UEFA Champions League – Half time review: Manchester United versus Valencia
Manchester United kicked off the match in freezing cold as the brighter of the two teams as Luis Nani drew the first foul of the match from Albelda, the Valencia midfielder rashly tackled the winger in the 4th minute of the match. The ensuing
free kick was taken shortly as Nani played it to Rafael Da Silva, the Brazilian full back played it back to Nani, who tried his luck on goal and just missed the near post of the Valencia goal by a whisker.
In the 6th minute, Anderson tried to play in Dimitar Berbatov but his pass was a bit more weighted than expected by the Bulgarian as the Valencia goal keeper collected the ball within his own penalty area. Valencia had their first chance to score
in the 10th minute as Ricardo Costa out jumped Rio Ferdinand to head the ball wide from inside the Manchester United penalty area.
It was a good jump by the former Porto player, who just couldn’t direct his header goal wards. In the 14th minute, Rooney played a glorious one-two with Anderson as Valencia’s defence was split open by Manchester United. However, the Brazilian
was lacklustre with his finishing as Valencia’s goalkeeper saved with ease.
In the 15th minute of the match, Dominguez stung Ben Amos’ hands with a shot from the left hand side. Nonetheless, the young goalie was equal to the task as he held onto the effort by the Valencia winger. In the 16th minute, Manchester
United broke but Berbatov’s cross to Park Ji Sung was just behind the South Korean captain as Valencia regained possession. Following his wasteful cross to Park, Berbatov had 2 more glorious chances to put Manchester United in front but on both the occasions,
his lack of composure with the ball let the Red Devils down as the score line remained at 0-0.
In the 30th minute of the match, Rooney crossed the ball into Valencia’s penalty area. However, the striker’s cross was connected with by Park but his first time volley was superbly saved by Valencia’s young goalkeeper as the score remained at
nil all. In the 32nd minute, Valencia made United pay for their lack of finishing as Carrick lost the ball in midfield which was then captured by Dominguez who played it to Pablo Hernandez. Pablo made no mistake as he gave his team the lead with
a fine finish.
Regardless, United didn’t lie down after going a goal down as Wayne Rooney hit the post in the 36th minute with a good curled shot which fell to Nani on the rebound. However, Nani was wasteful with his first time finish as Valencia retained their
lead. In the 43rd minute of the match, Anderson was booked by the referee due to his reckless tackle inside the Valencia half. The half time whistle was blown by the referee soon after as the first half ended with the score line at 0-1 to Valencia
at Old Trafford.
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