Prior to the game, Marseille coach Didier Deschamps, who was skipper when Marseille achieved its only success in the tournament back in 1993, stated that his priority was to keep a clean sheet and deny United that coveted away goal. Put that together with the fact that the team from Manchester was unbeaten in their last 10 away matches in Europe, and a stalemate looked the likely result.
A little spice was added to this tightly contested encounter with former United left back Gabriel Heinze turning out against his old club. Everyone was interested to see how the veteran Argentine international would cope with the speed and trickery of Nani.
In fact Heinze did a pretty good job for the most part, but that was in some measure due to the fact that, with Dimitar Berbatov on his own up front, there was generally a spare central defender available to help Heinze out when necessary.
Loic Remy and Andre Ayew looked bright for Marseille, while Nani, despite being unable to find much space in which to work, appeared to be the main attacking threat from the visitors. As it was, the game was played mostly in the middle third of the pitch for the first 45 minutes.
One or two decent crosses were delivered at either end, but without any final product to trouble either goalkeeper. The nearest either side came to a goal was when Marseille’s Steve Mandanda produced a decent save to deny Darren Fletcher trying his luck from the edge of the box.
The second half began much like the first, but Marseille stepped up a gear around the hour mark and put United under more pressure. Yet all they could manage on goal was a long-range header from Brazilian striker Brandao that was meat and drink for Edwin van der Sar.
A team that has gone 12 home games without defeat as Marseille have done are going to be well organized in defense, and United’s attempts to hit them on the break were proving fruitless, primarily because Wayne Rooney was playing so far back on the left side of midfield. With 18 minutes left, Sir Alex Ferguson replaced Darron Gibson with Paul Scholes, and Rooney was sent further forward to offer much needed support to Berbatov.
United certainly looked more likely to create something with Scholes pulling the strings, a greater presence in the opposing penalty area, and indeed the game did open up in the last 10 minutes as both teams looked for a last ditch winner. However it was to be the defenders’ day and nobody was able to break the deadlock.
Sir Alex Ferguson will be especially heartened by another solid performance from Chris Smalling in partnership with Nemanja Vidic at the center of United’s defense. The former Fulham player is starting to look like a real bargain buy.
On this evidence, United should be able to get the job done at Old Trafford in three week’s time, even without the help of an away goal, and secure their fifth consecutive Champions League quarterfinal appearance. But of course this is football and anything can happen, so don’t write off the French side just yet.
Friends Read Free
Copy
Facebook
Tweet
