DOWN MEMORY LANE : JUVENTUS VS MANCHESTER UNITED 1999 UCL SEMI-FINAL SECOND LEG.

     

Captain Fantastic 

  

Venue: Del Alpi,  Turin

Date: April 21 1999

Time : 1945 BST

Line ups:

Juventus: Angelo Peruzzi; Alessandro Birindelli, Ciro Ferrara, Marco Iuliano, Gianluca Pessotto; Antonio Conte, Didier Deschamps, Edgar Davids, Angelo di Livio; Zinedine Zidane, Filippo Inzaghi
Manchester United :

Peter Schmeichel; Gary Neville, Nicky Butt, Japp Stam, Denis Irwin; David Beckham, Ronny Johnsen, Roy Keane, Jesper Bolmqvist; Dwight Yorke, Andy Cole Courtesy the hardtackle

Ryan Giggs was injured while Paul Scholes started on the bench. The Old lady of Turin had surprised Manchester United with an away goal in the first leg from Antonio  Conte.

Scholes equalized late in the second half to give Manchester United hope. The fans were not that hopeful, Juventus were by far the best team in Europe for the past six or so seasons.

This was their fourth successive semi-final having reached the final in the past 3 seasons, losing two and winning one in 1996.

For Manchester United they had never won a game in Italy, so the odds were stacked against them.

Juventus missed the services of Alessandro Del Piero due to injury but they had an able Deputy in Filippo Inzaghi.

For man united fans the first ten minutes were like a horror movie. Every hope they had seemed to evaporate, the chief tormentors being Zinedine Zidane and Inzaghi. The first goal came after six minutes meaning Manchester United had to score to atleast have any hopes of going to the final via penalty shootout.

Inzaghi scored the second goal four minutes later again from Zidane assist.

By now Manchester United hopes seemed dead and buried in the first ten minutes.

There are players who will never give up even if everything seems to be lost they will always have hope. Roy Keane , the captain had now to galvanize his troops or Manchester United be humbled.

What a way to do it but lead from the from. While the fans thought everything was lost the captain of the team still believed in his troops.

On twenty four minutes Roy Keane scored to half the deficit meaning Manchester United required only one goal to head to Camp Nou and it duly arrived from Dwight Yorke on thirty three minutes.

Andy Cole 

As Juventus searched for a winning goal in the second half they left gaps in defence which were later exploited by the best striking trio in Europe that time, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.

Yorke was clean on goal five minutes to the end but he was fouled, the referee played advantage since the ball rolled to Andy Cole. Cole scored and Manchester United were on their way to Barcelona.

Highlights

Sadly Roy Keane picked up a booking which meant he would miss the final. 

DOWN MEMORY LANE: MANCHESTER UNITED VS INTER MILAN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE QUARTER FINALS 1999

                

           Andy Cole in Action

Manchester United Champions League 1999.

Part One: Quarter Final Stage.

Venue : Old Trafford

Date: March 3rd 1999

Line Ups:

Manchester United. Peter Schmeichel
Denis Irwin , Ronny Johnsen , Gary Neville , Jaap Stam
David Beckham , Ryan Giggs , Roy Keane, Paul Scholes
Dwight Yorke and Andrew Cole.

Inter Milan. Gianluca Pagliuca
Giuseppe Bergomi,
Francesco Colonnese ,
Fabio Galante, Javier Zanetti
Benoit Cauet , Youri Djorkaeff , Diego Simeone,
Aron Winter  Roberto Baggio and Iván Zamorano. courtesy.

Man United had always promised to deliver but they always came unstuck. The previous two seasons they had lost at the semi-final stage. In 1996-1997 season they had lost narrowly to Borussia Dortmund in the first leg that is 1-0. Man United fans were optimistic they would turn things round in the second leg. How wrong they were an early goal by Lars Ricken settled the contest.

The dreams of many United fans and England had been shattered. The English teams had not won the Champions League /European Cup since Liverpool had lifted it in 1985.

In the 1997/98 season they met Monaco again failure was waiting for them. David Trezeguet scored early but although Ole Gunnar Solskjaer equalised it was not enough to see them sail through to their first European cup final since 1968. They  were eliminated on away goals.

So here they were in the quarter finals again and against one of the best team in Europe that time. Although Inter Milan lacked the services of the great Ronaldo  their squad was star studded.

Youri Djorkaeff had just won the world cup with France. Javier Zanetti and Diego Simeone had also starred for Argentina in the 1998 World Cup. Ivan Zamorano was a proven goal scorer for Milan and Chilean national team.

The other interesting part was Beckham was meeting with Diego Simeone after their 1998 world cup altercation.

The game was won in the first half with two identical goals by Dwight Yorke from David Beckham crosses.  The road to camp nou and to the greatest game in Manchester United history had just began. 

The Rivalry Begins

              

    Polar bears tussling- courtesy  national geographic

The rivalry is intense if you consider what has been happening to this facebook page, in the  past two days.

One fan,  a Man United fan happened to comment negatively about Arsenal on the page. Now the admin is a die hard Arsenal fan and a popular  radio presenter, so she removed the fan from the group.

The group started from a popular radio program on the English Premier League and as you would have it most of the listeners were either Man United or Arsenal fans. At the start since the admin wanted numbers name calling and trolling were common or the admin would just remove any offensive post(read anti-Arsenal).

As the group prospered more hardcore United fans joined leading to the situation which happened a few days ago. This guy by the name Nick Njacy dared to question the ability of Arsenal to challenge for the UEFA champions League and inadvertently called Arsenal fans clowns.

He was removed immediately. Now Njacy has been popular on the group and the reactions have been just so negative. Some of them are.

Ramah Shaaban
Yes, We are the Gunners, we do what we want; like beating Manure 3-0 in 19mins, beating n loosing to Bayern when we wish, draw with spurs n still be on top of Man-Ugu and most but not the least, expelling #Nick n all of you if you misbehave
Ikikuuma saana fungua group yako
#TutarudishaNickTukitaka

  Evans Martial Mapesa
Ile ku troll naenda kuwatroll hapa, you will wish Nick Njacy was here and Mapesa blocked.
I am now officially doing a two man job.
I was posting approximately 15 posts a day only about arsenal, I am now doubling to 30, Paying tribute to Njacy.
Mtaeleza drought yenu ni ya nini!

Stewart Austine
Stand firm Carol, let the mongrels continue yapping abt their idiot. U r the boss here, chokee!!!

Magdalene Mbinya
If you can't stand your team being critisized then stop being happy critisizing other teams.Don't step on other people's toes if you can't bear the pain of being stepped on.GIVE WHAT WHEN GIVEN BACK TO U CAN TAKE WITHOUT ANY COMPLAINS.
"TIT FOR TAT IS A FAIR GAME."

I don't know how the admin will solve it but it's just the beginning. The love for the beautiful game continues. In two days there will be silence.. Then most of the fans will be on one side cheering Kenya against Cape Verde, world cup qualifier.

From there the rivalry and enemity resumes. 

Arsenal 1 Tottenham 1

                  

   Kieran Gibbs celebrates his goal

Arsenal have rode their luck and managed a draw in a game they were completely outclassed.

Injuries may have had an effect on that performance but it was dire.

To have only one shot on target in the first half showed how they were poor.

There only shot on target came late in the first half from Olivier Giroud. The other games their first shot on target has averaged eight minutes.

Tottenham have should get most of the credit for their performance. Pochetino high pressing and possession football unsettled Arsenal. Arsenal were renown for the same style of playing but it's as if Wenger dropped it for a more defensive minded game.

Second half Arsenal played well and is as if Giroud had forgotten his scoring boots at home.

He hit the post, headed wide on two different occasions when well placed.

Joel Campbell has not yet lit up the Emirates in the absence of Theo Walcot and when Walcot returns I do not see him holding that position.

Man of the moment is Mesut Ozil. His deliveries were so perfect all Giroud needed was to guide them home. At Least Kieran Gibbs did guide one for the equalizer.

The substitution of Campbell for Gibbs raised eyebrows, considering that Gibbs is a defender. Arsene Wenger will be smiling about that one but this game they rode their luck.

Harry Kane is too good and he took his goal well.

I wonder why Arsenal were playing with a high defence line considering the way spurs were pressing.

Man of the match Mesut Ozil.

Match Statistics

Possession
Arsenal 55%
Tottenham 45%
Shots
Arsenal 10
Tottenham 14
Shots on target
Arsenal 4
Tottenham 4
Corners
Arsenal 7
Tottenham 6
Fouls
Arsenal 12
Tottenham 17
Arsenal  Tottenham.

Courtesy bbc

Arsenal vs Tottenham

                 

Mesut Ozil against Bayern Munich 

The London Derby.
Who will have the bragging rights? Arsenal lost heavily to Bayern Munich on Wednesday. They were outclassed throughout the contest by an efficient Bayern side. The problem might have been the way Arsene Wenger set out his team. Defend and get them on the break.
The defending was sometimes laughable as Arsenal conceded goal after goal.
But Arsenal always bounces back. After they were humiliated by Olympiakos there next game was against Manchester United and you know what happened.
The other week they were outclassed by Sheffield Wednesday but they responded with a convincing performance against Swansea.
Tottenham for their part they started the league slowly bu recently they have been on a good run.
Harry Kane has found his scoring boots and the team is playing well. They had a scare on Thursday against Anderlecht but Mousa Dembele came to their rescue.
They have only lost one game in the league, same as Leicester. That is quite an achievement considering the defending champions Chelsea have already lost Six games in 12 games.
I expect the game to be open and full of attacking. Tottenham love to press up the field so I expect arsenal passes to be faster so as to avoid losing the ball in dangerous positions.
Injuries have started taking their toll on Arsenal. Against Bayern they had 10 players
unavailable.

Head to Head...
Games played 189
Games won by Tottenham 61
Games won by Arsenal 80
Games drawn 48.
Arsenal have scored atleast 5 or more goals on six occasions.
Arsenal 5-1 1934
Arsenal 6-0 1935
Arsenal 5-0 1978
Arsenal 5-4 2004
Arsenal 5-2 2012
Arsenal 5-2 2012
Tottenham have scored five goals on four occasions.
1901 - 5-0
1911 - 5-0
1983 - 5-0
2008 - 5-1.
This is a game that has produced many goals in recent times. Let's expect a goal fest but don't be disappointed if it ends 0-0.

Manchester United 2 West Bromwich 0

Lingard celebrates his goal against West Bromwich Albion 

Jesse Lingard the man of the moment. For the second game running he has been my man of the match.
I am just now wondering when Depay will get a chance. Is what happened to Angel Di Maria about to happen to Depay?
From what I have seen Van Gaal loves teamwork and Depay has the habit of being selfish with the ball.
The game against West Bromwich was just like I had said. Manchester United took control of the possession and West Bromwich defended resolutely. By halftime Man United had 78% possession of the ball. A record for them this season.
Despite so much the chances were at a premium. The whole half they had seven attempts with one attempt on target, which is not pretty to the fans.
In their last two games the side ways passes have decreased and the team is a bit more direct.
The goal came as a surprise, Rojo's cross was hopeful but the Bromwich defence made a harsh of it clearing straight to young Lingard. The rest is history.
The goal lifted Bromwich from their shell and Saido Berahino should have done better heading to row Z when unmarked in the box.
They were punished immediately for that miss. Manchester United broke and Anthony Martial speed was too much for Gary McAuley and he received his marching orders.
Something that also impressed me is Van Gaal willingness to give youngsters a chance. The game was still in the balance with West Brom pressing for an equaliser but Van Gaal decided to sub Marcos Rojo for 17 year old Borthwick-Jackson. That is good for the development of the younger players.
Match statistics.
Possession
Man Utd 68%
West Brom 32%
Shots
Man Utd 13
West Brom 4
Shots on target
Man Utd 3
West Brom 0
Corners
Man Utd 5
West Brom 1
Fouls
Man Utd 11
West Brom 10
 Man Utd  West Brom.
Next game Manchester United Vs Watford at vicarage road after the international break

Manchester United Vs West Bromwich Albion

  Jesse Lingard in full flight

Team news

Doubtful Valencia and Schneiderlin illness.

Suspended. Matteo Darmian,  five yellow cards.

Probable line up: De Gea, Young, Smalling, Blind, Rojo, Schneiderlin/ Carrick, Schweinsteiger, Mata, Herrera/Lingard, Rooney and Martial.

Match number twelve, 21 points so far from Manchester United. My take they should be having more. Van Gaal is a very cautious manager but also listens to the fans. On Wednesday there was a change against CSKA, the team selection was with an attacking mentality. Rojo and Young made were allowed to help in attack. Backwards passes were at a minimal, especially before they had scored.

Lingard was running at defenders and he showed his versatility,  when Martial was substituted he partnered Rooney upfront.

I expect a more attacking Manchester United against West Bromwich.

Tony Pulis is a defensive coach and I expect he will set out his team to defend and attack Man United during dead ball situations and on counter attacks.

Saido Berahino has not been on the best of form recently but great players always go through those periods and I expect him to regain his form.

Head-to-head
West Brom are aiming for a third successive league victory at Old Trafford, a feat they last achieved in 1959.
They have lost just one of their last five league meetings with Manchester United (W2, D2).
United's last home defeat in any competition came in this fixture on 2 May, when West Brom's Jonas Olsson scored the only goal of the game.
Manchester United
Manchester United remain unbeaten at home in the league this season (W3, D2).
They haven't conceded a goal in their last three league matches and have kept a league-high seven clean sheets this season.
Christian Benteke's overhead kick for Liverpool is the only league goal that United have conceded at home this campaign.
United have failed to score in their last two league games. The last time they went three matches without a goal was in August 2007.
Only West Brom (109) have attempted fewer shots than Manchester United (110) in the Premier League this season.

here

Did you know the highest Manchester United win against West Bromwich is 7-0 in 1970 and the highest West Bromwich win is 6-3 in 1968.

The highest score draw between the two teams is 5-5 in 2013 11vs11

5-5

My prediction Man United 2 West Bromwich 0

What next for Arsenal

                 

Arsenal were absolutely pulled apart, a great display from Bayern Munich. Arsenal defence did not have any  protection from midfield. This Bayern team are in a different league to Arsenal. Well, they are in the Bundesliga, but you know what I mean. They have  taught Arsenal a real footballing lesson. The quality of the Bayern passing, quality of finishing and unselfish running is out of this world.

Arsenal were supposed to be compact in defence and rely on counter attacks but everything changed immediately they conceded the first goal. Although they nearly pulled a goal back immediately after conceding but Ozil decided to use his hand. Bayern Munich was in a different class than arsenal and the midfield pairing of Coquelin and Carzola was too pedestrian. While Bayern Munich were pressing high up the pitch for the ball Arsenal were inviting pressure.

Wenger a master of possession football is failing, because he is trying to play a game that is not Arsenal like. Arsene Wenger teams have been known for their short and accuracy passing but tonight their was no evidence of that.

Three points from a group consisting Olympiakos and Dinamo Zagreb is very disappointing and wenger must go back to the drawing board.

What next for Arsenal

Two games remain and I  do not see them qualifying for the second round. I think wenger should use the second team for the next two games and focus his attention to the league. In the league they have been strong but the problem maybe the state of mind of the players after this crushing defeat. 

BET

                                                 

Tonight arsenal battle out with Bayern Munich in the champions league. Addicts of betting are preparing to their stakes waiting for the game. Most of them will lose their stake, a few will be smiling all the way to the bank. Since it is end of the month their are pending bills which must be cleared, so a guy decides to use his well earned cash to place a bet because the proceeds look attractive.
Many are the times  when guys have lost all their salaries to sports betting.
A case in example is what happened two weeks ago between Arsenal and Bayern Munich. The punters were for a Bayern win and many did bet for a win for Bayern .The loses were astronomical personally I lost a substantial amount for the bet.
Tonight other games are
               Barcelona vs Bate Borisov
               Roma vs Bayer Leverkusen
               Olympiakos vs Dinamo Zagreb
               Chelsea vs Dynamo Kiev
               Maccabi Tel Aviv vs Porto
               Gent vs Valencia
                Lyon vs Zenit
The games that are straight forward is the ones for Barcelona and Chelsea. Maccabi Tel aviv against Porto is a banana skin.
Valencia may have it hard against Gent the Belgium champions.
Lyon against Zenit is a hard one and Olympiakos has a slight edge over Dinamo if they want to maintain their push for the last sixteen. That brings us to the Arsenal game, its a must win situation for Arsenal. A lose and they will be staring an early exit.
SPORTPESA is only giving them odds of about 6.42 for a 100 stake. For a Bayern win the odds are lower for 100 stake, that is 1.45.
Who will be smiling all the way to the bank tomorrow?

Bayern Munich vs Arsenal

       

The big one is here for Arsenal. Two weeks ago they rode their luck and eventually managed to beat the great Bayern Munich. They really needed the win and they still need to win tonight. A win will take them to six points on the grid and a head of Bayern Munich on head to head count. A loss will be a disaster especially if Olympiakos beat Dinamo Zagreb. It will mean Arsenal will be rooted to the bottom of the group needing to win the remaining two games and hope the other results go their way.

Team Tactics.

Arsenal will not be too adventurous since they will be playing in the hands of Bayern Munich. The best way for them would be to be compact in defence and use the counter attack. This means their defence and midfield will have to be at their best since Bayern will attack wave after wave. If they are able to contain Bayern upto halftime then they will gain confidence and can just nick it with a single goal.

Squad confidence is high and that should help arsenal very much.

Mathieu Debuchy should be able to deputise Bellerin comfortably at right back.

Joel Campbell did well over the weekend and the goal he scored should give him confidence.

My worry for Arsenal would be if they get an injury. Their back up squad is not upto scratch.

Best wishes for Arsenal you can do it.