UEFA Champions League Semifinal: Match Report: Manchester United vs. Schalke’ 04 (2nd Leg) – Part 1
Manchester United played host to Schalke’ 04 at Old Trafford, last night, May 4th, in the second-leg of the UEFA Champions League semifinal.
Having beaten Schalke in the first-leg by two goals to nil, United were looking to go easy on the Germans as a number of key players were rested for the game by Alex Ferguson.
Despite all the confidence shown by United, there was an interesting fact that Schalke were unbeaten in their last four away Champions League games. Their last away win was a 5-2 thrashing of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Inter-c39567 Milan, the defending European champions.
After much anticipation, the match eventually got underway with United being the dominant side in the game. However, despite United had started the proceedings on the night, it was Schalke who created the first chance of the game.
In the 8th minute of the match, Farfan was given far too much space in the middle of the park and as a result, the attack minded player went on to unleash a valiant effort at the United goal but his shot was off target.
The notable aspect of this effort was the fact that Farfan managed to evade Johnny Evans, who was flying in with a challenge, prior to his shot.
In the 14th minute, United finally started to turn things in their favour as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Manuel-Neuer-c23424 with ease.
In the 26th minute of the game, United scored the opening goal of the match.
Darren Gibson played a delightful through ball to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Antonio-Valencia-c6345, who then went on to calmly stroke a low finish into the Schalke goal beyond the on-rushing Neuer.
A minute later, in the 27th minute, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gonzalez-c15099 tried to get his side back into the equation. However, the striker’s header managed to loop straight into Edwin van der Sar’s hands and as a result, United held onto their lead.
Continued in Part 2
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