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Article by Mark Graham, Editor, Record Keeper & Official
Reporter @ MUFCINFO.COM.
Inter Milan and especially Jose Mourinho can count
themselves lucky that this tie is not already over, in the
game at the San Siro last night Manchester United either
played so well they made Inter look average, or Inter played
so poorly United looked fantastic.
The Reds simply destroyed The Special One's tactics &
pulverized the Italian Champions especially in the 1st half,
however despite United's dominance & impressive mature
European performance, the game still hangs in the balance
when the two sides meet at Old Trafford due to the 0-0
flattering to Inter score line.
Opting for a grafting workman like midfield as we suspected
in our match preview, SAF chose to exploit Inter Milan &
their lack of width buy forcing Milan to play through a five
United man midfield which Jose's side looked very
uncomfortable playing against.
With JSP playing a crucial role importantly shackling Maicon
the Milanese teams only real natural width, Ryan Giggs,
Michael Carrick & Darren Fletcher controlled midfield with
ease in a brilliant passing & retaining of possession type
display.
The Two Jonnies both passed late fitness tests before the
match & Wayne Rooney & Carlos Tevez were part of the subs
bench.
In the cold light of day United batter Jose's men from
pillar to post & if indeed it was a boxing match it would
have been stopped as Inter goalkeeper Julio Cesar was
peppered from the start.
Cristiano Ronaldo before 20 had even gone could have easily
have had four goals as a brace of free-kicks and headers saw
action for the home sides keeper.
With a thankless lone front man role administered upon
Dimitar Berbatov, the fantastically gifted United forward of
whom your reporter is a huge fan (Editor: not the kind
who expect him to run around like, Smith, Rooney, Tevez)
was infrequently involved such was the success of United's
midfield.
The Homes side sometimes racist & unforgiving fans began
early showing increased frustration at their teams failure
to live with United as in between the glut of Ronaldo
chances, the feckless Nelson Rivas who would eventually be
subbed by "the Special one" allowed Ryan Giggs to escape &
with maybe a little extra thought, the Welsh Wizard could
have played in Berbatov, but chose to shoot at the
impressive Cesar.
With clumsy tackling aplomb, United continued to control
possession & pin back Inter Milan & with nothing but scraps
to feed off, the prolific Goalscoring tandem & Jose claimed
"World's Best Player"
Ibrahimovic & his partner Adriano appeared in a daze as the
1st half ended without a shot at goal from either.
Shortly before the half Inter finally made some footage for
the highlight reel as substitute reserve keeper
Francesco
Toldo was booked on the touchline for dissent & Luis Figo
was lucky to escape a card as frustrations from the Inter
bench boiled over.
Without his old bankrolled job in England where Mourinho had
the pick of the transfer market and inherited a team of
Ranieri's seeing Arsenal, Manchester United & Liverpool all
at a disadvantage trying to rebuild aging squads, the self
proclaimed "Special One" moved to Inter once the going got
tough, and in the early going in Italy with success on the
back of league titles notably with limited pressure due to
both "BIG" clubs in Italy, Juventus & AC Milan relegated for
"cheating, lying & deceiving" don't back against another
fall out with management as both relegated clubs begin to
find their feet after the disgrace of match fixing etc etc.
Jose has had it good wherever he has been & in your
reporters opinion if it wasn't for his diving cheating Porto
side (ask Celtic fans about the UEFA Cup Final) & the
Scholes disallowed goal a few years back, the guy wouldn't
even be talked about now. Jose now has to perform at
his current club & with Inter's owners shelling out many
Euro millions in order to pay Jose's wages they will want to
see more value for their money especially in the European
Cup than the defeats at home from a Greek team, exiting the
competition at the hands of Liverpool & what had transpired
in the second half on this night.
After half time Mourinho's team looked better, as Veteran
hardman defender Ivan Cordoba was switched for the utter shi*e
Nelson Rivas even if only marginally better as Brazilian
Adriano shot wide after the restart then dived for a penalty
under Ferdinand's challenge with Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo
deciding against any sort of spot kick.
The home side continued their improved start to the second
half as Dejan Stankovic shot wide & Zlatan
Ibrahimovic was marginally flagged for offside.
United took a while to wake up after a resurgent Inter side
had created a threat and as United began to build momentum
again Veteran Zanetti cleared extreme danger for Inter as
Ronaldo's low cross to the back post was block by the
Argentine.
Ryan Giggs then forced a block from Cordoba at which the
impressive Michael Carrick skied the rebound leaving United
perplexed as to why the game was not far out of site.
With
Esteban Cambiasso now seeing
plenty more of the ball for Inter the home side looked far
better going forward although still not really threatening
EVDS & again United went close after good work by the
dangerous Cristiano Ronaldo saw his cross inches wide of a
connection from JSP.
Wayne Rooney saw a late 10 minutes of action as the Striker
forced a save from Cesar & also found himself with a
iniquitous yellow card after a firm & fair tackle on
Stankovic
saw his reputation go before him.
With only seconds left Cordoba fouled Ronaldo on the edge of
the box & in gunslinger stance for the umpteenth time in the
game the World Player of the year almost knocked the smile
off Jose's face as his searing free kick smashed off the
chest of the quite brilliant Cesar as the referee blew the
final whistle.
In the funny game of Football on this form, United should
comfortably defeat Inter, but it goes on the night's
performance & lets hope come 10.00pm GMT March 11th 2009,
United get what they should have had from this match & Inter
are well on the way to being out of the European Cup.
What's your
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