Article by Mark Graham, Stats Nerd

Match Preview
UCL,1st K.O. Stage, 2nd Leg, Manchester United 1 v 0 LOSC  Lille, Old Trafford, Manchester, 19.45 GMT, Wednesday 7th March 2007.
Goals: Manchester United: Larsson (72),  LOSC Lille: n/a
Attendance: 75,182

A lacklustre United scraped through to the Quarter finals of the European Cup with a patchy, shaky display thanks to a Henrik Larsson header in the last portion of the game claiming the victory.  United didn't exactly send shock waves through Europe with the performance but will enter the draw later in the week with as good of a chance of success in the competition as any of the other teams that are left.  Opting to leave last match hero Ryan Giggs on the bench & play the SAF snore European tactic of the packed midfield of O'Shea, Carrick & Scholes with Rooney switched to his wing position & Larsson playing the lone front man United would always be a recipe for ugly football & once again this proved the case as an organised visiting side made life difficult for United, stifling the home side.

As Lille seemingly happy with defending against United sat back and tried defending happy with counter attacking at any opportunity trying to catch the Reds on the break, United's first sight on goal came from Paul Scholes who attacking the Stretford End in the 1st half cross to Rooney who's volley was blocked by Chalme for a corner. From the resulting Carrick corner, John O'Shea met his midfield partners ball with a forceful header, but the Irishman's posture suggested he was always struggling to gain full control over the direction of his header & the ball struck the bar.

Lille then replied through Makoun with a header from Obraniak's free-kick but EVDS was right place, right time.

Obviously the French visitors still smarting from the quickly taken 1st Leg free kick, showed their game plan as United's first free kick where a shooting opportunity was an option the French side sent two players in front of kick taker Paul Scholes & the ball. eliminating any sort of quickly taken effort.  With United's movement & passing anything but normal, the game was always in the balance as United's guilty culprits gave possession away to Lille's counter attack option making the game boring but open. 

Before the half United might have had a penalty as Ronaldo was booked by referee Luis Medina Cantalejo for diving , the winger after the decision made gestures toward the United bench to watch the replay shortly after flailing his arms wildly & considerably.


The second half started with Lille pressing for a equalising goal as our one to watch Abdul Kader Keita's borough a save from long range from EVDS. After United failed to clear a dangerous free kick by Obraniak, Odemwingie's header was unfortunate not to beat United's keeper.

United replied with a Vidic set piece and the Serbanator almost broke the deadlock as his header from a Rooney free kick went just over the bar.

With only a half hour left and no tell tale goal from United, Lille would grow with each second, however after some  trickery on the wing after beating two Lille players, Ronaldo crossed for Larsson who headed into the net for 2-0 on aggregate.

Even though United were 2-0 up over the two legs, any sort of reply from Lille would change the entire game making an interesting finale for both United & Lille , however after United replaced goal hero Larsson to rapturous applause for his final appearance at Old Trafford matched equally by Alan Smith return to action, the French side had no reply except to bring on substitutes Nicolas Fauvergue and Kevin Mirallas.

By the time the final whistle was blown for United's progress into the last eight, another player was lost to injury as Mikael Silvestre was stretchered off with what looked like a nasty shoulder injury.

A big up goes to Brother John & Dick Hester.

I also received some shocking bad news whilst travelling on our branch bus, a life long United fan Carl Faulkener from Egremont in West Cumbria tragically & unexpectedly died whilst in Edinburgh at the weekend, I first met Carl in the treble season where he was one of bunch of Lads I would watch European Aways games with, Rest in peace mate.

United Starting Line-up
Ratings in parenthesis
van der Sar (6); Neville (6), Vidic (6), Ferdinand (6), Silvestre (5); Ronaldo (6), Scholes (6), Carrick (5), O'Shea (6), Rooney (5); Larsson (7).
Subs Used: Smith (6) for Larsson (74 mins), Park (5) for Rooney (82 mins), Richardson (5) for Ronaldo (82 mins).
Subs not used: Kuszczak, Heinze, Brown, Giggs.

United's Man of the Match
Henrik Larsson in his last Champions League fixture for the club made it a goal in each competition he has played in for the Reds, in a dull match the Swede slightly shaded the MOTM award.

Keano16's Reaction
Through to the next stage and not exactly lighting up the sky's across Europe, Barcelona & Lyon both out, it seems to be one of those years where if your luck can start to make an appearance in some games, you just never know (Editor - We haven't had a glorious sun shining European Away for along time, anyone fancy Athens in May.
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Was Our Prediction Right?
No we said 2-0, United Rant 7 v 32 Wrong Predictions.

Milestones
Henrik Larsson's 1st UCL goal of his United career & 3rd goal overall.
Gary Neville is now tied for 5th place in the all time list of competitive career appearances with 529, he is tied with Tony Dunne

Miscellaneous Info
United’s next match is on Saturday 10th March 2007 (A) to Middlesbrough in the FA Cup, 17.30pm K.O.