Man United Through To The Semi's

Manchester United are through to the semi-finals of the Champions League after beating Chelsea at Old Trafford this evening.

Teams:

Man United starting XI- Van Der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Carrick, Park, Giggs, Hernandez and Rooney.

Subs- Kuszczak, Brown, Berbatov, Smalling, Scholes, Valencia and Gibson.

Chelsea starting XI- Cech, Ivanovic, Alex, Terry, Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Anelka, Torres and Malouda.

Subs- Turnbull, Benayoun, Drogba, Mikel, Zhirkov, Ferreira and Kalou.

The Game:

Man United got off to the better start. Luis Nani was fouled by Branislav Ivanovic but the resulting free-kick was poor, then Wayne Rooney volleyed the ball from 35 yards out but was caught by Petr Cech.

Chelsea's first opportunity fell to Fernando Torres, who got onto the end of a cross by Nicolas Anelka and his header fell wide of the post. That was followed by two great chances for the away side. Anelka had a strike fall just wide of the post, then Frank Lampard hit a close range effort straight at Edwin Van Der Sar.

Javier Hernandez had the ball in the back of the net on the 27th minute but he was ruled offside. Rooney's cross in was headed past Cech by Hernandez but the goal was ruled out.

Van Der Sar had to make a fantastic save, just as it looked like Anelka might beat him to the ball, United's keeper made a brilliant tackle outside the box.

Man United took the lead in the 44th minute with a goal from Hernandez, after he was picked out by Ryan Giggs and the Mexican tapped home.

Carlo Ancelotti made an immediate change after half time, which was to bring on Didier Drogba for Torres. Drogba was an instant threat, who got on the end of a cross by Ivanovic but Vidic was there to block the ball.

Lampard and Florent Malouda both had efforts at goal within the opening minutes of the second half. Lampard scuffed his shot wide and Malouda volleyed wide from outside the area.
Drogba came close to pulling a goal back for Chelsea 57 minutes in after he turned past Rio Ferdinand but his shot drifted wide of the far post. Seconds later, Patrice Evra handed Chelsea a brilliant chance to threaten the Man United goal after the Frenchman fouled Drogba just outside the penalty area. The free-kick was cleared by United, Rooney down ran down the other end of the pitch and was fouled just outside the area by Lampard.

Nani came close to putting United 2-0 up (3-0 on aggregate) but Cech saved his low effort and pushed the ball behind for a corner. Giggs had an even better opportunity after a wonderful cross for Giggs, who miss-cued his header.

Chelsea were down to 10 men after Ramires was shown a second yellow card for a foul challenge from behind on Nani.

Man United's first and only substitution came in the 75th minute after Antonio Valencia came on for Nani.

It looked like the match was set for a nervy finish after Drogba gave Chelsea a glimmer of hope. Drogba was put through on goal by Michael Essien, he was judged to have been onside and he hit the ball past Van Der Sar.

Chelsea's celebrations didn't last long, literally only second later, Ji-Sung Park gave Man United the lead again. Giggs found Park on the left of the box and the South Korean smashed a low shot past Cech.

Chelsea continued to attack the United goal, Malouda forced a great save from Van Der Sar.

The game finished 2-1 to Manchester United (3-1 on aggregate) and Man United have made it through to the semi-final's of the UEFA Champions League.

One Response so far.

  1. DavidTheAlien says:

    Great game and nice article, really pleased with the result said it a few times now but it really felt like more than your typical QF tie. Just delighted with result everyone played there part as the team played very well. Giggsy's assists were just sublime and the finishing from Chicha and Park were excellent. Chicha's disallowed goal i thought was nicely take even if offside. Although Chelsea did out shoot us on the night i felt their efforts were more from range and individual attempts rather than United who looked very dangerous in final third and worked together to carve out opportunities.

    Roll on Schalke or Inter in the semis, cant wait.

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