Posted by M B Mehdi

MANCHESTER UNITED 4 (Valencia 26, Gibson 31, Anderson 72, Anderson 76)
SCHALKE 1 (Jurado 35)

Gibson, the only Manchester United player I like, played a gloriously weighted 30 yard pass between two defenders to Valencia who killed the ball with a great first touch before nutmegging Neuer. Neuer, irrepressible in the first leg, let a Gibson drive slip through his fingers. Jurado hammered in a loose ball after United's makeshift defence failed to deal with a cross. Valencia beat Neuer for a second time only to see his shot cleared off the line by Howedes. Schalke were robbed of a penalty when Evans grabbed Raul with both arms in the box. It would have been a different game at 2-2 given the weak line-up fielded by Taggart. United recovered from that incident and continued to pummel the Schalke goal. Anderson scrambled in a third on the break and tapped in his second after a Berbatov centre.

Far, far too easy for United, as had been the first leg. If Magath was still coach I'm sure Schalke would have given United a much tougher game. With the exception of their home tie against Marseille, United have breezed through to the final. Let's hope they get absolutely annihilated by Barcelona, it's the lesser of two evils.

Post match on Italian TV Taggart was about to get interviewed. He saw the reporter, slapped him on the back of the head & said "An Arsenal Fan", pointing to an Asenal badge on the reporter's jacket then kissing it! That's the closest Arsenal will get to silverware this season.

Manchester United win 6-1 on aggregate.

Attendance : 74,687
Assists : Gibson, Valencia, n/a, n/a, Berbatov




BARCELONA 1 (Pedro 54)
REAL MADRID 1 (Marcelo 64)

Massive cheat Busquets wasted a free header from a corner, failing to trouble Casillas. It took Barca a while to get going but towards the end of the half chances started coming thick and fast. Messi chest trapped an Alves cross on the edge of the D, skipped a typically reckless Xabi Alonso sliding tackle and went past Carvalho before pulling his shot wide of the right post. Iniesta tackled Diarra in midfield and sent Messi at Real Madrid's centre backs, he passed to the overlapping Villa and his first time shot was spectacularly saved, one handed, by Casillas. Pedro missed a much easier chance after excellent work by Villa then back healed a Villa centre to Messi, drawing another excellent save from the Real Madrid goalkeeper.

Ronaldo turned away from Alves in midfield and drove into the heart of the Real Madrid defence, he was tripped by Pique and his momentum carried him into the lowlife Mascherano, who rolled around clutching his ankle as Higuain whipped the ball past Valdes. Ridiculous decision. Barca scored shortly thereafter. Iniesta picked a pass between a huge gap left by Marcelo and the past it Carvalho to Pedro who slotted into the left corner. Xabi Alonso intercepted a hospital pass, his only positive contribution in the two ties, and gave the ball do Di Maria, he skipped a typically thuggish Mascherano sliding tackle (I'm surprised he didn't tackle it and go down) and hammered a shot against the left post, the ball came back to him and he centred for Marcelo to tap in. The match then petered out. Abidal made a miraculous return from cancer and Barca celebrated as if they had already won the cup which is always dangerous, unless they know something we don't.

The diving and playacting was almost kept to a minimum, almost as Mascherano did more than enough for box teams. As he's been largely relegated to the Barca bench this season you could be forgiven for forgetting what a dirty, cheating little bastard he is. If he plays another game it will be too soon.

Barcelona win 3-1 on aggregate.

Attendance : 95,701
Assists : Iniesta, Di Maria


http://soccer-europe.com
Follow Me On Twitter