2008-2009 UEFA Champions League – Semi-finals: Chelsea Blank Barcelona, United Top Arsenal 1-0
May 1st 2009 04:08
After a high-scoring Round of 8, the competition tightened up a bit for the first leg of the semi-finals. Only one goal was scored as Manchester United defeated Arsenal at Old Trafford while Chelsea held Barcelona to a scoreless draw at the Nou Camp.
The semis kicked off with the Spanish giants meeting last year's finalists on Tuesday. The game was basically an exercise of attack versus defense with Barcelona attacking and Chelsea doing their best to hold the fort. This kind of game is the reason why I stopped watching Barca in La Liga so I was very disappointed of the outcome. Chelsea had one scoring chance in the entire game and that was after a sloppy back pass by Rafael Marquez late in the first half. Didier Drogba pounced on the loose ball but Victor Valdes stood tall against the striker's two attempts. Other than that, it was all Barcelona particularly in midfield where Iniesta's skill and Toure's determination were too much to handle for Lampard and Ballack. Lampard was completely invisible in this game, and his substitution at the 70th only helped the Blues to retreat into a even more defensive shell for the final third of the game.
Although Chelsea did a decent job defensively (especially in and around the box), the lack of goals was mostly due to poor shooting by Barcelona's strikers. Messi, in particular, didn't seem to have his boot on right as almost every one of his shots were way high and/or way wide. Eto'o, perhaps frustrated by his teammates inability to pass him the ball, squandered one of his team's rare opportunities inside the box as he decided to strike the ball at a surging Cech instead of passing to Henry who was free and had a open net on the left. Barca had two more chances in the final minutes but Bojan's header simply went over the net while Hleb was denied by Cech who was there when it counted the most.
Over at Old Trafford on Wednesday, Sir Alex Ferguson's weird new midfield formation (three central midfielders, two wingers) did an excellent of job of suffocating Fabregas, Nasri, and Song with relentless pressure. When the Gunners' midfielders tried to build from their own zone, it was Tevez who was racing back to force them into making mistakes. With no passes coming from the playmakers, Walcott and Adebayor were essentially taken out of the game. Still, United took precautions as Evra stayed more often in the back to cover Walcott and rarely joined the rush.
Similarly to their second leg against Porto, Manchester United's goal came quick – in the 16th minute – as O'Shea was completely forgotten at the far post by a disorganized Arsenal defense. That back-four was the Gunners weakest link all game long (as it's been since the beginning of the season). If it wasn't for Almunia, that match could've easily ended 3 or 4-0 for United. The Red Devils had one goal disallowed for offside and simply dominated the game.
Still, a 1-0 lead in a two-leg confrontation is not good enough to have one rest on their laurels. There's no telling how Arsenal will respond at home and Rio Ferdinand's injury cast heavy doubts on a United defense that needs a leader to function well especially when playing against a guy like Adebayor.
The semis kicked off with the Spanish giants meeting last year's finalists on Tuesday. The game was basically an exercise of attack versus defense with Barcelona attacking and Chelsea doing their best to hold the fort. This kind of game is the reason why I stopped watching Barca in La Liga so I was very disappointed of the outcome. Chelsea had one scoring chance in the entire game and that was after a sloppy back pass by Rafael Marquez late in the first half. Didier Drogba pounced on the loose ball but Victor Valdes stood tall against the striker's two attempts. Other than that, it was all Barcelona particularly in midfield where Iniesta's skill and Toure's determination were too much to handle for Lampard and Ballack. Lampard was completely invisible in this game, and his substitution at the 70th only helped the Blues to retreat into a even more defensive shell for the final third of the game.
Although Chelsea did a decent job defensively (especially in and around the box), the lack of goals was mostly due to poor shooting by Barcelona's strikers. Messi, in particular, didn't seem to have his boot on right as almost every one of his shots were way high and/or way wide. Eto'o, perhaps frustrated by his teammates inability to pass him the ball, squandered one of his team's rare opportunities inside the box as he decided to strike the ball at a surging Cech instead of passing to Henry who was free and had a open net on the left. Barca had two more chances in the final minutes but Bojan's header simply went over the net while Hleb was denied by Cech who was there when it counted the most.
Over at Old Trafford on Wednesday, Sir Alex Ferguson's weird new midfield formation (three central midfielders, two wingers) did an excellent of job of suffocating Fabregas, Nasri, and Song with relentless pressure. When the Gunners' midfielders tried to build from their own zone, it was Tevez who was racing back to force them into making mistakes. With no passes coming from the playmakers, Walcott and Adebayor were essentially taken out of the game. Still, United took precautions as Evra stayed more often in the back to cover Walcott and rarely joined the rush.
Similarly to their second leg against Porto, Manchester United's goal came quick – in the 16th minute – as O'Shea was completely forgotten at the far post by a disorganized Arsenal defense. That back-four was the Gunners weakest link all game long (as it's been since the beginning of the season). If it wasn't for Almunia, that match could've easily ended 3 or 4-0 for United. The Red Devils had one goal disallowed for offside and simply dominated the game.
Still, a 1-0 lead in a two-leg confrontation is not good enough to have one rest on their laurels. There's no telling how Arsenal will respond at home and Rio Ferdinand's injury cast heavy doubts on a United defense that needs a leader to function well especially when playing against a guy like Adebayor.
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