Terrace Talk

Champions League Post Match: Lyon vs. Manchester United

funkdoctorspock | February 20, 2008

With the first leg complete in the round of sixteen matchup between Olympique Lyonnais and Manchester United, the Red Devils make qualification into the quarterfinals a little bit easier with a late 1-1 equalizing result.

Sir Alex Ferguson’s starting formation of 4-5-1, with Rooney by his lonesome up top was quite puzzling, especially since it was the first time in this campaign Sir Alex has resorted to the more defensive structure. It’s even more peculiar when you consider that Carlos Tevez had been rested over the weekend agasinst Arsenal. The formation and lineup of Van der Sar, Evra, Vidic, Ferdinand, Brown, Giggs, Scholes, Hargreaves, Anderson, Ronaldo and Rooney seemed to indicate that United were very content leaving France with a draw result.

United played the first half quite well. Hargreaves did a very good job of breaking up Lyon’s play through the middle and forcing play to the wings. Patrice Evra did a great job of neutralzing crossing and play from the left, in contrast to Wes Brown who played a very lax defensive game. For Lyon, all credit to Govou for playing a fine match. He continuously exposed Brown and other defenders numerous times with the copious amounts of space offered to him. It is definitely an issue to be addressed by United on the return leg.

Scholes was very quiet in the first half, although he did have a patented Paul Scholes scoring opportunity, with a run in the box which was broken up. It has been quite awhile since we’ve seen him bomb forward and it really reminded me of a younger Paul Scholes. It was surprising that Anderson and Scholes didn’t pressure the Lyon defense more. They spent large amounts of time sitting back, waiting to start the counter attack, which is in stark contrast to their normal, more attacking style.

Benzema had a great opportunity to put Lyon ahead with a pretty open shot on goal. It was the best scoring opportunity of the first half, but fortunately for United, missed and both teams headed off the field at the half with a 0-0 tie. The first 45 minutes of the match looked pretty even for both sides, with no clear cut opportunities for either team and possession was pretty much even.

Heading into the second half, United dominated possession, while Lyon were constantly scrambling to make sure they didn’t concede a goal.

In his 100th Champions League match, Ryan Giggs had a rather quiet evening. It was rounded off by a rather harsh knock on the knee by Juninho. On a day where French fans were all ready to boo him with his intelligent and pretty humiliating goal against Lille last year, Giggs underwhelmed the masses and allowed them to focus there chants and adulation for their boy wonder, Karim Benzema.

With rumblings out the British press sending out endless yellow journalism, it would seem that United are all set to buy Karim Benzema for a very large sum. If you really listen to the muppet fanboys, you would have probably heard that Benzema is the second coming of Jesus Christ. Although not enough close to those lofty and unachievable expectations, Benzema did prove a couple of things this evening.

Benzema showed on the European stage, that he can hang with the big boys, scoring four goals in six Champions League matches. Benzema was not intimidated having to face the forminable pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic. In fact, he was very poised, held up the ball well and played extremely well off the ball. Those new to Ligue 1 would not be suprised by this assessment. When the ball is played to his feet, he is very controlled and he creates space for himself to create his own scoring opportunities. This was evident when he scored his brilliant goal in the 54th minute.

1-0 Benzema Lyon - Manchester United
Uploaded by —Iker91—

Now, if Benzema can score at will it with the players at Lyon, what exactly do you suspect he would do in a Red Devil shrit?

Manchester United had quite a few chances to really turn the screw to Lyon and it was a shame that those efforts didn’t materalize. Tevez, Carrick and Nani were the second half subs, coming on for Scholes, Hargreaves and Giggs respectively. It seemed that both Carrick and Nani left there footballing magic in Manchester. Extremely sloppy passing and uninspired play.

Tevez, however came through for United once again when called upon. He upped the tempo of play and was able to equalize in the 87th minute. For a player that has been quoted numerous times about being very exhausted with his continuous play for both club and country, he always plays at such a high energy level.

So what does this result mean?

Rooney told Sky Sports: “It is always crucial to get an away goal and 1-1 is a lot better than 1-0. It was a crucial goal to take back to Old Trafford. I felt we controlled the game for most of it. They had a few chances and stuck the ball in. Lyon are a good team and we know we have to concentrate 100%.”

Onto the return leg of this matchup with Manchester United needing to capitalize early and often.