Manchester United Vs Barcelona Preview. There Will Be Goals.

By: Rob | April 28th, 2008

The first leg threatened to be more entertaining that it ever was, but as I said in the preview to the last game, the second leg was always, always gonna be the biggie. Excited? You damn well should be. Some of the best players in the world will not only be out on the pitch, but will also be going all out to win the game. Ronaldo, Messi, Eto’o, Henry, Rooney, Deco, Tevez and many more. If you get bored, there’s also a Drinking Game you can play. Here, I am going to answer all your questions about the Champions League semifinal.

Why Should I be excited?
Mainly because they are two of the best attacking teams in Europe, and they now have no excuse but to attack. In fact whoever doesn’t attack is going to be exiting the competetion. To misquote the title of teh Daniel Day-Lewis film, There Will Be Goals.

Who is going to win?
What is exciting is that it could go either way. United probably go in favourites, they held Barca at Camp Nou, and United are always better at home than away. But Barca have so much talent in the side that if they play together, its pretty hard to write them off. If there are goals, as I expect, a draw will also be good enough for Barca to progress on away goals.

Who is going to score?
I’m thinking its time for Samuel Eto’o to have an absolutely amazing night. Dunno why, I just have a feeling about him. Ronaldo seems to score just about every game so it’d be wise to back him.

Will the big players actually turn up?
Well Messi was only coming back from injury last week and showed a fair bit of promise, after resting the weekend there’s a good chance he’ll make the 90, and show how good he is. C-Ron has got a lot of critisism from (myself included) alot of people about going missing in big matches, but perhaps he’ll be spurred on by winning PFA player of the year. Eto’o will depend on whether he can keep his temper in check, and Ronney will a) depend on whether he plays and b) depend on whether he plays wing. I did argue before the first leg - largely to myself - who the better player between Messi and Ronnie is, and tonight we might find out.

Is it going to cause lots of arguments again?
Last time there was a bit of a spat over at the C-Ron Offside. Could happen again, which will be entertaining even if the game is a let down. Especially if your drunk.

Is this really the ‘real final’?
Alot of people having been saying this is the ‘real final’. Well it certainly looks more inviting than the potential finals as a spectacle - although Chelsea proved the weekend that the neutral should be supporting them to get through. As for whoever wins the game winning the CL - I dunno about that, you can’t ever write off Liverpool in Europe, and Chelsea are looking like they are thriving under the pressure.

What effect will the weekends games have on either side?
Barca, finally realising that the title was over in Spain rested most of thier big guns, notably Leo Messi and Samuel Eto’o. Man United on the other hand had a game against Chelsea to deal with which could have sealed the title. They rested a few players (Evra, Scholes, Ronaldo - though he did come on, Tevez) but the bad news for United is that Wayne Rooney limped off and is touch and go for Tuesday, and Vidic, who only just has come back from injury, got a face full of Drogba’s knee and came off with a concussion and a tooth through his lip.

So It’ll be worth it this time?
Yes. Or your money back. If Sam thought that the last game was amazing, I fully expect his head to explode from this one. So that’ll be worth coming back here for, surely?

Category: Barcelona, Champions League, Manchester United, Semi-Final

Tags: Barcelona, Bojan Krkic, Carlos Tevez, Champions League, Cristiano Ronaldo, Deco, Leo Messi, Manchester United, Rio Ferdinand, Semi-Final, Semifinal, Thierry Henry, Vidic, Wayne Rooney

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Comments  

• Mat |  April 28th, 2008 at 5:05 am

  
  
  

  I think Ferguson has got his rotation wrong..There is no problem in kids of the age of Ronaldo, Rooney and Tevez playing 3 games in 6 days…if they have been rested properly beforehand,, I think the Milan game from last year has gone into Fergie’s brain big time and he insists on having everyone “fit”..throughout the run-in over the last month or so, he played all of them in most of the games and now he is resting them in big big games..I can just remember Ronaldo and Rooney playing 90 mns of the Villa game with score at 2-0 after 30mns…agreed they are fresher than this time last year..but all of them should have played/started the chelsea game on saturday..

  Posted from United States

  

• Rob |  April 28th, 2008 at 6:09 am

  
  
  

  Well what got me about his resting players, was that in his post-match rant at the Ref (unjustified in my view) he wondered why it happened in the “biggest game of the season” - it might have been irrelevant if he had actually played his best XI. If it was that big a game for him.

  Posted from United Kingdom

  

• Mat |  April 28th, 2008 at 7:01 am

  
  
  

  I think what has happened is the constant media barrage has affected him and he also knows that United has the best squad( not the deepest, but the best playing currently)..so this year he is under an extra pressure to win something..so he is going all defensive (plus the fact that he could actually afford to loose the Chelsea game)..he does not have the usual player injury or any excuses this time…I am definitely disappointed the way United played in the first leg..

  Now, I am not saying that putting an emphasis on defense is wrong but they played aweful..you have to at least try a lil to go and attack at least when Barca slows down a little…they never really came out of their half..whenever Ronaldo got the ball he had to run all the way to their goal and do it all alone…

  Posted from United States

  

• Rob |  April 28th, 2008 at 1:40 pm

  
  
  

  I agree totally with you Mat. But they will hopefully be a bit more attacking at home, they normally are I guess.

  Posted from United Kingdom

  

• HU |  April 29th, 2008 at 2:22 am

  
  
  

  It was obvious to all watching the first leg that Barcelona dominated possession. They had 42′ 39” of ball possession compared to just 26′ 10” for Man Utd, possessing the ball for 61% of the time to Man Utd’s 39%. The home team stacked up 16 shots, 8 on target, compared to the away team’s 5 shots, 1 on target. And to all those saying Barcelona did not have any great chances, you are wrong. Samuel Eto’o missed a very good opportunity and later stayed on his feet when falling would have surely won his team a penalty, plus his team had plenty of free-kicks in very dangerous positions.
  There are a number of approaches to taking on Barcelona, two of which revolve around Xavi: one is to attempt to prevent him from getting on the ball, leaving other areas open; another is to let him have the ball but limit his passing options by shutting down wing play and Deco in the attacking central role. The other options, which are too risky, are to play like Man Utd did in the first leg and keep 8 defenders on the field while letting Barcelona dominate possession or to attack them and have an end to end game, which again is too risky.
  The approach to Xavi is the key. I think a better approach than packing the centre is to prevent passing options, something Schalke did, thus letting Barcelona have slightly more possession but removing their domination of possession and the effectiveness of this. Is this not packing the defence? No because it gives you more possession than you would otherwise have to place Barcelona under pressure, thus giving you more time to expose their defensive weaknesses, something Man Utd can do probably better than any other team in the world. Why is this better than preventing Xavi from getting the ball? Schalke showed one can have possession against Barcelona. Why take a risk against something that has worked? Imitate Schalke’s style - Man Utd have a much better attack than Schalke so them having similar possession to Schalke will translate into much more than what Schalke achieved.
  Will Man Utd follow this strategy? It means a lot of clever patience for the central midfield, back-tracking for the left midfielder (Park)and heavy running for the full-backs, especially Evra on the left (Barcelona play predominantly down their right, event when Messi is not playing). Let us see on Tuesday night.
  HU
  soccerstatistics.blogspot.com - for in-depth football statistical analysis

  Posted from Israel

  

• Rob |  April 29th, 2008 at 2:36 am

  
  
  

  HU that’s a fantastic post, and consider yourself favourited.

  I think United could play either of the Xavi-related options that you speak of, if they play Hargreaves in midfield with Carrick. This would give them plenty of bodies in the middle to stop Xavi playing. It does need a big game from Evra and Brown. If ever you United fans wanted the G-Nev back, it’d be about now.

  What is interesting from that point of view is that it might well be Scholes playing in midfield not Carrick or Hargreaves, Sir Alex seems to be letting sentiment get in the way when it comes to Scholes and Giggs - he’s already promised them a start in the final if United get there. But I think in this particular game, maybe Carrick and Hargreaves would be better. Unless he imitates Barca’s formation and goes with all three, and puts Scholes in Deco’s position basically.

  Posted from United Kingdom

  

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