It all looked rosy after just 66 seconds. It wasn’t that bad after 77 minutes either. What happened in the 92nd minute was a big blow, but might turn out to be just a minor one come the second leg. In the 93rd, Manchester United had a real problem.
The sight of Wayne Rooney limping off the Allianz Arena pitch last night was the last one that United – and England, for we are obliged to say it – wanted to see. Franck Ribéry’s free-kick – deflected off Rooney – and Ivica Olić’s late, late pickpocketing of Patrice Evra might yet prove to be incidental come the second leg. The last time that United lost the first leg of a quarter final 2-1 in 2007, they beat Roma 7-1 in the second at Old Trafford. Such a result would be pure fantasy without Rooney.
While the whole of the country waits on a scan on his ankle injury, it will take a lot more to prevent Rooney from being on the pitch when England face the USA in their first World Cup match on June 12th.
That is 72 days away, but in four days time United face Chelsea, and a week from today they’ll set about trying to overturn this deficit against Bayern. Without their 34-goal top scorer, that becomes a mountainous task.
The newspapers have had their fill. An over-reaction to Rooney’s injury was inevitable – it is seemingly all that the English public have worried about throughout his extended run of stunning form this season – but it is United who will feel his absence more.
They almost scored too early last night – both Sir Alex Ferguson and Darren Fletcher said it. Rooney’s second-minute strike would have put United’s gameplan out of the window. This team of Ferguson’s – which has evolved and improved in Europe ever since a defeat to Bayern in this competition in 2001 – is largely a defensive one on the continent. Their early goal angered Bayern rather than rattled them.
Driven on by their captain Mark van Bommel from midfield, suddenly Ribéry was floating like a butterfly, Olić stung like a bee in the dying moments, but it needn’t be a knockout blow.
United have a terrific European pedigree at home, but it will be tested to the limit when Bayern visit one week from today. It will be a Bayern with an added Arjen Robben and a bonus Bastian Schweinsteiger. Ribéry will be rushing around too – three players who will relish hitting a Rooney-less United on the break.
If he is out, the Liverpool-born forward will leave a huge hole in the Manchester United team.
England can expect him to be fit in 10 weeks’ time, but his club might be less fortunate ahead of what looks like a crucial run of games.
“I don’t think it’s terribly serious,” said Ferguson.
It might be for their title and Champions League hopes.
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