Man U vs. Lyon
March 4th 2008
2nd leg of this Champions League game. The first game in France ended 1-1.
Both United and Lyon started with one striker, Rooney for United and Benzema for Lyon
United had a much more skilled midfield then Lyon. Lyon really only had Juninho. United had Ronaldo, Nani and Anderson.
Nani looked very solid from the beginning, he’s already put in a deadly ball and is running at full speed after every ball, and its only been 3 min.
4 minutes in Evra ran over Benzema, He sent him a message early on, but was penalized by a yellow card. The referee didn’t hesitate to show the yellow. He felt he needed to set an example
In the 8th minute Ronaldo got tangled up doing his footwork and Ben Afra stepped in and took it, Ronaldo goes to ground looking for the foul, but no pity from me, it was a mistake he tried to cover up.
In the 10th minute some good United defense gives Ronaldo a chance down the right flank. One defender caught up and Ronaldo did very well by cutting the ball back, But that’s when he should have served it, Instead he faked a pass, but by that time his runners had lost momentum, he then tried to take the shot but it was to late, he had 2 Lyon defenders on him, A little selfish on Ronaldos part
In the 15th minute Fletcher tried his luck from 25 yards out but the ball went wide.
In the first 15 minutes Cristiano was holding on to the ball a little to long, he put himself in a couple of dangerous situations.
Man United was doing all the attacking in the first 20 minutes.
It wasn’t until the 20th minute that Benzema took a crack , but it was 25 yards out from a tough angle. He wasn’t going to do anything from there.
Another shot on goal for Lyon, unfortunately for them it was from 30 yards out.
Lyon cant penetrate, the deepest they get is 20 yards from United’s goal.
United’s defense is so good, they keep forcing Lyon to take desperation shots.
Cristiano got another free kick from 25 yards out, and for the 2nd time he hit the wall.
After 10 consecutive passes from United, Ronaldo sent Evra a brilliant through ball which, Evra
Was able to get to. Evra then centered for Fletcher who went in dangerously on Coupet. But both of them recover, it looked uglier then it really was.
Another play where Ronaldo holds the ball a second to late, Fletcher played him superbly one time and Ronaldo didn’t return the favor, But was still able to earn a corner.
Uniteds goal started when Ronaldo threw the ball into Carrick who had a 15 yard radius with absolutely no pressure in the middle of the field. Carrick passed it to Fletcher who passed it to Rooney, Rooney played it wide to Brown, who passed it to Nani and immediately overlapped. Nani then dished off to Brown, who put a center to the top of the 18 where Anderson took the shot only to be stopped by Ronaldo and after a scramble 12 yards from the goal, Ronaldo came out with it and took a left footed shot from a very tough angle, and managed to score.
Ronaldo was not playing a good game. He did score, but lost the ball a countless amount of times after some routine step overs.
2nd half
Up to this point Lyons only options were Long desperation shots. Ben Afra took on in the 51st minute that went 10 yards over the bar.
Ouch, Nani got Squillacis cleats in his shin, and Squillacis got a yellow card.
Lyon just didn’t attack, at this point Lyon needed to try something different. They were losing and facing elimination, they had nothing to lose.
Ben Afra makes Wes Brown look silly as he megs Wes Brown cleanly but losses the ball in the next play. Brilliant move by the young French star.
Carlos Tevez came on for the young Brazilian, Anderson. So it gave United another forward. This was just another example of United’s depth.
It wasn’t until the last 20 minutes that Lyon started to play, by being able to play in United’s half and penetrate Man Utd‘s defense.
In the 74th minute Lyon hit the woodwork! Benzema slipped the ball into the path of Keita on the right and his low shot hits Van der Sar’s near post!
It wasn’t until the 80th minute that Lyon finally decided to put Fred, the Brazilian striker, into the game. But it was too late for Lyon. As United kept attacking and pounding on Lyons door.
Carrick committed a stupid foul! He fouled Fred when there was no need to foul him, United had numbers on defense and Fred wasn’t in a dangerous position. But nevertheless Carrick fouled Fred 30 yards out, and Juninho is very dangerous from this position. Luckily Juninho put it over the bar.
This wasn’t one of Rooney’s better games, on two separate occasions he had an open player and on both occasions was not able to deliver that last crucial pass that would have put his teammates in an awesome position.
Ronaldo came off in the 91st minute. For a standing ovation, I’m guessing. Unfortunately today wasn’t one of Roanldos better games. Yes he scored, but he lost a number of balls, he was selfish and held the ball way too long, and his passes weren’t all that great. Sir Alex should have waited on the standing ovation.
