Milan Destroyed

Being a Manchester United fan is a rewarding experience because we are a top team, and we win often. But it is nights like these when the glory is truly resounding and heartfelt, and on so many fronts.

I say this again and again and so much to the point where my friends often tell me to shut up, but there really is Only One Wayne Rooney. Being my far and out favorite player in the world, there may be some bias there, but I truly believe that there isn’t, and has never been a striker as dynamic, unique, and devastating. As if he needed to, he proved his pedigree once again tonight, hitting yet another trademark header, and tapping in a brilliant pass from Nani. There really isn’t much more to say except that – we should all be counting our great luck that we have a player of this immense talent who remains loyal to Old Trafford.

My man of the match, and the choice that most United fans agree on tonight, is Ji Sung Park. Moved to a center role, he played a box-to-box role, where he effectively reduced Andrea Pirlo to shreds on one end (quite comical, really), and stormed up to score on another. Park’s reknown industry has been used on the wing during most of his time at United, but Sir Alex made a decision to use him differently during these Milan games, and it is a decision that may redefine Park’s role in the team. He looked very comfortable, stealing the ball, moving forward, spraying it to the wing, or giving it back to Scholes for wider distribution. And the goal itself was a great individual effort as his positioning and movement allowed Scholes to produce a simple pass forward. When Nani fell while trying to cross towards the end, Park picked it up, turned the defender, and left it for Rafael to cross it unmarked. In essence, Park was heavily involved in defense and offense tonight, and based on the numerous plaudits, his immense performance, surely one of his best, has garnered unanimous praise already.

Regarding the above two heroes, Sir Alex commented: “It was a continuation of his form over the last two or three months, it’s just sensational,” said Ferguson. “I think he has improved is his movement in the penalty box.” He was pleased, too, for another scorer. “The key for us was Park Ji-Sung and Rooney,” he added. “Park Ji-Sung played with a sacrifice, an intelligence and a discipline.” (www.soccernet.com)

Other special mentions go to Fletcher, a typical lung-busting, industrious performance tonight, as well as Gary Neville, who decided that he would not Ronaldinho take over the left side again. Age is detrimental to a footballer, but class remains in certain players.

I loved watching Beckham trying to hold back the tears, the fans chanting for him, and his walk back down to the locker rooms with a Newton Heath banner strapped around his neck. He is such a great professional, and a red devil through and through. I’m sure the night was as special for him as it was for us United fans who remember the great moments of his time with us. I’m sure I speak for many of us when I say Becks is welcome back to Old Trafford any time. I am so drained of emotion, I think this was United’s performance of the season. Everyone performed well, and we made one of Europe’s best teams look like amateurs. Forza, Viva, and Allez United – lets win this thing.

 

Champions League Day

Golden Balls is finally coming back home. My dear Becks, welcome back. Just don’t take any free kicks. And when you do, make sure you remember all the good times you had at Old Trafford, and not the time when the cleat magically hit you in the face.

More seriously though, it should be a good game between Milan and United. Second legs are always fiercely contested, although I’m sure Porto would disagree based on yesterday’s bout with Arsenal. Usually, and especially when it comes to United, I have a fairly certain opinion on who is going to win. Today, I’m stumped. The results hang in a very precarious number of factors.

1) Rooney – Sir Alex claims that his star man is fully fit and ready to go. But one must wonder whether a player can really shake of an injury that got aggravated a week ago in the heat of internationals. No doubt Sir Alex did his best to prepare Rooney for this game, but the human body is what it is. Even Rooney, who tends to recover faster than most, can’t be at his absolute best, having trained less than usual do to the injury. But we’ll see.

2) Ronaldinho vs. Rafael – Last time, Ronaldinho tore Rafa a new one. Literally. It was not pleasant to watch, and I felt that young Rafael had already lost have the battle before the game, when he was in awe at the very sight of his legendary compatriot. I know Rafael can do better than what he showed last time, and he needs to actually do it this time.

3) Park – Sir Alex made a decision last match to pull Ji-Sung Park out of his natural position and give him a roaming center midfielder position. Park was clearly told to man mark Pirlo, and that he did. Pirlo was hardly able to get any passes off and was generally ineffective the entire match. The great thing about Ji-Sung Park is that his endurance allows him to hassle the daylights out of an an opponent (like Gattuso of old), and then push back forward immediately with the same zeal and agression. Sir Alex should either retain that tactic this match, or let Park do the same thing on the wing. A journalist was noting that Sir Alex has an invaluable asset in the understanding between Park and Evra, and that may be be worth a try as well. Milan’s aging defense will have a tough time double-marking Rooney, guarding eithter Valencia/Nani, and having to deal with Ji-Sung Park constantly press their offense. And I’m sure either Scholes and Carrick will be lurking around the penalty box for any loose balls that they can pound on.

All in all, it should be fantastic game. I believe that Leonardo made the right tactical decisions last time around, but his players failed to execute. Ronaldinho was flawless, but Huntelaar and Pato were far from it. If they show up to play today, we might have some trouble. The good news is, Vidic will be replacing Evans, and that should be a commanding presence in defense, something we desperately needed against Milan in the first leg.

Darren’s Prediction: 2 – 2. United goes through.