28th May 2008
0245
A match that we’ve waited for weeks.
Champions League Final – F.C. Barcelona V Manchester United.
I’m on the English side.
Not just me, I got Leong Keat, Wei Lun, Jiing, KW, Shuen, and LK’s friend on my side too.
The match lasted for 90++ minutes, but our excitement lasted only 10+ minutes. Ronaldo early free-kick forced Valdes fumbled down the swirling shot, before Pique cleared the ball out. Then it was Ronaldo again, tested from outside the box, and again, and again.
Then it shown on the bottom of the screen that United already had 5 shots while Barca had none. It looks like we’re on the right track tonight.
At the 10th minutes, everything went wrong. Eto’o had space on the right and skipped past Vidic, who slipped and finished with his righ-foot. Silence is the word to describe the atmosphere in the mamak. We’re stuneed, basicly.
Well, it’s ok. Is just 10 minutes into the game. We still got 80 minutes to go. But a……
The final performance was probably the worst one for United in the whole season. Passing was awful, and possesion was dominated by the Catalunian, thanks to the maestro Xavi and Iniesta. Brilliant move by Guardiola to put Messi in the centre, because either Rio or Vidic can cope with the Argentine genius. Everytime he had the ball I hold my breathe, because everytime he runs with the ball he posed a threat. He got his goal that he deserves in the 70th minute, a header from the cross of Xavi.
Ronaldo battles with Puyol, which I don’t know what Ferguson tried to do. I expect Ronaldo to own Syilvinho but Ferguson decided to put CR7 on the centre while Rooney at left and Park on the right flank. Park struggled that night, so it was no surprise when he was subbed on the half time by Carlos Tevez. This time SAF put Rooney to face Syilvinho and CR7 continues to battle with Puyol. And clearly, CR7 cannot get through the Catalan skipper. His frustration was shown by the yellow card he got later in the game.
For me, it was the longest night for me, as a United fan. We couldn’t make a complete pass in the final third. Ronaldo is the only player that played normally, while the others were awful after Eto’o scored the 1st goal. Rooney did nothing on the flank, no cross no cut-in. Tevez, errrr…Berbatov aka Lazytov, …. Even Giggs, the most experienced player on the field slumped.
Is just not our day, perhaps.
But right now,SAF self claimed “The best United I had ever managed” had shown that they were way off from Barca, arguably the best in Europe currently. Is interesting to see what player SAF would bring in, and I really hope that Lazytov can leave. Really!!!