Rooney Leads Milan Route

Manchester United 4 - AC Milan 0
Scorers
Manchester United: Rooney (13, 46), Park (59), Fletcher (87)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Vidic, Nevilla (Rafael 66), Evra, Scholes (Gibson 73), Fletcher, Park, Valencia, Nani, Rooney (Berbatov 66)

If the last result at the San Siro was epic, this one was even better. Milan needed to score two goals to overturn the deficit from the first leg and early in the game came strongly at us. Much like the first leg, we endured a fast and frantic open few minutes before calming down considerably. And much against the run of play, Neville crossed a superb ball and Rooney headed in his third header against Milan.

Milan were stunned and shocked into submission. With a mountain to climb, their early enthusiasm fizzled out and we began to control the game with Scholes and Fletcher running the show in midfield.

Any signs of Milan making a miracle comeback was completely dashed when Nani flicked an exquisite ball with the outside of the foot to the on rushing Rooney to give us a 2-goal advantage early in the second half. Milan were truely dead and buried.

Shortly after, Park added a third after Scholes had put him thru. Milan's response was a classy one. Leonardo brought Beckham on to the loud applause of the Old Trafford crowd. It provided an entertaining sideshow from the main event which was effectively over.

Sideshow Beckham almost scored a scorcher of a goal when he connected beautifully with the ball. It would have brought the roof down, but it went straight at Van der Sar. Instead it was Fletcher, the man who replaced Beckham on the right flank when he departed, that got on the score sheet instead. He dived and met Rafael's cross, making it an emphatic scoreline for the men in red.

The early goal did wonders to our confidence. Once we had established ourselves in the game, we were bossing proceedings. Milan had no answer to Rooney and Park. There were times in the second half that we looked like toying with Milan. If we wanted, we could have really made Milan look very bad. Instead, we spent most of the time murking around with Nani and Valencia wasting possession, but no blame attached to them as the game was handily won. Under such circumstances, the lads were allowed to have a bit of fun. As a fan watching the game, I was certainly entertained.

At the back, Rio and Vidic once again reminded everyone just what a good partnership and understanding they have. Together with Van der Sar, it formed a solid solid backline that could very well win us both the league title and with a considerable amount of luck, the Champions League as well.

Pretty Epic, Huh?

AC Milan 2 - Manchester United 3
Scorers
AC Milan: Ronaldinho (3), Seedorf (85)
Manchester United: Scholes (36), Rooney (66, 74)

Red Card
Manchester United: Carrick (90)

Team: Van der Sar, Rio, Evans, Rafael (Brown 90), Evra, Scholes, Carrick, Fletcher, Park, Nani (Valencia 64), Rooney

You gonna have to kick yourself in the balls if you missed this one. I almost did. All the Chinese New Year celebrations/gambling/happee times left me barely enough energy to hang on for the full 90 minutes. But at the end of it, I'm glad I spent the last 30 or so minutes literally pinching myself to stay awake to see the game out.

This is one helluva superb result to bring back to Old Trafford in 3 weeks time. The result could have been sweeter if we hadn't fallen asleep towards the end of the game. At the same time, it was what kept the game interesting.

Milan started the game extremely brightly. Ronaldinho scored in the 3rd minute via a heavily deflected shot off Carrick. Our defense was caught napping early in the game and were punished accordingly. Milan could have sealed the game before our equalizer. They had about 3-4 excellent chances to score, but Van der Sar stood in their way.

Scholes marked United's ascendancy with a fluke goal in the 36th minute. Up to that point, we were just flattering to deceive. We haven't had a shot on target and Milan were threatening to kill us off with the counter-attack. Scholes swung to meet the cross but the ball hit him on the standing leg and spun into the bottom corner of the net. It was a bizarre and fortunate goal, but at that point we were happy to take anything from the game.

We grew from strength to strength as the game wore on and the introduction of Valencia in place of Nani paid immediate dividends. With his first cross, he found Rooney who headed the ball into the net. Minutes later, Fletcher floated a beautiful ball for the man of the moment, Rooney, to head home his second and United's third.

We were in cruise control and winning everything on the pitch. It almost looked too easy until Seedorf was brought on. The wily old veteran scored late on with a cheeky flick that galvanized Milan into a frenzy looking for the equalizer. In the midst of all the helter skelter, Carrick was shown a second yellow. It was probably a case of mistaken identity, since Evra was the one who kicked the ball away. I'm sure it would all be sorted after the referee's report.

In any case, it was a frantic end to a fantastic game. Rooney validated Fergusion's earlier comments that he was one of the premier players in the modern game today. And while Rooney continues to hug the headlines, Fletcher was undoubtedly my hero today. He worked tirelessly firstly on the left of midfield, then to the centre and back to the left again. I'm sure he covered every blade of grass at the San Siro.

Which brings me to another point. It seems Evra, Fletcher and Rooney are playing every game. Given their incredible workrate, I'm beginning to worry that they might face a burn out sooner rather than later. Rooney especially has been left upfront alone rather frequently which means more running, something which he already does naturally. Our replacements don't seem to be able to carry their own weight, or at least Ferguson seems to have lost faith in them, namely Owen and Berbatov. It could all be much ado about nothing, but I'm still concerned.

Hey, don't let this grumpy fan take the joy away from today's epic victory. Let's savor the moment. It's not everyday you beat AC Milan so comprehensively.

Poor, Gutless Performance United Falter in Europe Yet Again (AC Milan 3 - Manchester United 0)

From top to bottom, from the manager to the fans to the bloggers to the mailing lists, everyone was to blamed for this one. The only exception being Scholes who played his heart out, and probably the only one to deserve any sympathy from anyone. Everyone else was counting their chickens. All around the blogs were people getting ready for the showdown with Liverpool, the mailing lists that I was involved in were debating who to support for last night's semis, Pool or Chelsea, to eventually meet in the finals.

Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz were major culprits, playing scared again away in Europe by playing one up front. Time and time again we've failed to get the result desired by going away from what the players are familar with. As long as we go in with that mindset, we're simply going to be outplayed and outclassed by teams like AC Milan.

We also took a gamble and played a semi-fit Vidic in the centre of defence and right from the kickoff he's lack of fitness and sharpness was nearly exposed by Kaka. 3 minutes into the game, Seedorf hit a screamer and Van der Sar did well to push it over his bar. Milan were out of the blocks fast and we struggled to cope.

10 minutes into the game and Milan took the lead thru Kaka with a precise strike into the bottom left corner. Nothing more than Milan had deserved. They were hungrier and significantly better in every department on the pitch. I was surprised it took them till the 30th minute to add a second thru Seedorf. Again it was a sweet strike into the same corner of the goal. Quite frankly, they should've been at least another couple of goals ahead. The gulf in class was apparent for all to see.

We were no better in the second half. Although we showed abit more urgency trying to win the ball, Milan were still by far the better team. I can't remember a save that Dida had to make in the second half. That was how bad we were. It wasn't a surprise that Milan added a third via a counter attack thru Gilardino in the 79th minute. That knocked away whatever fighting spirit we had left, not that we had much to offer in the first place.

On a night when we needed to bring out our best, we produced our worst. Key players like Ronaldo and Carrick played like they were in awe of the Italians, totally gutless and disgusting. The entire defence was poor as well, giving the ball away cheaply. Heinze and Vidic combined to gift Milan their second goal. Rooney and Giggs squandered away possession. Brown and O'Shea were pumping long balls upfield to no one. All in all this was a pathetic performance. At least it gives us a taste how we play a division 2 side, except this time round, we were the division 2 side.

Only Scholes, and probably Fletcher, had average games. They were the only 2 United players who showed any semblance hunger.

Well, looks like AC Milan has gotten their wish to face Liverpool in a grudge match. It would sicken me if Pool were to win, not to mention, we're probably going to get it shoved down our throats again if they do. And it's probably going to make me puke in my mouth if Milan wins, considering they shouldn't even be in the competition in the first place. Shameful that someone has to win it.

I hope we go on to whip that 'massive' club in the weekend and take another step closer to the title. And for fucks sake, let's stop counting our chickens!

ROOONEY!!!!!!! (Manchester United 3 - AC Milan 2)

My god, what a game! Actually it wasn't much of a game.....but what an ending! It's not over, we still have to face Milan at the San Siro, but we're going there with a slender lead.

We started off with a fluke goal by Ronaldo in the opening 5 minutes. He headed a corner right at Dida and it carromed off him upwards and subsequently into the empty net. It was a fluke goal, not that we're complaining here.

Despite going a goal up, Milan looked comfortable. They passed the ball around efficiently and did not panick, slowly building up the play. It was much like when we faced them 2 years ago. They eventually equalised with a superb goal by Kaka in the 22nd minute. He ran past Carrick and Gabby and slotted the ball past Van der Sar to score.

15 minutes later it got worse. Evra who made a 'timely' return to the team in defence, ran into Gabby and exposed Van der Sar to Kaka. Kaka didn't need a second invitation to score his second of the night. Evra has been give a free pass and sometimes generously given a couple of praises in this blog. But on this occasion, he was simply awful! I cringed everytime he got close to the ball, and cringed again when he was making passes to the Italians.

Speaking of awful, the Greek referee was awful as well. He seemed to be doing his darnest to keep United away from Athens next month. He was on a one-man mission to keep his capital safe from the marauding United fans who have been creating 'havoc' in other lands. He booked Evra for a seemingly innocent challenge ruling him out of the second leg. Given our defensive deficiencies, it should have been a great blow, but in the context of today's performance, there couldn't have been a better gift. I rather have Fletcher in defence than Evra screwing it up again. There are some things that you do not leave to chance.

United came out of half time playing like the way they did in the first half....being dictated by a very composed Milan side. To put things simply, there was no movement whenever we got the ball. We passed the ball, but we were not moving. It made defending against us very easy. Needless to say, Kaka should have gotten his hattrick. At this point in time, I had given up on the cause. Damage limitation seemed like a good thing.

Rooney and Scholesy, however, had other ideas. Right on the hour, Scholes flicked a brilliant ball which caught the Milan defence napping and Rooney was on hand to level the scores.

Suddenly the team woke up. They began passing the ball and running into spaces. On a couple of occasions, they put Milan on the backfoot. The Italians, unable to cope against wave after wave of the Red tide pounding on their defensive walls, started to give away freekicks at the edge of the penalty area. Strangely enough, some of the tackles put in were pretty cynical and yet the referee from Greece did not book anyone. Despite the number of freekicks given, Giggs and Ronaldo combined to miss all of them.

Just when all look lost, Giggs threaded a superb pass to Rooney in the box and Rooney unleashed a thunderbolt from a narrow angle into the goal in injury time. It suddenly felt like Gigg's goal against Juve that drew us level at OT in 95!

Like I mentioned, the job's not done yet. We must not let our guard down next week. If we played like anything in the first half, we're doomed. We need to take the game to Milan and let them adjust to our style.

Man of the Match : Rooney. Had he not scored that last minute goal, I would have given it to Fletcher, who was outstanding in midifeld again. He must love playing against the Italians, having done the job against Roma and for Scotland against Italy.

It's AC Milan in the Semis

We're facing AC Milan in the semi finals of the Champions League. They just beat Bayern Munich 2-0.

Just a couple of comments:

Owen Hargreaves
I used to be unsure about Owen Hargreaves, but now I'm dead sure I don't want him in Red. Except for a couple of good appearances for England (not hard considering the crap that plays for them), I see absolutely nothing special. At least for Carrick, he's a good player, it's the price tag that makes you cringe. There isn't anything in particular about Hargreaves that makes him special, and there sure isn't anything about him that would make him worth anything over a couple million pounds. Can't pass, can't tackle, can't shoot. I can't believe I actually stayed up and watched both legs, hoping to see something worth raving about.

If anything, Mark Van Bommel looked like a star in the Bayern midfield. And he's got the fire in the belly.

The Game
1. Bayern couldn't buy a break. Every decision seemed to go against the home team.
2. AC players just couldn't get booked. No matter what they did, the referee simply wouldn't book them. Disgusting!
3. Obscene time wasting by the Italians. What's new?
4. Ferguson was at the game scouting our opponents. I hope he was taking notes about Hargreaves too.
5. The Italian defence is ancient. We should be able to unleash Ronaldo and Rooney on them.