Watch the Throne by Luke Williams

Author:Luke Williams
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pitch Publishing
Published: 2021-06-15T00:00:00+00:00

Figure 49 shows Scholes performing similar movements to those of Xavi and Deco, moving to the right and becoming a false full-back outside of Ferdinand, pulling Xavi away from the centre. This created space for Ferdinand – afforded time by the temporarily central Messi – to play through to Park Ji-Sung, who in turn passed wide to Hargreaves. From here, Hargreaves dribbled against Iniesta and won a throw-in for his side. As much as they did not expect to dominate possession for long periods of the night, United still showed a preparedness to rotate and be brave when the opportunity arose.

Out of possession, Tevez was again tasked with marking Touré, with Ronaldo able to shuffle a few yards from side to side when Barça’s centre-backs had the ball. Ronaldo would be activated from a defensive perspective if Barcelona had been forced into passing backwards to a centre-back; if this happened then he would sprint to close the receiving defender down and force them into an early decision. Iniesta had some early joy against Nani in space created by Xavi becoming a false full-back outside of Milito. This prompted Hargreaves to follow Iniesta into midfield like in the first leg. Deco also acted as a false full-back again, creating space for Messi to move to Carrick’s outside shoulder and receive the ball. The Argentine looked much sharper than he had done six days previously. His side settled into the game first, establishing some good periods of possession that forced United back into their compact defensive shape. The away team were able to toy with their hosts – passing back to Valdes and encouraging Tevez and Ronaldo to push forward on to a centre-back each in the hope of intercepting a short pass. This allowed Touré to drop, create a four v two overload and receive the ball with time to turn and progress the ball forwards. Concern began to grow in the stands as United looked technically second best.

The feeling in the ground was then completely changed in the 14th minute thanks to a moment of brilliance from Scholes. Eto’o tried to run on to a long ball from Milito but could only head it on to van der Sar, who quickly rolled the ball back out to Ferdinand. Comfortable in possession, Ferdinand played a rapid one-two with Carrick before finding Ronaldo to his left, able to receive the ball and turn thanks to Zambrotta slipping over. This forced Touré to move across and cover. Zambrotta recovered to win the ball off Ronaldo but he could not pass back to Puyol because Park Ji-Sung – central due to United’s rotation – was on hand to press the Catalan defender. So, Zambrotta panicked and played a blind pass into midfield, hoping that Deco would be there to receive. Scholes reacted first, though, running on to the ball and controlling it before unleashing a brilliant strike from 25 yards out. His effort flew past Valdes and into the top corner for 1-0. United’s

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