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Manchester United’s European campaign has ended after Robben send the devils packing with a volley from the outside of the box. There was so much pre-match buzz about Rooney returning from injury to play this match. Because Manchester United knows that they needed him to help overcome a deficit of 2-1 at Munich. I personally felt if Rooney did appear, it would be too rushed and if he ends up injuring his ankle again, their title push might suffer a huge blow……..and so will England’s World Cup hopes and England fans will want Ferguson’s head on a platter for this!
Manchester couldn’t have asked for a better start as Gibson’s shot gives United the lead that they needed. What i don’t understand from this goal is what on earth was the keeper doing? He just stood there and watch as the ball sneaked past him on his near post. It was poor goalkeeping and Gibson’s goal isn’t that great. United’s second goal came from Nani, now that is a pure class goal from Nani, he has been in fine form last few months. I was not surprised to see him pull something like that but Bayern definitely didn’t defend well enough as the second goal was scored just five minutes after the first goal. Bayern was in total shock as they didn’t know what has hit them, they failed to create any clear cut chances inside the first half hour of the game as Manchester played magnificent football. When Bayern started to get into the game, Nani pops up with a third goal for United. The tie looked all over but Bayern had other plans. Bayern quickly got themselves together and pulled a goal back before half time. That meant that they only needed one more goal to send them to the semi finals on the away goal rule.
When second half started, the German side played with a purpose and started to pose a threat to the United defenses. United’s right back Rafael decided to do something stupid to put United under more pressure when he was sent off for a second yellow card. Manchester had to play forty minutes with just ten men. So if there was a person to blame for the defeat they could have avoided, it would be Rafael. With Rafael gone, Rooney had to be taken off to be replaced by O’Shea. With Rooney gone and ten men, Manchester’s plan was to grind out the result. Unfortunately, the wave after wave of Bayern attack finally paid off when Robben volleyed a corner from Ribery to send the German side to the semi-finals of the Champions League.
Bayern Munich definitely deserved their place in the semi finals as Manchester United wasn’t organized and discipline enough to hold the German side from coming back into the game. They would have to blame themselves for not holding on to the a 3-0 lead. I have some sympathy for the devils but Bayern Munich definitely deserved to go through. It will be interesting to see how they comeback from this devastating defeat in this week’s English Premier League fixtures.
Signing off,
Prosoc8
Passion For Football 