Manchester United vs. Arsenal Leg 1 Recap
Old Trafford was buzzing prior to kickoff as the Red Devils were set to host Premier League counterparts Arsenal. After a scoreless draw in yesterday’s semifinal spectators were hungry for action and a match full of goals. Manchester United entered the match with a record 23 match unbeaten streak in the Champions League competition. The Gunners entered with their heads high too as they have a 20 match unbeaten streak going for themselves in the Premier League.
Once underway the game speed was immediately at full pace. The second minute was when United put their first threat on the Arsenal defense as Darren Fletcher sent a cross in from the right wing and Rooney out jumped Sagna to get a lobbing header on target that Almunia was happy to just pat wide. Seconds later an Adebayor giveaway and a Gibbs slip lead to another scare as Ronaldo blazed a ball through the goalmouth untouched.
In the 17th minute Carlos Tevez did a tremendous job to set O’Shea free on the wing and run onto the right wing defender’s cross only to be robbed by the Arsenal keeper Almunia not once but twice. Arsenal wasn’t as lucky on the ensuing corner kick when Manchester United broke trough on the score sheet courtesy of John O’Shea. Michael Carrick did a nifty job to control the corner on the far side of the area and send a cross back across the box where it was deflected by an Arsenal defender right to O’Shea, who made no mistake about smashing in it into the net off of Almunia’s hand.
Arsenal had the first moment in the 27th minute when Walcott was able to use his speed to dribble to space and play Adebayor who laid back for Fabregas to give it a go, but his shot was easily gathered by Van der Sar.
Almunia made yet another terrific save in the 29th minute when the pesky Argentine Carlos Tevez once again played a effective ball this time directly to Ronaldo’s head only for Almunia to make a special sliding save. Ronaldo seconds later sent another sharp shot towards Almunia, but the keeper was once again up to the task.
The Red Devils dominated the first half. Arsenal struggled to play their attractive style of football, as they could barely keep possession of the ball and an excellent half for keeper Almunia only shielded their lack of organization in the back.
Cristiano Ronaldo awakened the slow second half of play in the 69th minute when he was giving a few yards of space and lashed a buzzing shot off the crossbar from about 25 yards out. Almunia had no chance, but the bar saved his biscuits.
Arsenal did a better job at keeping possession at times in the second half but nothing really arose from it. Manchester United still seemed to be the only team to really constantly be a threat to score on their opponent.
In the 86th minute substitute Nicolas Bendtner was able to flick his head onto a dangerous free kick missing the target even though the keeper Van der Sar had left his net in a charging attempt to punch away the ball. This was the last of the opportunities on the night as Manchester United took the first leg 1-0 at Old Trafford.
Manchester United clearly was the controlling force in this match. They dominated the midfield and their flowing attack constantly had the Arsenal defense under pressure. A great match from Almunia was all that kept this match from being a three or four nil victory.
The second leg in London will command a lot more from Arsenal if they want to survive in the UEFA Champions League. They are going to need Van Persie’s fitness as the attack was obviously weak without his presence.
Player Ratings
Manchester United
Van der Sar- 5.5 Got a quiet clean sheet, despite almost being punished on a late free kick when he came up empty when charging off his line.
Evra- 6.5 Played a key role in neutralizing the speedy Walcott. Was sharp in the back and barely made a mistake.
Vidic- 6.5 Solid and composed in the central defense. Cleared numerous cross attempts with ease and looked sharp at all times. Teamed well with Rio to stop Adebayor.
Ferdinand- 6.5 Solid match in the back, teamed well with Vidic to stop Adebayor.. Was barely challenged by the Arsenal attack and had to be subbed out late in the match after being bulldozed by his keeper Van der Sar.
O’Shea- 7.0 The lone goal scorer has an excellent 5 minute run in the first half where he sent Tevez in for an excellent scoring chance that set up the corner kick that he scored on. Was barely challenged on defense and hardly mentioned in the second half.
Carrick- 6.5 Supplied nice balls from the middle and held fort in the defensive midfield with ease. Constantly in better position then his opponents.
Fletcher- 7.5 Was at the top of his game during the first half of play when he was constantly involved freeing teammates up all around the pitch with excellent distributions of the ball.
Anderson- 6.5 Was key in winning 50-50 balls in the middle of the pitch. Was disruptive for the Arsenal midfield and did a nice job pushing the ball into space and linking up with the Manchester attack.
Ronaldo- 6.5 Not the best of his matches but came close to scoring with a header in the first half and a remarkable buzzing shot off the bar in the second half, reminiscent of last rounds strike.
Rooney- 6.5 The scrappy aggressive Englishman served many balls into the area and was constantly a presence in the United attack.
Tevez- 8.0 The Argentine showed what he can do when giving the start. He was a complete nuisance to the Arsenal defense and a constant threat to set a teammate free for a chance on goal. Constantly running at defenders and pressuring the defense. Was subbed out mid way through the second half.
Substitutes-
Giggs- 5.5 Beat the last line of defense to score, but was fairly ruled to be just offside.
Berbatov- 6.0 Not as energetic and visibly productive as Tevez, but did a nice job holding up the attack and displaying his strength skill and composure when on the ball.
Evans-
Arsenal
Almunia- 8.0 The keeper was by far the best player for his Arsenal side. He is the lone reason there is a anticipation to watch the second leg because without his tremendous saves on Ronaldo, Tevez, and Rooney this tie would be over already.
Gibbs- 5.0 Nervous on the ball, but did a respectable job keeping Ronaldo relatively quiet even though he was nothing close to spectacular.
Sivestre- 5.0 Sloppy ineffective matches from the central defender. His deflection led to the lone goal of the match.
Toure- 5.5 Average match for the defender, nowhere near the performance his brother put on display a night earlier.
Sagna- 6.0 Was the best Arsenal had in the back on the night, but that is far from a complement.
Billong- 4.5 Was absolutely dominated in the center of the pitch. Was unproductive the entire match and did nothing to support the Arsenal defense.
Diaby- 5.0 Was also dominated in the midfield. Needs to step his game up to a totally different intensity in order to compete in the second leg.
Walcott- 6.0 Only really had a handful of possessions and though he may have had United fans holding their breathe with his speed on the ball he was barely a threat at all in this match
Nasri- 5.0 Was barely a part of the match at all. Had no production and really disappointed the Gunners.
Fabregas- 5.5 The playmaker did nothing to help Adebayor in the front. Had nowhere close to the match that Gunner fans expected from him.
Adebayor- 5.0 The striker from Togo couldn’t leave his imprint on this match. Was barely involved and left isolated for much of the match up front.
Substitutes-
Bendtner- 5.0
Eduardo-
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