Post-match: Real Madrid vs. Manchester United - CL Round of 16 - First Leg [02/13/13, 2:45 PM EST] [R]

Real Madrid vs. Manchester United

First Leg of Round of 16

Time: 2:45 PM EST

Venue: Santiago Bernabeu

Head to Head:

2002/03: First Leg: Real Madrid 3-1 Man Utd / Second Leg: Man Utd. 4-3 Real Madrid
1999/2000: First Leg: Real Madrid 0-0 Man Utd / Man Utd. 2-3 Real Madrid

**Real Madrid has not lost to Man Utd. at home. In 4 games played there, Real Madrid won 2 and drawn 2.

We should have lost the game when Andy Cole missed a sitter - was it the first time we played at Bernabeu or second time? My favourite match of all time was the Ronaldo match which we ended up losing - I was at Uni with lots of Manchester United fans at the time, and that was a sweet 90 minutes.

Can't wait for this one.

Manchester United tommorow have a big game against Everton, and history tell us that Rooney enters a state of depression after facing his old team. I find United a boring team to watch, they are quite a coventional team which relies on CM, rather than having specialized DM & AM, but they tend to use the full width of the pitch and are dangerous upfront. Their defenders are slow, but statistically they seem fine. Referees do also play big part in their games (Howard Webb and co.), but I do hope that for this game we get a decent referee. In 2009' Barcelona owned them: we should too.

Robin Van Persie is in good form, and Rooney is a workhorse, otherwise I am not too worried about their other players. More importantly, the CL decides whether Mourinho stays or not, so if he loses then I believe he would have faced the first failure of his career.

Lopez, Ramos, Varane, Khedira, Ozil, and Ronaldo are in fine form! They are players I believe will the difference for us in his fixture. Regardless, we must be tactically disciplined and physically prepared for this fixture.

Inshallah, Madrid win 5-1. That would be epic. Both way big, big game and fir the neutrals it would be the tie to watch.

Aah here we go, the clash of titans.

I've seen a few of their matches lately and I agree that they play boring football. However, they are able to score with little possession and chances. Quite similar to us when we win while having an off game. I believe we need Di Maria on the right as it's almost certain he'll be giving Evra a nightmare of a game. I truly think if we show up like we did against Man City at home we can destroy them. We have fast players and can kill the tie if we put up a decent display.

------------Lopez
Arbs---Pepe---SR4---Marcelo/Coentrao

-------Xabi----Khedira/Modric
---------------Ozil
Di Maria -------------------CR7
----------------Benz

With the quality of Benz/Pipita I wish I could say Callejon. We seriously have a problem with strikers, thankfully we rarely need them.

In other words, play a strong lineup with fast players. Modric + Ozil on the pitch is definitely a plus, and introducing Callejon later would cause trouble for them since Modric, Calleti and Di Maria have incredible work rates and will run riots on the pitch.

As for defense I think Pepe would like to hold Shrek this time around and attacking them should keep them quiet since we've had great possession over English counterparts recently. ie. Spurs/City

Should be a great game though and I'm curious as to how Ronaldo will play

I hope Ferguson plays with a 2 man midfield. That would be a cake walk for us. Although i doubt he will do it.

That would be BEAUTIFUL

That was some of the football I've ever seen. Ronaldo and Zizou were just fantastic that game.

...........................Lopez

Ramos.....Varane......Pepe.....Cointhrow

.................Khedira.......Xabi

Di Maria.............Ozil.............Cristiano

........................Higuain


won't happen, but that's what I would like to see at home (assuming marcelo isn't fit)

Ramos recently said he likes to play against physical forwards like Rooney. I think he'll play left-sided CB, with Varane playing right sided CB to cover the movement of Van Persie. I trust Ramos against Rooney. This is a match where Ramos can outsmart his opposing forward into getting a red card, which is probably the first time in his career that the roles have been reversed like this for our Sergio.

We will really need Xabi and Arbeloa to step up this game - with both CB's occupied if they play two forwards, someone will need to tuck in to the defensive line and cover the gaps if a CB is drawn away. Arbeloa in particular will need to be careful - United don't usually play an out and out left winger anymore, and RVP likes to drift in the channel between RB and CB. Arbeloa won't be able to just stick to his man like he could with a traditional winger - he will need to make constant decisions on whether to move up onto their left midfielder and/or track him into central areas of the pitch, or whether to stay in the line and cover RVP's runs. One wrong decision is all that Van Persie needs.

Further up the pitch, I trust Ronaldo, Ozil and Khedira to do what they've been doing. The forwards, not so much. We lack a big game forward at the moment, have done since Ruud left, and this is their chance to put all the Falcao/Cavani clamours to bed. I don't think they will though.

The other question is right wing. Evra has been a danger getting forward this season, especially at set-pieces, and the question is whether Ozil plays right wing (I don't see why we'd do that) or whether Di Maria or Calleti get a start. I'd play Di Maria.

I think we'll score two or three at home, but whether the tie will be over in the first leg or not depends on our defending.

I think some of you are underrating United here. We are the slight favorites in the first tie and we should really be looking to go out and get a solid lead before the return to OT. We'll be motivated and chances will come, just gotta hope the boys finish em. I wouldn't feel so good going back to OT with even a scoreless draw, not this season.

We are pretty even teams, although we have the better squad. A scoreless draw wouldn't worry me too much. It's the 2-2 type result that I'm worried about. They don't have to play well against us to get that sort of result - with the quality of their forwards they can score from pretty much nothing.

Defense is a big issue in this game, their defenders are slow, but neither Higuain or Benzema are fast, or in form to exploit them. As you have mentioned Arbeloa will be a focal point in this game, but if Fergie decides to play with a 3 man midfield and lose the winger then Arbeloa will be fine. However, if they do play with Young on the left, then Arbeloa will have to cover Young, and RVP which is no easy task. Our defense this year is much weaker than it was last year.

As for the question who plays on the right? I would much rather have Ozil on the right, and Modric playing centrally than see an off form Di Maria up against Evra. I don't follow United, but from what I have gathered he was been one of their most consistent performers. Ronaldo should not face much difficulty against Rafael.

None of us are under rating United, most of us acknowledge their overall form is better than ours. We however have the better players in most positions.

Let's face it guys, it isn't so much underrating United as it is who our team is. We have some of the best players in the world, arguably the best coach and stadium as well. We have an unparalleled trophy collection and these are the games our team was built for. We should not only expect to win but expect our team to completely overrun United's game. Their style hasn't changed in a while and their defense is mediocre at best. Defending well but attacking even better so will be key in this game. As I said before, if we go out and display the football we all know our team can play, I see us scoring 4 or even 5 goals by being clinical and putting away our many chances. The score against City 3-2 did NOT reflect on the performance of our team and any other team given the chances we had would have scored at least twice as much as we did that night. Being realistic, the Champions League is our focus this season and there is no reason we won't go out there and destroy United at our fortress. I predict 4-1.

Oezil is so wasted playing out on the flanks it isn't even funny anymore and add to that he and Modric still haven't quite figured out how to play together and I think the two of them starting does more harm than good. I'm not sure if Di Maria's head is on straight at this point and Callejon hasn't really been any better. That being said I'd go balls to the wall and start Benz and Higuain with Ronaldo just like we did today. Oezil for Kaka and Alonso and Khedira for Essien and Modric.

We need to win this and go further the Champions league to salvage this season. Ronaldo needs to have another fantastic game. Ozil needs to just cut open their defense. Benz needs to return with his good ol Champions league form ( goal vs city). Di maria needs to play like he used which is top 5 winger quality. Varane Pepe, and Ramos need to shut down Rooney and Rvp.
Lineup.

-----------------Diego---------------
Arbs---Varane-----Ramos------Coentrao
--------Khedeira------Alonso--------
Di Maria-----Ozil-----------Ronaldo
-----------------Benz-----------------

Kaka should come on around the 60-70th min. He might just be able to boss United like in 07.
Pepe should also make an appearance.
Marcelo could get some time if we are losing also.
Hala Madrid!

Rafael is the type of quick, nimble and energetic fullback that Ronaldo struggles with. I think the main danger for United regarding that match-up is a rebound from a shot off our right flank. Rafael goes to sleep on those, and Ronaldo is ridiculously quick to react and accelerate to those. That's one of the reasons I'd prefer Di Maria on the right. Just tell him to cut inside and hit it hard and low at de Gea's far post area. Ronaldo will get chances to score off those.

Talking about going to sleep, in the Sevilla match watch Ronaldo's first goal. It perfectly encapsulates why despite the technical ability of Benzema, he is still sharing playing time with Higuain instead of permanently relegating him to the bench. As soon as the shot comes in, Benzema goes to bed because he hasn't got the ball at his feet. Higuain on the other hand has the instinct to try and follow it into the net in case there's a rebound off the keeper. I tried to be generous to Benzema initally by thinking that a rebound off the keeper would probably not have come back to him so there's no need for him to try and follow it in. But it could have come back off the post, so he was just being lazy.

Oh and a little United banter. Reactions when they lose the title. http://www.redcafe.net/f11/sunderland-vs-manchester-united-352980/index40.html

This made my day.

I honestly don't think Evra will be able to put up with Di Maria. Di Maria plays better in the CL and he rises to the occasion in big games. Ozil needs one or two killer passes to kill the game, and Alonso needless to say needs to boss the midfield while Khedira bosses the ones trying to boss Alonso and failing miserably. Should be a good game. Is it strange that I trust Varane more than Ramos and Pepe? The kid is incredible!

Same. I already think Varane is as good as pepe and Ramos.

Imagine being a United fan watching Ronaldo run riot over Sevilla with a hat-trick and an *assist* and leaving with half an hour to go while the Bernabeu roared his name. Should be a good psychological message to their players

Sending messages and stuff.

Hopefully our defense has been practicing set pieces for this one, United's CBs can be a huge danger from those. Our CBs will probably be playing without a free man since United typically start with 2 strikers, so hopefully Xabi is back for this one. Gonna be a true European classic, cant wait!