Real Madrid v Man Utd match report

By David Lee Wheatley

14^th February 2013

All-square at Santiago Bernabeu

It was dubbed “the match the world is waiting for” by Real supremo Jose Mourinho and it didn’t disappoint, as an absorbing contest ended in a 1-1 draw in Madrid to leave the tie wide open going into the second leg on 5^th March.

Manchester United were almost caught on the hop early on when Real left-back Fabio Coentrao broke loose to fire low to the keeper’s right drawing a fine fingertip save from David De Gea, whose touch was just enough to divert the ball on to the post and away.

It was the wake-up call United needed, as they began to grow into the game and attack their hosts with much more purpose and intent.

The away side startled the Bernabeu faithful on 20 minutes when a Rooney corner from the left was expertly diverted into the net by young gun Danny Welbeck. His pace had started to become a problem for the Real Madrid back-line and his movement to lose Ramos and head home was sublime.

The Red Devils looked comfortable after the taking the lead and that continued until the inevitable happened with United old boy Cristiano Ronaldo striking back with a header of his own after 30 minutes. Angel Di Maria was given too much time to cross from the left and Ronaldo rose like the proverbial salmon, way above Patrice Evra in the penalty area, to head home with power and precision into the bottom right-hand corner beyond De Gea’s despairing drive.

It was end-to-end stuff right up to the half-time whistle with neither side gaining the upper hand.

United looked to have a more compact shape in the second half as they attempted to contain Real’s attacking forays, but they were still able to counter-attack on a number of occasions.

Early in the second period, Coentrao was denied by an unconventional stop from De Gea with his right leg from point-blank range. It was an unusual decision not to use his hands to make the save, but it got the job done.

Then, Van Persie burst into life at the other end when he broke through on the right edge of the box to fire a shot that was pushed on to the bar by Diego Lopez in the Madrid goal. A moment later, Van Persie was through again. Everyone around him waited for an offside flag when in fact the Dutchman was comfortably onside and, one-on-one with the keeper, the prolific United forward somehow managed to miss-kick the ball resulting in a bobbling shot that Xabi Alonso raced back to clear off the line.

De Gea was called into action again with ten minutes remaining when Sami Khedira had a snapshot deflected by the United defence. The former Atletico Madrid keeper was equal to the shot as he clutched the ball decisively.

There was still time for one last Van Persie attempt when he angled a shot with his left foot from inside the box, only to see Diego Lopez push it away to safety.