Olympique Marseille and Manchester United stalemate – Round 16 UEFA Champions League match update
Olympique Marseille held Manchester United to a stalemate draw in the first leg of UEFA Champion’s League last 16 round encounter at the Velodrome on Wednesday night. Neither team managed to open the scoring as they played to a draw.
Didier Deschamps made several changes to his starting line-up that beat Saint-Etienne 2-1 over the weekend. Injured Andre-Pierre Gignac was replaced by http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jordan-Ayew-c19098 in a 4-3-2-1 formation for the hosts. Sir Alex Ferguson also made host of changes to the team
that beat Crawley Town at the weekend. United opted for a 4-5-1 formation, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chris-c9006 Smalling as the pair deputized for injured
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Rio-Ferdinand-c31173 respectively.
Both sides looked to make early inroads at the start of the half. United dominated the play in the opening five minutes and created a couple of openings, which were comfortably dealt by the hosts.
The first chance of the game fell United’s way in the ninth minute. Nani’s shot from a free kick fell into the path of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Fletcher-c10361 just outside the box. The Scott forced Steve Madanda into a brilliant save down to his right to deny United an early lead.
United had the lion’s share of possession in the opening 30 minutes and dominated the territory as well, but failed to break against the resolute Marseille defence. None of the teams threatened the goal as both teams went goalless in the first half.
The second half started at the same pace, as United dominated possession but couldn’t convert it into chances. The first real chance of the half went the visitor’s way, just after the hour mark. Loic Remy made a blistering run into the box and got past Michael
Carrick and http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Nemanja-Vidic-c27550 and went behind for a corner.
The hosts enjoyed a beautiful spell of passing and created a few goal scoring opportunities but to no avail. The two teams struggled to break the deadlock but they ended up with a draw.
The second leg will be played at Old Trafford on 15th March 2010.
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