UCL: Arsenal 1 Man Utd 3
The road to Rome and the Champions League final on 27 May was decorated with three United goals in an half-empty Emirates stadium.
A first half blitz from Manchester United destroyed Arsenal’s dreams of a Champions League final as the trophy holders cruised to a 4-1 aggregate semi-final win.
Arsene Wenger’s young side never recovered from losing two goals in two minutes in the thrilling opening stages of the game.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men kept matters simple as they controlled the match, and it wasn’t until 74 minutes that the home side found reward for their efforts as the game drifted towards the final whistle.
Ji Sung Park opened the scoring after nine minutes. A slip from Gunners left-back Kieran Gibbs presented the winger with the ball on the six yard line and the South Korean captain kept his cool to squeeze the ball past Manual Almunia.
Two minutes later Ronaldo struck another trademark free-kick from 41-yards out, taking advantage of some poor positioning from Almunia.
Strangely, nobody expected Ronaldo to have a pop at goal and the Portuguese prodigy produced a simple yet inspired shot to beat the Arsenal stopper on his right post.
With United’s confidence soaring against the ashen-faced home side, it was Ronaldo who scored the third on 61 minutes as the visitors swept from box to box in perhaps the best move of the game.
Ronaldo, Park and Rooney combined just three passes to reach the Arsenal box, and slam the ball into the net.
On 74 minutes disaster struck for Darren Fletcher when he tangled with Cesc Fabregas in his own box, reaching the ball but incurring a straight red for his troubles.
Uefa immediately clarified that there could be no appeal to enable the Scot to take part in the final later this month.
Robin Van Persie slammed home the penalty, adding some balance to a score line until then hadn’t reflected Arsenal’s contribution.
So it’s onward bound to Rome to face either Barcelona or Chelsea who do battle tonight.
Posted on May 6, 2009 | Filed Under Football
Leave a Reply
