Manchester United 1-0 Barcelona

At long last United are back in a Champions league final, again it wasn't a European night of vintage United, but who cares. Barcelona had a lot of possession, though not as much as the first leg, but just like the first leg they didn't really create much. It was a bit like watching some of United's games in Europe over the last few seasons when playing 4-3-3, where we have had an embarrassing share of the possession but have hardly created a chance. It was brilliant watching Messi though what a player he is, absolutely top drawer. The other player i was looking forward to seeing was Etoo, the first thing that surprised me was his size, i don't know why, i just imagined he was bigger. The second thing that surprised me was how average he was, maybe he is just going through a bad spell, but he was nothing special at all.
Once again in the first half United didn't really turn up to the game, and almost conceded a penalty straight from the kick off when Scholes brought down Messi just outside the area. I am glad he did that at Old Trafford and not at the Nou Camp because that might just have got given as penalty even though it was just outside the area. United hadn't really put anything together in the match when virtually out of nothing they went 1-0 up. And what a goal it was, a slack pass from Zambrotta found it's way to Paul Scholes and with room to take aim he let rip with a scorching shot that swerved away from the diving Valdes and into the top right hand corner of the net. And to think that reds thought that the ginger prince was past it. Over the two legs Scholes has easily been the best Non defender in a red shirt, in fact i couldn't really understand the decision to take him off. I am sure that was one of the reasons we had to endure that agonising finale as we had nobody with the composure to keep the ball.
Even with the goal United never really found the fluency we had hoped for and Barca kept on dictating the game. As well as Park played, we really missed Rooney last night, i am sure we would have scored more than the one goal if he had been on the pitch. Lets hope he gets the chance on the big stage in Moscow and shows the watching world the real Wayne Rooney. Tevez had a storming game, though more through his sheer will to win than his performance with the ball. Ronaldo had a quiet game, though with the lack of service and lack of support it wasn't his fault. And thankfully he remained sensible and didn't try and beat five men every time he got the ball handing the ball straight back to Barca.
The real heroes of the night, again, were the defence, with Ferdinand absolutely outstanding again and Brown, Evra and the versatile Hargreaves not far behind. As much possession as the Catalan outfit had they never really threatened to score, their best chance probably fell to second half substitute Henry who had a golden chance to equalise but could only direct his header straight into the hands of Van Der Sar.
The second half saw United start to show the form we had hoped for and Tevez and Nani both had good chances but couldn't put the tie beyond Barca. Then came the last 20 minutes as Barca completely dominated proceedings without really creating any decent openings. Giggs and Fletcher both came on and to be honest contributed nothing as United just stuck everybody behind the ball and played for the 1-0. If Rooney had been playing they would have been ripe for the counter attack, but United did the job they were told to do.
So Moscow here we come. I won't be going, though I'd love to, lack of funds bla bla. I hope the right people get their hands on the tickets and the United fans that do go do United as proud as we all hope the shirts on the pitch hopefully do. Like most proper reds i will be rooting for the rentboys tonight for the obvious reasons. If we do get them it will be a good chance to get revenge for last years cup final and last Saturday's league defeat. I have got to say as long as we are able to put out our best eleven i really fancy our chances of making it a third champions league victory.

A real Manchester United hero
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/european/redheaded-man-directs-ronaldo-to-the-promised-land-818150.html