be without their full backs (and one of their main centre defenders).

The negative point about this is that Platini will be happy – he clearly doesnt like English football teams!

United once again started with Tevez on the bench. Its looking more and more like he will leave but I hope he stays. At half time it was 2-0 to Spurs and an update was on the books. Tevez came on at half time for Nani and it soon changed. He was the catalyst to the fightback. United got a penalty which was abit lucky really. Carrick was through on goal and Gomas came out and knocked the ball away. The ref thought that connected with Carrick and gave a penalty. The penalty was taken by Ronaldo who knocked it down the middle.

This was the turning point and there was a period in the 2nd half when United scored 3 goals in about 5 minutes. Some awesome attacking play and they looked like they could score every time they attacked. United ended up winning 5-2!

Its still not all over. There have been so many twists and turns this season and we still have to play Arsenal and also City.

In one of the other games of the day, Liverpool played Hull. Again Gerrard was not playing. They were abit fortunate and certainly got the run of decisions. There first goal was from a rebounded freekick by Alonso. It could be argued it shouldnt have been a freekick with Mascherano already falling over but the Hull player did take a late kick at his standing leg. If I was a Hull fan I would have been disappointed to have the freekick awarded against us.

Liverpool’s 3rd goal also involved a hand-ball (by I think Lucas). The ball fell to a Liverpool player who shoot, it was scuffed abit and Kuyt managed to head it into the goal.

There was another decision which went Liverpool’s way (to a certain extent). Folan was running through on goal and Skrtel was obstructing him. Skrtel fell down and stupidly Folan took a swipe at him trying to kick him – although not sure how many connection. Either way, he had to be sent off. He properly should have had a penalty but no need to kick out like that. (Although not as bad as Pepe’s bit of red mist the other day when he kicked a player twice, stood on  his ankle, punched a player….)

There was some inconsitancy with the refereeing when later on a Hull player was obstructed by a Liverpool player and was awarded a freekick. It was very similar to the Folan incident (apart from him not kicking someone!) The game all ended 3-1 to Liverpool.