two very evenly matched teams battled it out in france for what was a highly disappointing game with both sides failing to score!....both had their chances but none were taken and this was the only goal-less match in all of the last 16 fixtures!....
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| the scenes at the stade velodrome before the match |
didier deschamps had to do without top scorer gignac who is injured and played a 4-2-3-1 formation with mandanda(*captain*) in goal....new signing rod fanni, diawara, mbia and man united old boy gabi heinze in defence...cisse and kabore in midfield with loic remy, gonzales and ayew in front of them and brandao in the lone strikers role.....
sir alex couldn call up champions league veteran ryan giggs for this as he was out injured along with the likes of rio ferdinand and big match hero ji sung park!....a 4-1-2-3 system was employed with van der sar in goal...john o shea, vidic(*captain*), smalling and evra in defence...carrick in the holding mids role and gibson(*a surprise pick ahead of scholes*) and fletcher in midfield....rooney wide left....nani wide right and berbatov in the center of attack!....
the game was pretty open in the opening few stages of the game with chance being created by both sides....
the player of the first half was definitely nani...he constantly troubled heinze who didn have the legs to keep up with his electrifying pace and skill....at times lyon had to double up on him just to squeeze the ball out!...the only proper shot on goal from the english side was from a nani free-kick which hit the bar but the ball dropped to fletcher who despite the awkward bounce, still managed to get his effort on goal and force a save from mandanda from outside the box....nani also managed to get in a very delicious looking cross into the path of berba but it was just a foot too long and the striker couldn get the touch that wouldv sent it into the back of the net!...
ayew also looked very sharp and was constantly getting balls into the penalty box and beating john o shea with good skill on the ball!... marseille looked a bit shaky at first but later got into the game and starting dominating possession!...the half just went on after that and no real opportunities were created!...
SECOND HALF
the second period of normal time began pretty much the same as the first ended with both teams concentrating more on not conceding!.....marseille did however sort up pick up the tempo and looked to be more threatening with ayew coming close to opening the scoring!...paul scholes was brought on 18 minutes from time and he gave some much needed passing ability back to the squad which carrick especially had been lacking at times throughout the 90 min...
marsielle will be positive at having not conceded on the night but will be aware that the real challenge awaits them at old trafford!..sir alex will be hugely disappointed with having failed to score but a clean sheet is always welcome and the whole team will be looking forward to the return leg!
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