Translated material
Bavarian heritage
Louis van Gaal's team has become Barcelona's main rival in the Champions League
The prestige of the English Premier League has suffered a sensitive blow. For the first time in seven years, British clubs will not take part in the semi-finals of the Champions League. The last to drop out of the continent's main tournament was one of its favorites, Manchester United. Sir Alex Ferguson's team's road was blocked by the resurgent Bayern.The Mancunians' departure from the Champions League turned out to be dramatic, a little scandalous and very unexpected. Already by the 7th minute of the match at Old Trafford, the Mancunians, who lost 1:2 in the first meeting, not only closed the gap in the overall score, but also achieved a decent lead. First, Gibson, who does not often find himself in the starting lineup, caught Bayern goalkeeper Hans-Jorg Butt by surprise with a shot into the near corner, and a little later Nani, elegantly heeling the ball into the goal, completely discouraged the guests. When the same Nani hammered the third ball into Butt’s goal at the end of the first half, it seemed that Bayern, with its completely destroyed defense, could already be eliminated from the list of possible participants in the semi-finals. And if ex-army player Ivica Olic had not scored a quick return goal before the break, the German club really would not have had a single chance.
Perhaps this was the key episode of the match. However, the head coaches of both teams had different opinions on this issue - in the second half there were also many moments that claimed the status of fateful ones. First of all, this is the removal of Manchester United defender Rafael. Throughout the first half, the young Brazilian was pressed by the experienced Bayern fighters and in the end they achieved their goal - Rafael received a second yellow card and left the field early. “He’s a young guy, inexperienced. But the Bayern players did everything to get him sent off. They attacked the judge. Typical Germans,” Alex Ferguson was later indignant at the behavior of the Bayern players.
Having lost a defender, the head coach of Manchester United removed the half-injured Rooney from the field, and the hosts went into deep defense. And Bayern, believing in their chance, launched one attack after another. But it is not known whether Louis van Gaal's team would have been able to score the much-needed goal if Robben had not managed a fantastic volley into the far corner. Manchester United's 3:2 victory in this particular match turned into a general defeat due to the greater number of goals conceded at home. “It wasn’t the strongest team that made it to the semifinals—Ferguson didn’t want to put up with it. - Today we certainly played better than our opponents, but luck was on Bayern’s side. Well, luck is also part of the game."
In addition, Sir Alex said that he still considers the English championship to be the strongest in the world. But the current Champions League clearly failed for the Premier League clubs. Perhaps it was all a matter of luck again: first, Liverpool could not get out of the group, then Chelsea lost, running into their former head coach Jose Mourinho, and then Arsenal found themselves under the rink of Barcelona with Messi at the helm . This is hardly a symptom of the withering of the richest championship on the continent. But now representatives of all the other strongest national championships in Europe - the German Bayern, the French Lyon, the Italian Inter and the Spanish Barcelona - have every reason to talk about their superiority.
Barça remains perhaps the only Champions League favorite on this list. But this status in the current draw is too dangerous for its bearers. Ahead of her is a meeting with Inter, hungry for big victories, and in the second semi-final, Bayern, meeting with the debutant of these stages, Lyon, will try not to devalue their victory over Manchester United.
Champions League. 1/4 finals . Return matches. “Manchester United” – “Bayern” – 3:2 (first match – 1:2), “Bordeaux” – “Lyon” – 1:0 (1:3).