Open Ceremony

Ladies and gentlemen, brothers and sisters...
Welcome to my very first blog ..
Ok, let's get started. Since i was watching the football match between the mighty Manchester United against the stubborn Lille when i created this blog, and since i'm a big Manchester United Football Club fans, i'll start my blog talking bout this fascinating match.

Report: United 1 Lille 0

Much like the performances against Fulham and Liverpool in the league, United were far from their best against Lille in this Champions League second leg tie at Old Trafford on Wednesday, but once again the Reds got the required result.

It took a show of Cristiano Ronaldo’s blistering pace and a well-placed header from Henrik Larsson, the perfect goodbye to Old Trafford, to separate the two teams and give United the win.
Lille offered very little in the way of an attacking threat and in truth United’s performance rarely rose above the minimum requirements to reach the Champions League last eight for the first time since 2002/03.Without Louis Saha, out for four weeks with a hamstring strain, Sir Alex started with Larsson in his final match at Old Trafford in a United shirt as a lone striker.
The Reds boss plumped for a 4-5-1 formation with Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo operating on the flanks in support, backed up by a midfield trio of Paul Scholes, Michael Carrick and John O’Shea.
The events of the first leg had obviously made an indelible mark on both sets of fans. United’s goalscorer in the first leg, Ryan Giggs, was booed by the Lille supporters when his name was announced, while Reds fans jeered as the away team was read out. It promised to be a tight and tense encounter.
Lille started out much as they had done at Stade Felix-Bollaert a fornight ago, physical, quick to close down and compact.
However, it took an excellent block from Nemanja Vidic after seven minutes to stop Peter Odemwingie getting off his shot inside the area, before United's first opening a minute later, which should have led to something better. Scholes found Larsson’s run in behind the Lille defence but the Swedish forward’s touch let him down and the ball trickled through to Les Dogues goalkeeper Tony Sylva.
The early momentum was with United, and after fifteen minutes Rooney and John O’Shea had excellent chances to put the Reds in front. Larsson set Scholes free down the right and the Salford-born midfielder chipped his cross to the far post where Rooney’s volley was blocked by Matthieu Chalme. From the resulting corner, O’Shea nearly scored his second goal in a week when his header crashed against the crossbar.
Lille were next to threaten from a Ludovic Obraniak free-kick, which saw Jean Makoun unmarked, six yards from goal and with only Edwin van der Sar to beat. But, he sent his glancing header straight into the Dutchman’s arm.
Scholes, on his 100th European start, was pulling the strings for United in midfield. A one-two with Gary Neville gave him room to shoot, but his shot was well blocked by Tavlaridis, the former Arsenal defender.
With four minutes of the half remaining Ronaldo thought he had earned a penalty kick after going to ground under a challenge from Chalme, but Spanish referee Luis Medina Cantalejo instead gave the Reds winger a yellow card for diving.
Despite controlling prolonged periods of possession in the first half, the scores remained level at the break, although United were given an early warning at the start of the second half when Odemwingie’s far post header hit the woodwork.
The Reds seemed to be lacking a cutting edge in attack – perhaps in part down to Lille’s stubborn and regimented organisation – which frustrated the home fans, who were calling for the team to attack. Several misplaced passes in the first fifteen minutes of the second half was uncharacteristic of Sir Alex’s side. And although Lille rarely looked like a major threat going forward, but in European football in particular the balance of a tie can change in an instant.
If there was one player to pick the match up from the doldrums it was Ronaldo. And with 18 minutes left on the clock, he did just that. Good interplay between Scholes and Larsson saw the ball weaved out onto the left flank, where Ronaldo used his pace to beat Chalme and loft a cross into the box. Larsson had made his run into the box and met the cross with a well-placed header past Silva.
There was certainly an element of relief inside Old Trafford as Larsson's header hit the back of the net. And there was almost as big a cheer when the goalscorer was replaced by substitute Alan Smith seconds later, his first outing for the first team since playing an hour in the Carling Cup fourth round defeat to Southend in November. Smith looked sharper than he did earlier in the season, and with Larsson departing and Saha out injured, he may well find this is the first of a few outings in the side.
The game petered out without any response of note from the French side. United’s place in the last eight secured, the Reds continue the hunt for trophies on three fronts.
Team Line-ups
United: Van der Sar; Neville (c), Ferdinand, Vidic, Silvestre; Ronaldo (Richardson, 82), Carrick, Scholes, O’Shea, Rooney (Park, 82); Larsson (Smith, 75).Subs not used: Kuszczak, Heinze, Brown, Giggs.
Lille: Sylva; Chalme, Tavlaridis, Plestan, Tafforeau; Makoun, Dumont (Fauvergue, 74); Keita, Braniak, Bastos (Debuchy, 46); Odemwingie (Mirallas, 74).Subs not used: Malicki, Youla, Franquart, Lichtsteiner.
Attendance: 75,182

Ok.. to be fair.. I stole this article from www.manutd.com, credits to them, saved up my time to write about this match, haha. you don't have to read those long craps I'd posted, the end result is - Manchester United are through to the quarter final of the champion league !