Manchester United vs Valencia, recap part 2
Another addition to the starting line-up of Manchester United was the Korean skipper, Ji-Sung Park. The Korean winger started in place of legendary and Premiership best player, Ryan Giggs, who injured his leg in the last fixture
against Bolton Wanderers.
Ji-Sung Park struggled to cope with a buccaneering mentality of Valencia’s right-back Miguel. Valencia’s right back didn’t let Ji-Sung Park create any problems for the home side. Miguel expertly marked Park on the right side and
dominated him for a whole ninety minutes.
Moreover, Nani was also unimpressive in the match. The Portuguese winger, on the left flank, showed a typical lack of consistency with his finishing ball. Anderson, on the other hand, showed some glimpses of being able to support
the attack. The Brazilian midfielder was handed an attacking role and was instructed to sit deeper to quash the threat of the hosts’ midfield.
However, the Spanish side started the second half brightly. Valencia’s lively Pablo worked the free space on the pitch efficiently. Along with that Pablo expertly took advantages of the gaps left by Rafael on the right flank. The
midfielder took the benefit of the situation and cut inside into United's box. Pablo tried a long range effort but it went above the bar.
Dimitar had a superb opportunity to put his team in front after the sole striker of United turned away from Valencia’s defender but goalkeeper, Cesar Sanchez, denied the effort from United’s striker with a brilliant save.
Midway through the second half, the Spanish side decided to play their familiar regular formation as Aritz Aduriz was brought on to partner Soldado in attack. Valencia changed their formation to 4-4-2 despite playing 4-5-1 in the first half. Following the substitution
of Aritz, both the strikers instantly combined, but Soldado’s shot on goal was efficiently stopped by United’s number one.
The second half replicated the first in as much as both teams failed to produce clear cut opportunities. The Red Devils got very close to scoring in the last six minutes of the match. When Nani’s pin point cross was met by Javier
Hernandez at the back post but his headed effort only hit the bar.
In the end, Manchester United scored a goal one minute after they hit the woodwork. Thanks to both the impact substitutes of Red Devils that produced the difference. Along with that the goal came from the two relatively less experienced players.
Federico Macheda expertly fed the ball to Hernandez on the edge of the box. The new signing of Sir Alex Ferguson darted past both central defenders and scored a vital and decisive goal of the night by placing the ball neatly into
the bottom corner.
The home side exerted some pressure in the final minutes, but Red Devils were able to display resilience at the defence to keep the hosts at bay. Manchester United’s manager would be pleased with the win as their European campaign
is now ignited, but even more promising is the way the English giants didn’t concede a single goal against the current leaders of Spanish La Liga.
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