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UEFA CL Semi-finals 1st leg

The first legs of UEFA Champions League Semi-finals ended, both of them in a draw. Liverpool and Chelsea played 1-1 at Anfield, while Barca and Manchester United played 0-0 at Nou Camp. Both matches were exciting and had shown a great football, but all four managers didn’t want to risk anything and were very careful, concentrating more on defense than the offense.

BARCELONA 0-0 MANCHESTER UNITED

In front of ninety-eight thousand fans at stadium and millions of football lovers tuned in around the globe, this great match finished in 0-0 draw. It started great for Manchester United. After Gabriel Milito waved with hand right in the middle of his own area, the penalty was awarded to the Red Devils. And when everybody expected Manchester United to take the lead, Cristiano Ronaldo, the world’s most in-form player, failed even to test Victor Valdes. His kick from the spot went wide of Valdes’ left hand upright. Since that moment Barca was the master of the field. Manchester was constantly defending and Barcelona was constantly attacking. It was just a matter of time when will the ball cross the goal-line, but unfortunately, it didn’t happen.

Barca deserved to win that match, and even with 65% of time holding the ball in their possession, Barca’s players just couldn’t manage to score. But that gives us hope for the second leg at the Old Trafford, where United will probably attack more and give Barca more space to score and after that happen, everything is possible.

comments after the game (from uefa.com):

Cristiano Ronaldo about missed penalty: “Sometimes you score, sometimes you don’t.” “I missed a penalty – no problem. I’ll try to score in Manchester. I’m always confident. I have 38 goals this season. It is not a problem if I miss one or two. I try to do my best in every game.”

Samuel Eto’o: “I’m happy with our display”. “If we play at our true level then there are very few sides in the world who are capable of living with us. This evening we gave everything, we ran everywhere and showed what the true Barça style is. You could see that the fans loved it and I’m not disappointed that we didn’t score because there are goals in this team, right throughout the side. In fact, I’d predict that we are capable of scoring in any away match no matter who it’s against.”  “It’s not an easy task to be the home side when you have drawn 0-0 away from home in the first leg of a knockout tie. There’s no real problem with our goalscoring and I say that because we continue to create chances. So when you have a team like ours which plays such good football and has so many different guys capable of scoring then the ball will eventually go in. I really think that if we go to Manchester and play like this then there is absolutely no reason why we shouldn’t go through. In the meantime, I’m delighted that we put on a really good show for our fans. I think we owed them something after recent weeks and they were absolutely marvellous to us tonight. Now we have to be physically and mentally prepared. I’m confident.”

Barca’s manager,Frank Rijakaard:  “It was a very even match. United were very well organised in defence and put together some good counterattacks. A victory is what we wanted obviously but the semi-final is still open. We’re confident for the Old Trafford game. The team was good tonight and people are confident we can do it. It’s not a good result but we hope to score there, although this second leg won’t be easy for them either. The atmosphere, tension and crowd were fantastic tonight but I don’t think this was our best match of the season. It was a high-level game and the crowd responded well. Some of the players on the pitch hadn’t played in a while; Deco made a big effort, we still have to keep an eye on Messi and Henry has just recovered from a bout of fever. I don’t think about who are favourites – we do have a great chance so it’ll be a great match against a great team. We have to carry on like this. United were quite defensive and the important thing is to carry on creating chances to score. I wasn’t surprised by United being defensive and waiting to counterattack. The penalty was a big moment but fortunately Cristiano Ronaldo missed. It was a key point in the match but we worked hard. We will do all we can to reach the final.”

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