Manchester United

Manchester United 1-0 AS Roma

Bagaimana kita menilai kemenangan Manchester United 1-0 atas AS Roma di leg kedua perempat final Liga Champions, Kamis dini hari?

Mengejutkan? Tidak juga… Suprise? Di satu sisi iya.

Tidak mengejutkan karena berbekal kemenangan 2-0 di leg pertama dan bermain di kandang sendiri, Stadion Old Trafford, sulit rasanya jika AS Roma bisa mengalahkan tuan rumah MU.

Tapi di sisi lain, suprise juga melihat starting line-up yang dipasang manajer MU Sir Alex Ferguson. Manajer asal Skotlandia itu hanya memainkan satu penyerang di depan, Carlos Tevez.

Ia menyimpan pemain terbaiknya Cristiano Ronaldo yang semula digadang-gadangkan banyak pihak bakal jadi penghancur Roma. Striker lain, Wayne Rooney, baru dimainkan 15 menit menjelang pertandingan usai.

Toh, taktik Ferguson ini tetap terbukti ampuh. Tim “lapis kedua” MU tetap tampil dominan.

Meski harus diakui juga Roma mendapat sial. Mereka mendapat momentum untuk bangkit. Di menit ke-30, Roma mendapat hadiah penalti setelah Wes Brown mentekel Amantino Mancini di kotak terlarang.

Sayangnya tendangan Daniele de Rossi, yang ditunjuk menjadi eksekutor penalti, melambung di atas mistar gawang MU yang dikawal Edwin Van der Sar.

Bagaimana seandainya–ini seandainya–penalti de Rossi berhasil? Pertandingan sepertinya akan berujung pada hasil yang berbeda. Tapi ya itu tadi, kan seandainya.

Kegagalan inilah yang kemudian menjadi titik balik melorotnya penampilan skuad Luaciano Spaletti. MU akhirnya memantapkan kemenangan lewat gol Carlos Tevez di menit ke-70. Pemain Argentina ini menyundul bola–sambil meluncur– menerima umpan Owen Hargreaves.

Tiket ke semifinal sudah jadi milik tim besutan Alex Ferguson itu. Di partai berikutnya, Ronaldo cs akan dijajal Barcelona yang memetik kemenangan 1-0 atas Schalke 04.

Data dan Fakta
Manchester United 1 AS Roma 0
(Manchester United lolos unggul aggregat 3-0)
Stadion Old Trafford, Manchester
Pencetak gol: Carlos Tevez 70
Gagal penalti: Daniele De Rossi (AS Roma) 30
Babak I: 0-0
Penonton: 74,423
Wasit: Tom Henning Ovrebo (Norwegia)

Tim:
Manchester United (4-5-1):1-Edwin Van der Sar; 6-Wes Brown, 19-Gerard Pique, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 27-Mikael Silvestre; 13-Park Ji-sung, 8-Anderson (2-Gary Neville 81), 16-Michael Carrick (22-John O’Shea 74), 4-Owen Hargreaves, 11-Ryan Giggs (10-Wayne Rooney 74); 32-Carlos Tevez
AS Roma (4-5-1): 32-Doni; 2-Christian Panucci, 5-Philippe Mexes, 4-Juan, 77-Marco Cassetti (22-Max Tonetto 57); 11-Rodrigo Taddei (18-Mauro Esposito 81), 7-David Pizarro (14-Ludovic Giuly 69), 16-Daniele De Rossi, 20-Simone Perrotta, 30-Mancini; 9-Mirko Vucinic

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Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro

Cristiano Ronaldo dos Santos Aveiro atau lebih dikenal dengan Cristiano Ronaldo terus saja mencetak gol.

Statistik penampilan winger Manchester United asal Portugal tersebut musim ini sungguh luar biasa.

Saking luar biasanya, Harry Redknapp menjulukinya The Incredible Hulk, raksasa hijau rekaaan Marvel Comics yang diperkenalkan tahun 1962.

“Dia pemain jenius. Dia seperti Hulk dengan skill yang tak pernah anda saksikan sebelumnya,” kata pelatih Portsmouth itu.

Satu golnya ke gawang Liverpool yang dibekap 3-0, Minggu kemarin, menasbihkan Ronaldo sebagai winger tersubur di MU.

Total, pemain Portugal berusia 23 tahun itu sudah mencetak 25 gol di EPL. Atau jika di total lagi di semua kompetisi, jumlah koleksi Ronaldo sudah 34 gol.

Koleksinya telah memecahkan George Best sebagai sesama sayap MU. Torehan terbanyak Best dalam satu musim adalah 32 gol. Koleksi keduanya terbilang fantastis sebagai seorang gelandang sayap.

Ronaldo memang kerap disamakan dengan salah satu legenda Setan Merah itu. Kedua-duanya bisa menendang dengan kaki kanan atau kiri, sepakannya sangat kencang, tangguh di udara, tak takut adu fisik, dan tampan!

Apakah ia akan sehebat dan selegenda Best? atau lebih?

Ronaldo? Ia bergabung dengan Old Trafford pada 2003, mengenakan kostum bernomor 7 milik legenda MU macam Best, Bryan Robson, Eric Cantona dan David Beckham. Hingga kini ia sudah bermain di 228 pertandingan dengan koleksi 83 gol.

Jika bicara rekor gol dalam satu musim maka Best yang memperkuat MU selama 11 musim (1963-1974) bermain di 466 pertandingan dengan koleksi total 178 gol. Prestasi terbaiknya adalah 32 (28 di liga) di musim 1967-68.

Tapi jika kita bicara soal rekor gol terbanyak Ronaldo memang belum apa-apa. Rekor sepanjang masa MU–baik gol dan julah penampilan–ada di tangan Sir Bobby Charlton. Bermain 1956-1973, Charlton total merumput di 759 pertandingan dengan koleksi 249 gol!

Oke kita bicara soal Ronaldo musim ini saja.

Sekarang Ronaldo sudah mencetak 32 gol (28 di liga). EPL masih menyisakan 7 partai lagi. Jika ia mencetak satu gol tiap partai, artinya ia mengoleksi 32 gol di liga dan menyamai rekor Dennis Viollet yang dibuat musim 1959-60.

Nah, jika kemudian MU lolos ke final Liga Champions dan Ronaldo mencetak gol di lima partai lagi di kompetisi ini maka ia bisa mengoleksi 46 gol, sama dengan yang dibuat Denis Law musim 1963-64.

Hanya Law dan Ruud van Nistelrooy lima tahun lalu yang sanggup mencetak 40 gol semusim bagi MU.

Tapi Ronaldo baru 23 tahun? Hmmm kalau dia terus di MU (mudah-mudahan begitu) hitung saja sendiri berapa gol yang akan ia buat.

Foto Ronaldo | Hulk

RONALDO dan UNITED
Pertandingan: 228 (2003-…)
Gol: 83
Titel liga: 2007
Piala FA: 2004
Piala Liga: 2006
Pemain terbaik: 2007
Total gol 34 (25 di liga)… sejauh ini

BEST dan UNITED
Pertandingan: 466 (1963-1974)
Total gol: 178
Titel liga: 1965, 1967
Piala Eropa: 1968
Pemain terbaik: 1968
Pemain terbaik Eropa: 1968
Total gol 32 (28 di liga) 1967-68



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Rijkaard is under immense pressure at Barcelona

Rijkaard is under immense pressure at Barcelona for what is perceived by many to be a pretty poor season so far but he can actually finish the season by winning both the league and champions league.

He has some of the best players in the world in every position apart from goalkeepers as the likes of Gianluca Zambrotta, Eric Abidal, Lilian Thuram, Rafael Marquez, Carlos Puyol and Gabriel Milito are all world class defenders; Yaya Toure, Deco, Iniesta and Xavi are all world class midfielders whilst Thierry Henry, Ronaldinho, Samuel Etoo and Lionel Messi are easily world class performers.

Underneath all of that the likes of Silvinho, Edmilson, Oleguer, Eidur Gudjohnsen Giovani Dos Santos, Bojan Krkic and others would get into most other clubs' 1st team so it is hard to see why they are struggling in their domestic league as he cannot point to injuries with such a huge and quality squad at his disposal.

He has a relatively easy draw like his counterpart at Chelsea in the champions league as Barcelona face Schalke over 2 legs and they should have enough quality to go through. He also had an easy ride in the second round when his team came against Celtic as it could have been worse.

Avram Grant also has world class players in every department as Petr Cech is a world class goal keeper and Carlo Cudicini is as good as almost every other goal keeper in the premiership and champions league.

John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho are world class defenders; Michael Essien, Frank Lampard, Michael Ballack, Joe Cole and Claude Makele are world class defenders and Didier Drogba has few peers in the world in the centre forward position, while Nicholas Anelka is also world class.

Underneath all that Juliano Belletti, Alex, Ashley Cole, Wayne Bridge, Florent Malouda, Claudio Pizarro, Shawn Wright-Phillips, John Mikel Obi, Salomon Kalou and Andriy Shevchenko especially are more than useful.

But he too has had some very strange results with the quality of squad at his disposal with the somewhat lucky result against Arsenal being his only success in big games this season.

The luck of the draw has been very kind to him and his team as in the champions league they are up against in the ¼ finals after having met Olympiakos in the 2nd round.

He can also finish this season with 2 big titles under his belt to silence his critics that say he is not good enough to be the manager of Chelsea. He can win the champions league and Chelsea are just 5 points off the top of the premiership.

2 men with seemingly nothing in common until close inspection are seen to have much more in common than at 1st perceived. Obviously they both cannot win the champions league as they are both in it but they can both easily finish the season with nothing and both get the sack.

Ferguson not taking anything for granted despite Champions League Roma win

,not taking anything for granted despite Champions League Roma win

by Barnaby Chesterman 2 hours, 0 minutes ago

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ROME (AFP) - Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said he was not taking anything for granted despite his side taking a commanding 2-0 lead in their Champions League quarter-final against AS Roma after the first leg in Italy.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney scored the goals as United demonstrated why bookies rate them as the favourites to lift a third Champions League crown in May.

Roma paid for their profligacy in front of goal during a purple patch for 15 minutes after the break while United demonstrated their growing maturity in Europe.

In fact, as Roma left gaps at the back when trying to rescue something from the game, United could and should have scored more goals in the last quarter-hour.
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Ferguson, though, seemed relieved that they had survived during Roma's onslaught when Christian Panucci and Ludovic Giuly missed good chances while Edwin van der Sar made a wonder one-handed save from Mirko Vucinic.

"It was a marvellous result for us. We showed discipline, composure on the ball," he said.

"The Ronaldo goal changed the game for us. It was a fantastic header and the second half was very difficult for Roma.

"We rode our luck in the second half during the first 15 minutes when Roma had good chances but failed to take them.

"That's where you get little breaks in football."

Roma may have injured talisman and captain Francesco Totti back for the second leg and Ferguson isn't getting carried away.

"You can never take anything for granted in football," he added. "We know about Totti's abilities, he's an inspirational figure for Roma.

"But we hope that at Old Trafford on a European night, we'll be ready for it."

Ferguson also paid tribute to goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, whose crucial stop from a fizzing Vucinic header with the scores at 1-0 ensured United's second goal killed the game.

"That's why he has 120 caps, his experience is vital. He made a fantastic save in the second half," said Ferguson.

"He's a great goalkeeper. He's had one or two injuries recently which has given us a bit of concern but he came through well tonight."

United's first goal came after a sweeping move with the ball switching from left to right before Paul Scholes crossed into the box, where Ronaldo arrived late and at pace to out-jump Marco Cassetti to thump home a header on 39 minutes.

Roma dominated the opening period of the second half but on 66 minutes South Korean Park Ji-Sung stretched to head a deep ball from Wes Brown back into the six-yard box where goalkeeper Doni and Panucci got in each other's way, allowing Rooney to prod home.

Both Ferguson and Roma coach Luciano Spalletti praised Park for his never say die attitude in reaching a ball that looked set to sail out of play for a goal-kick.

"From my angle I don't see how he got it back but he managed to get it back and stretched the goalkeeper to get a touch on it," said Ferguson.

"I don't think Wayne knew where it was at first."

Spalletti said Park's attitude was the difference between the teams.

"It's always the same thing, it boils down to mental strength," he said.

"Players have to go looking for the impossible occasions like on Manchester's second goal.

"If players don't have the right mental attitude they might as well stay at home and not go to Manchester next week for the second leg."

Spalletti, though, agreed with Ferguson that United had generally had the breaks in the match.

"We deserved more, the result didn't reflect what happened on the pitch," he said.

"Now it will be very difficult to qualify but we shouldn't make the mistake of thinking it's all over.

"We've already scored twice away from home in the Champions League this season."

In the last round, Roma won 2-1 at Real Madrid but the difference there was that they were defending a 2-1 lead from the home leg and Madrid also had a player sent off in Spain.

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AS Roma, Barcelona missing key players for Champions League quarterfinals

AS Roma, Barcelona missing key players for Champions League quarterfinals

By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Soccer Writer Mar 31, 2:13 pm EDT

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Francesco Totti will be missing when AS Roma faces Manchester United in the Champions League quarterfinals, and FC Barcelona may struggle to beat Schalke without Lionel Messi, Deco and maybe Samuel Eto’o and Ronaldinho.

With the four English teams in the last eight, Barcelona and Roma will be playing with depleted squads Tuesday in the first leg.

Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool all won their Premier League games over the weekend. Barcelona, however, lost to Real Betis 3-2 and Roma could only get a 1-1 draw with Cagliari, where Totti scored but then tore a muscle in his left thigh.

“The team loses in percentage terms for the extraordinary things he’s capable of,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said Monday. “But I have a lot of confidence that the team will assume the responsibility of picking up the slack, just as they’ve done in the past when we’ve been without our captain.”

Totti’s absence will boost a Manchester United team which outplayed Aston Villa 4-0 Saturday and holds a five-point lead at the top of the Premier League standings. Cristiano Ronaldo took his overall tally for the season to 35 goals and set up two for Wayne Rooney and one for Carlos Tevez.

“Roma is going to be a massive game for us and we prepared the right way with the win against Villa,” said Rooney, whose team has a plus-53 goal difference in the Premier League. “To be at this club, with the football we play at times, is brilliant. It’s something every player would want to be a part of.”

There will be heavy security at the game because of violence that flared when the two teams met at the Stadio Olimpico last season.

At full strength and on form, Barcelona would be confident of beating Schalke, even in Germany. But coach Frank Rijkaard is again unable to field the injured Messi and Deco, while Eto’o could be sidelined with a left foot injury and Ronaldinho had missed four straight games with a foot problem.

Barcelona, which conceded three goals in 15 minutes after leading Betis 2-0, dropped to third place and trails Real Madrid by seven points in the Spanish league.

“We feel ashamed in a football sense. We cannot explain it. Again we have allowed ourselves to lose … in an incredible way,” Barcelona midfielder Xavi Hernandez said. “We have to change our game quickly and think of Schalke.”

England has the most teams in the quarterfinals, but not all of them can advance to the semifinals.

Arsenal and Liverpool face each other at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, when Chelsea visits Turkish league leader Fenerbahce.

Chelsea is the nearest chaser to United in the league after edging Middlesbrough 1-0, will fly to Istanbul hoping that sick midfielder Frank Lampard and injured goalkeeper Petr Cech will be able to play.

“Lampard was very sick and he didn’t even come to the training ground,” Chelsea manager Avram Grant said. “If he can be available, we will take him on the plane and we will see about Petr Cech at the same time.”

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Benitez,calm amid turmoil, but Champions League

ouloss would be a blow

By ROBERT MILLWARD, AP Soccer Writer Mar 31, 4:28 pm EDT

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LONDON (AP)—Amid all the conflict over the ownership of his team, Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez remains calm and concentrates on nothing but his job.

Benitez has a standout record in European competitions and is loved by the fans. They sing his name while loudly expressing their hatred of American co-owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett Jr.

If Liverpool is eliminated from the Champions League by Arsenal, however, his best hope of success is fourth place in the league. That may not be good enough to keep his job.

The Reds go to Emirates Stadium on Wednesday, with the return at Anfield six days later. It is a quarterfinal between the losing finalists from the last two seasons. Recent head-to-heads give the Gunners a clear edge. By coincidence, they also meet in the Premier League on Saturday between the two European games.
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Meanwhile, a little more than a year after buying the hugely successful club, Gillett has said his relationship with Hicks had become unworkable and he had received death threats from Liverpool fans warning him not to sell any of his stake to his co-owner.

With a rival organization from Dubai standing by and trying to buy a controlling interest, the situation clearly would unnerve most coaches. This is also something unheard of at Liverpool, which has glided through much calmer times and won a record 18 league titles and five European Cups along the way.

Benitez has stood above it all, rarely mentioning the friction and instead focusing on ways to win and get more out of his players.

Sunday’s 1-0 victory over neighboring Everton strengthened Liverpool’s hold on fourth place, which would mean another shot at the Champions League next season.

“After the (3-0) defeat against Manchester United, to beat our closest rivals means that we will go into the games with Arsenal with more confidence,” Benitez said. “We needed to respond. We needed to show discipline, which has not been a problem for us for some years now. This was the perfect comeback for us.”

In January, Hicks revealed that the owners had talked to former Germany coach Juergen Klinsmann as a potential replacement for Benitez. The manager ducked questions in that regard and stuck strictly to soccer.

“The key is to concentrate on the game,” he said at the time. “We can talk and talk about the speculation or rumors or everything, but the key for us is to win the game.”

Benitez arrived at Liverpool in 2004 after guiding Valencia to triumphs in the Spanish league and UEFA Cup and won the Champions League in his first season after a comeback from 3-0 deficit to AC Milan in the final. He also won the FA Cup in 2006 and led the Reds to last season’s Champions League final.

But the league is another matter. Play has been dominated in recent years by Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea.

Although Liverpool still holds the record of 18 league titles, the last was in 1990. United will be only one behind if it holds its five-point lead in the standings and wins the title for the second straight season and 10th time since it became known as the Premier League.

The prospect of United getting so close to its record will not sit well with fans.

But the big problem will be with Hicks and Gillett. The fact that the men who own rival NHL teams are now at odds over their Liverpool ownership is not a good sign for Benitez. They may not be able to agree on his future.

Especially if the Reds are knocked out of European play by a team from the same country.

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Manchester United, Barcelona win in Champions League

Manchester United, Barcelona win in Champions League

By ANDREW DAMPF, AP Sports Writer 5 hours, 42 minutes ago

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ROME (AP)—Cristiano Ronaldo soared to head in Paul Scholes’ cross in the 39th minute, Wayne Rooney added a second-half goal and Manchester United defeated AS Roma 2-0 Tuesday night in the first leg of the European Champions League quarterfinals.

Ronaldo dashed toward the net and leaped for his seventh Champions League goal of the season, moving ahead of Barcelona’s Lionel Messi at the top of the scoring list. Ronaldo has 36 goals in all competitions this season.

“Ronaldo’s goal changed the game for us, a fantastic header,” United manager Alex Ferguson said. “I thought Roma had some good chances the first 15 minutes of the second half. But there are breaks in a football match and I think they were with us today.”

Rooney added the second goal in the 66th when Roma goalkeeper Alexander Doni couldn’t collect a header from Park Ji-sung. The ball landed at Rooney’s feet for an easy score, his fourth in European competition this season.

“They were lucky on their scoring chances,” Roma coach Luciano Spalletti said. “They have players of very high quality.”

The second leg of the total-goals series is April 8 at Old Trafford, where United routed Roma 7-1 a year ago. Roma hopes injured captain Francesco Totti will return then.

“We can’t take anything for granted, but we definitely feel like we can reach the semifinals,” Ferguson said.

In Tuesday’s other quarterfinal, 17-year-old Bojan Krkic scored in the 12th minute to give Barcelona at 1-0 victory at Germany’s Schalke. Thierry Henry’s shot was fumbled by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer, and Henry played the ball back across for Krkic, who tapped it in at the far post.

“We played well on the flanks. We won the ball. We controlled most of the game,” Barcelona coach Frank Rijkaard said.

On Wednesday, Liverpool is at Arsenal in a matchup of English clubs and Chelsea is at Turkey’s Fenerbahce.

AP Sports Writer Nesha Starcevic in Gelsenkirchen contributed to this report.


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