2008-2009 UEFA Champions League – Round of 16: Cesar Saves The Day For Inter
February 28th 2009 04:39
Cesar is Player of the Match
The game was a story of two halves – one for each team on the pitch. The first 45 minutes were dominated by Manchester United who, if it wasn't for Julio Cesar, could have ended the half leading by at least two goals. The goalkeeper made his biggest save just five minutes into the game, stopping Ronaldo's powerful header after a corner-kick. United got several free-kicks around Milan's 18-yard box, but they were either inches wide or stopped by Cesar. At the other end, Edwin Van der Sar wasn't really worried. His defense made an excellent job of preventing Inter's strikers to make space and turn towards the net to take an effective shot. But most of United's excellent work came in midfield. The pressure sustained by Carrick, Fletcher, Giggs, and most importantly “Energizer Bunny” Park made the home team look like a bunch of amateurs. Inter's midfielders were unable to string more than two passes together without having a red shirt or two circling in. With an ineffective midfield, Inter spent most of their time kicking the ball over the top from defense to attack only to have United regain possession.
The situation was completely reversed in the second half. Inter came in with a renewed focusing their attacks towards the flanks. They especially abused a weakened O'Shea on United's right-side. With the visitors often having to backtrack to help out their defense, legs started to get heavy in midfield. As the hour-mark came and gone, Ryan Giggs' strength was slowly wilting away to the point where he rarely kept up the pressure on his opponents, focusing instead on his positional play to prevent getting caught by surprise. As a matter of fact, I wonder why Ferguson didn't put Scholes in his place. They don't play the same role but fresh legs never hurt.
In the end, Inter missed some good chances but where they had two clear-cut scoring chances, United had many more throughout the game notably with Ronaldo and Giggs. Although a 0-0 looks okay on the outside, Ferguson is probably disappointed by his team's result. Now they'll have to keep Inter off the mark for another game because a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford will see the defending champions get knocked-out.
Manchester United's line-up: Edwin Van der Sar; John O'Shea, Rio Ferdinand, Jonny Evans, Patrice Evra; Cristiano Ronaldo, Michael Carrick, Darren Fletcher, Park Ji-Sung (Wayne Rooney, 83rd), Ryan Giggs; Dimitar Berbatov.
Inter Milan's line-up: Julio Cesar; Nelson Rivas (Ivan Cordoba, h-t), Davide Santon, Cristian Chivu, Maicon; Dejan Stankovic, Sulley Ali Muntari (Julio Cruz, 75th), Javier Zanetti, Esteban Cambiasso; Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Adriano (Mario Balotelli, 76th).
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