Champions League Review

The knock-out stages of the UEFA Champions League are always met with great anticipation, even more so this season as the round of 16 kicked off with the small matter of Manchester United versus Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. When the tie was drawn in late December, Sir Alex was quick to dub it the tie of the round and he wasn’t wrong as a pulsating encounter ensued. With both teams lining up in the fashionable 4-2-3-1 formation it looked, on paper at least, that we were in for a tight game. However what became clear as the early stages of the game progressed was that Sir Alex was operating an astute 6-4 formation with a very flat back four and two incredibly deep holding midfielders in Phil Jones and Michael Carrick, with an attacking midfield three of Wayne Rooney, Shinji Kagawa and Danny Welbeck with Robin Van Persie spearheading the attack. What had been forged here was the perfect counter attacking system, one which Mourinho had used several times in Inter Milan’s victorious UCL campaign in 2010.

De Gea

The game started with Madrid’s Angel Di Maria evading the challenges of Evra and Carrick to flash a shot just wide of the right hand post. Then on his first appearance against the club he left in 2009, Cristiano Ronaldo bamboozled Rafael down the United right and his cut back was met via a deflection off Ferdinand by Fabio Coentrao whose curling shot was magnificently tipped onto the post by David De Gea. All the early pressure was coming from the home side, so it was a shock to essentially everyone when United managed to get into Madrid’s half and win a corner. Rooney expertly delivered an in swinging corner which was met by the head of Danny Welbeck and against the run of play United had taken the lead, but more importantly they had a crucial away goal. 

Ronny 

Madrid responded instantaneously as Di Maria again found space and sent in a low drive which De Gea tipped round the post, Ronaldo then smashed the wall with a free kick but with the rebound he unleashed a rasping volley which flashed past the post. Then that man again Di Maria, curled a superb ball into the united box which was only bettered by Ronaldo’s emphatic header which beat the despairing dive of De Gea and tied the game up at one all. Both sides ended the first half with chances, firstly Kagawa and Van Persie linked up to cross for Welbeck whose improvised finish fell wide of the goal. At the other end Ozil latched onto a long ball and forced De Gea into a save at his near post. 

RVP goes close

The second half saw more of the same from Madrid with Ronaldo and Di Maria again going close, controversy then struck when Evra was seemingly brought down by the last man Varane but nothing was given to United’s dismay. Coentrao was then denied by an unorthodox save from De Gea, who remarkably got his leg up to prevent the Portuguese full back converting from Khedira’s centre. United finished the game with a flurry of chances, all falling to and being spurned by their expert marksman Robin Van Persie. He firstly smashed the bar with a right foot shot after being slipped in by Rooney, he then evaded the Madrid offside trap to beautifully bring the ball down from his chest only to scuff his finish and see Xabi Alonso clear off the line. His final chance saw his intelligent first touch allowing him to test the fingertips of Diego Lopez who tipped his shot around the post. 

Together again

Jose Mourinho was his usual self in the post-match interview saying, “We had a big chance when Fabio Coentrao hit the post. The first chance they had, they scored. In the second half, they played for the result. Now is our time to go Old Trafford. 1-1 is not a bad result and everything is open and we can score more than one goal”. Sir Alex praised the performance of David De Gea and also commented on Ronaldo’s performance, “I'm proud to see how he has flourished. I don't know how you describe a goal like that. I blamed Patrice Evra for not challenging him until I saw the replay. Then I felt a bit stupid”. 

Theo vs Van Buyten

The game that caught Europe’s imagination in the second round of knockout games was that of Bayern Munich’s trip to Arsenal. The Gunners and especially Arsene Wenger were under pressure to put in a performance after being dumped out of the F.A Cup by Blackburn. After resisting the urge for most of the season Wenger started Theo Walcott up front on his own, possibly hoping to take advantage of 35 year old Daniel Van Buytens lack of pace. Bayern had left mainstays from last season’s UCL campaign Arjen Robben and Mario Gomez on the bench. 

Tony Kroos - World class

From the off, the gulf in class was startling and as early as the 6^th minute Bayern were ahead after poor play from Arteta and Koscielny gave possession to the German league leaders, this allowed Ribery to find Muller on the right and his ball unintentionally made its way Kroos who hit a stinging half volley past Szczesny. After more Bayern possession a second followed on the 20 minute mark, the ever impressive Kroos curled over a corner and after breaking away from a ‘tree like’ Mertesacker, Van Buyten flicked a header towards goal which could only be parried by Szczesny and was pounced upon by Thomas Muller. 

As Bayern continued to look slick in possession, Arsenal were bereft of ideas with Walcott looking isolated up front and Ramsey continuously giving the ball away and as half time came, boos rang around the Emirates. The second half remarkably saw no changes for the Gunners, but despite this Lukas Podolski dragged them back into the game when a Wilshere corner evaded everyone allowing the German to head into an empty net. For twenty minutes and to everyone’s surprise Arsenal were back in the game and matching Munich, they nearly equalised when Walcott expertly controlled a long ball out wide and instantly crossed for Giroud, whose snap shot was parried by Neuer. Alas normality was then restored when Mandzukic held off Koscielny and laid the ball off for sub Robben, who spotted the overlap of Lahm and the Bayern captain, drove in a low cross which looped up off Mandzukic and into the net. 

It's all gone Pete Tong

Bayern had three away goals and the tie was virtually over, the mood in the Emirates was summed up when the cameras panned to DJ Pete Tong as if to confirm that it had indeed, ‘Gone wrong’. Almost on the verge of tears Jack Wilshere admitted that the Gunners started slowly and that the blame did not fall at Wenger’s door. Following the result some people have argued that German football could be overtaking the English game, I am of the opinion that it is more down to the fact that Arsenal and especially Arsene Wenger are and have been for several years on the decline.