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Manchester United 1 v 0 Lyon,
Old Trafford,
Manchester,
19.45pm, Tuesday 4th March
2008.
Goals:
Manchester United - Ronaldo
(41).
Lyon:
n/a.
Attendance: 75,521
With a 2-1 aggregate victory,
Manchester United booked themselves into the Champions
League quarter-finals after a below par performance from
the Reds was enough to beat French outfit Lyon.
Cristiano Ronaldo was again on target for the Reds
notching up a wonderful tally so far this season of 30,
however the prolific United youngster was by no means at
his best after a poor all-round performance compared to
his usual high standard.
SAF chose the 4-3-3 which demolished Arsenal and the same
that worked to
limited success in Lyon with Ronaldo & Nani supplying
ammunition for Wayne Rooney. Anderson, Carrick & the
arguably the one true standout performance of the night
Darren Fletcher made up midfield as United searched for an
opener & commanded the opening period of the match which
was only matched by the organisation of the visitors
defence.
Ronaldo &
Nani gave a glimpse of a mouth-watering future prospect
after Ryan Giggs's days as they created danger making the
bullets for Rooney.
Darren Fletcher then struck long range effort wide before
Anderson & Nani combined well only for the Brazilian
to fail to
convert his chance.
Lyon
responded with a shot from Kim Kallstrom which EVDS saved
as the French visitors had a prolonged spell of pressure.
United then took a fortunate lead after Nani found Brown,
Anderson then had a shot blocked which fell to Ronaldo who
reacted quickest finishing passed Coupet 5 minutes before
the half time whistle.
With a slender lead obtained United were certainly not at
their best as the more flamboyant players failed to make
an impression, Both teams exchanged half chances with both
sets of defenders gaining the upper hand as Juninho tried
a speculative shot from distance never troubling EVDS
before Evra passed to Carrick finding his shot blocked.
Juninho again tried an ambitious attempt with a 30 yard
free kick which Ronaldo cleared well with a header.
Far from the tie being safe Lyon, dangerous on the counter
almost made United pay dearly as
Benzema passed to overlapping full back Clerc but the
defender wasted a golden chance crossing poorley.
In an adventurous move SAF brought on Tevez for Anderson
in a bid to put the game to bed on 70 minutes & it almost
paid off after Wayne Rooney released the "Apache" only to
see his chance blocked.
With time
running out for Lyon & United still in the lead the game
almost changed for the worse as Kader Keita struck a shot off the post.
United not to be outdone then were gifted a chance as a
back pass from Hatem Ben Arfa gave Wayne Rooney an opening,
but the England Striker's chip was to leave him frustrated
as Coupet saved well.
An
exasperating night continued for
Rooney with less than five minutes left as he was again out of luck
in-front of goal after good work from Tevez.
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