Football Special Report: Chances of Manchester United in the UEFA Champions League – Part 2
Cristiano Ronaldo proved to be the “one man army” during his time at the English club and showed the world that he was worth the individual awards that he had earned. It is true that Ronaldo had a lot of experienced players around
him, but no one can forget the year 2008 when Manchester United were on top of every team only because of one player, who was later named the World Player of the Year.
Later, the very next year; many thought that Ronaldo has lost touch in English football but it was Manchester United yet again who proved to be outstanding not only in domestic but also European football. They managed to win the
English Premier League title and also came close to winning the European glory all over again.
The Red Devils, after defeating all the great teams in Europe, found their way in the final match of the UEFA Champions League. However, they could not really break the curse of the European competition and could not win the title
twice in a row, and were defeated by the Spanish giants Barcelona.
Barcelona, that year, were totally outstanding; they managed to win all the six trophies that they were competing for and all of this happened under their newly signed coach Josep Pep Guardiola. No one can forget how the Spanish
giants defeated the English club Chelsea on away goal advantage. It was Andres Iniesta who got the shot on target during the dying moments of the match and managed to win the game when the blues were actually celebrating victory.
With a Spain and English final, Manchester United was expected to do wonders. Many though that the Red Devils were the only team who could achieve the European title twice in a row; however, nothing really happened and Guardiola’s
side totally dominated the game.
With players like Samuel Eto’o, Lionel Messi, Thierry Henry, Andres Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, Carles Puyol, Gerard Pique and Daniel Alves included in the squad, the English were simply unmatchable and the Portuguese captain Cristiano
Ronaldo could not really help his team singlehandedly to score a few for his side.
The first chance for Manchester United did come early on but they could not really capitalize, as that shot on goal by the Red Devils was well answered by the Catalan giants. It was Samuel Eto’o who made a run past two defenders
and scored a fabulous goal to put the Catalan giants in front.
After the first goal, the English side simply gave up and barely had a shot on goal. Later, the Argentinean magician, Lionel Messi made a move forward and denied all critics who used to say that he never scored against an English
opposition. Lionel Messi made a move from the centre and the little-man headed the ball into the net while Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic were simply left stranded as both of them could not really match the pace of the Argentinean.
The match was won by the Spaniards but Manchester United still managed to win a silver medal in the European title. It was for the third time that the English side came in the UEFA Champions League final and it was for the first
time that they actually lost a final game in a European competition.
Even though Barcelona were in great form, Manchester United were considered to be the favourites for the competition and they were the ones who everyone thought were going to win it again. However, after Barcelona played some quality
football, they managed to knock out Sir Alex Ferguson’s side.
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