United's David De Gea makes a kick save during the second half (telegraph.co.uk)
The Champions League tie between Real Madrid and Manchester United, two of the most high profile sports clubs in the world, definitely lived up to the hype, at least in my opinion. The match, held in Madrid on Wednesday, produced a number of great chances for both sides, two outstanding goals, and the intense brand of soccer that the UEFA Champions League is becoming known for. It's like a tournament where every game is a Super Bowl, especially in the final knockout stages.
A lot of the pre-match punditry seemed to really think that United was going to take the wood to Real. After all, this has hardly been a typically successful year for the Spanish giants, being out of the La Liga race by the new year and facing the imminent departure of their manager, Jose Mourinho, at the end of the year. He's had public spats with the Spanish media and team captain Iker Casillas, to name a just a couple.
Madrid came out well though, determined to protect their turf. It was obvious from the early going that United 'keeper David De Gea was going to face a firing squad for most of the day. Sami Khedira ripped a shot wide in just the third minute, followed by another off target effort from Angel Di Maria in the fifth. In the sixth minute, De Gea made the first of a couple of spectacular saves on the day. Fabio Coentrao slammed a shot that looked certain to nestle into the corner of the net at the far post, but De Gea, a Madrid native, got a finger to it, tipping it onto the post, where it bounced back across the goal and away from danger. It really was a superb effort.
Despite Real's hot start, it was United that got on the board first, very much against the run of play. In the 20th minute the Red Devils sent a corner kick into the six where Danny Welbeck met the ball with a fine header, driving it toward the far post. Madrid was out of position on the play, with the defender meant to be guarding the far post standing behind 'keeper Diego Lopez instead. The ball rippled the back of the net to give United a 0-1 lead.
Real Madrid was not to be outdone though. Ten minutes later, they converted on a corner kick of their own, and it was so well done that De Gea had no shot, even as well as he had been playing. Cristiano Ronaldo rose on the corner, and exhibited hang time that Michael Jordan would be proud of, heading the ball just inside the far post to make the match 1-1 at the half hour mark.
Both sides continued to manufacture quality chances, but Manchester United really seemed to find their feet in the last 15 of the first half. Their best chance to take the lead came in the 33rd minute and was again off the head of Welbeck. This time it was Madrid's Diego Lopez's turn to make a fine save, as he tipped the ball wide of goal to preserve the tied score, which held to halftime.
The English side came out with substantial pressure on the Madrid goal to start the second half as Real's defense seemed incapable of stopping United from putting balls in the box. The efforts culminated in a 47th minute header from Phil Jones, which drifted wide of the mark following a corner kick.
Di Maria was a danger man for most of the night for Real Madrid, and he forced a couple of quality saves out of De Gea early on in the second half. The first came in the 52nd minute when De Gea grabbed a low driven shot by Di Maria and held it, preventing a rebound that might have been exploited by an onrushing Madrid attacker. It wasn't just Di Maria that caused the United 'keeper trouble though. In the 61st minute Coentrao sent a close range blast toward the near post, but once again De Gea was up to the task, making an acrobatic kick save right at the post to knock the ball out of danger. It was a great reaction from the United shot-stopper.
United would have one more good chance at a winner as well. In the 72nd minute, Lopez parried an effort from Robin Van Persie off the crossbar, but the ball bounced back down into the area. Van Persie got there, and didn't hit it quite right, but managed to chip it over Lopez and send it rolling toward the unprotected goal line. Xabi Alonso came rushing in to save the day for Real, sliding in and just clearing the ball away from the line to keep the draw.
In the end, the match slowed as United was obviously fatigued from their Sunday match, and Mourinho seemed to be content to keep the draw, trusting in his squad's ability to score at Old Trafford. United will probably be more content with the result though, leaving Spain with the away goal in their pocket. It really was quite the match.
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