Manchester United edge past Olympique Marseille to qualify for quarter-final of UEFA Champions League
A brace from Javier Hernandez helped Manchester United beat Olympique Marseille 2-1 in the second leg of the last 16 round of UEFA Champions League at Old Trafford on Tuesday evening.
United qualify for the quarter finals after winning 2-1 on aggregate basis, as the first leg ended in a 0-0 draw, three weeks back.
Sir Alex Ferguson made several changes to his team that played in the first leg. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nemanja-Vidic-c27550 failed to recover from an injury, as Wes Brown replaced him at the back.
On the other hand, Marseille manager, Didier Deschamps also made wholesale changes to his starting line-up from the first leg draw at the Stade Velodrome. Andre-Pierre Gignac returned from injury to partner Loic Remy upfront.
The game took off to a scintillating start, as United opened the scoring in the 5th minute. http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wayne-Rooney-c36736, who found Hernandez with a superb through ball and the Mexican tapped home from close range to give United an early advantage.
The visitors knew that a draw would send them through to the quarter-finals and they did not let their heads down and almost carved their way to an equaliser in the 9th minute. Andre Ayew played a lovely flick over http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chris-c9006 Smalling’s head to put Gignac clear on goal, but the French international’s awful finish went over Edwin Van Der Sar’s goal.
United dominated the possession with 65 percent of the share in the opening half hour but neither team created any clear cut opportunities after the early chances.
Just before the half time whistle, Smalling had a wonderful opportunity to double United’s tally but the centre back could not control his header from Nani’s corner and the ball flew just over the bar.
The second half witnessed a slow beginning, as United looked to take a cautious approach to the game. Neither of the two teams threatened each other’s goal on a consistent basis.
The first real chance of the half came in the 74th minute, when http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Bruno-Cheyrou-c8113 came on the end of Remy’s cross but his weak effort from close range was easily handled by Van der Sar.
A minute later, United doubled their lead to strengthen their charge for a quarter final position. Substitute http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Antonio-Valencia-c6345 was the architect of a wonderful move; after the Ecuadorian played a wonderful pass to Giggs, who squared it for Hernandez and the Mexican did nothing wrong to make it 2-0 for the hosts.
Five minutes later, the visitors managed to pull one goal back, after http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Wes-Brown-c36791 headed into his own net from Marseille’s corner kick, to make it 2-1.
The game was back open, as just one moment of brilliance could have taken Marseille to the next round but United showed nerves of steel to hold onto a slender lead and progress to the quarter finals.
The draws for the last-eight round will be held on Friday, 18th March.
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