It was a victory for Manchester United last night in a game that had it all. Crowd problems, missiles and even a potential walk off by the Lille players ensure that the return leg at Old Trafford will be a fiery encounter.
Both sides had chances in a game that really didn’t get going for the first 45 minutes. The only notable action appeared off the pitch when there appeared to be an altercation between the United fans and French riot police. It was suggested at the time that there were too many fans in the away end, and as a result some spectators were getting crushed!
Riot fans appeared to respond by using tear gas, with reports after the game suggesting Van Der Sar suffered double vision as a result.
Read the BBC article here
The second half brought yet more drama when Lille had a goal disallowed for an appeared push on Nemanja Vidic. Ronaldo was then substituted after an indifferent performance. He often tried one trick too many and ended up giving the ball away on too many occasions. Saha was his replacement, but he was not much better.
The game descended into chaos on 83 minutes. Giggs scored a quickly taken free kick and as a result the Lille coach ordered his players off the pitch in what appeared to be a walk off. The game eventually continued but it had done nothing to quell an already tense atmosphere. The crowd appeared restless and hostile and responded by launching missiles at the Man Utd players.
The game ended 1-0 but sadly the talking points were not the football. Ferguson clearly wasn’t happy as can be judged by his response in this interview
All in all it sets things up for a seriously exciting return leg! Welcome to Old Trafford Lille!!!
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4 comments:
wow...what a way to win a match! i think it's genius. and anyone who says it's unsportsmanlike should stick to watching sunday league. well done giggsy for seizing a great opportunity. that's how great teams make it all the way in cup competitions. look at brazil in 2002: ronaldinho's brilliant freekick against seaman - sheer opportunism, but it won them the match. you can't give an inch, and if the opposition relax for a second you have to jump on it because you may not get another chance. and in the end that's the drama that we on the sidelines like to see.
of course, not the drama that the lille players put on. i totally agree with andy townsend. they were understandably upset but their coach should be heavily fined. you have to be professional. they played a good game and who's to say they couldn't nick it at old trafford? why behave like that?
when england's black players were subjected to racist abuse at the bernabeu in 2005, i argued that they should have walked off the pitch. if it was me, i wouldn't have stood for it, but at the same time i admired the players for not giving in to that sort of pressure and carrying on. that was the professional thing to do....though i still feel that it would have sent a very strong message if they had walked off. the point is that scenario had nothing to do with football. it was a question of humanity, but last night was merely a smart player taking advantage of a situation, fully within the rules of the game.
as before: well done giggsy! can't wait for the rematch, just wish espn2 would show that game and not arsenal vs. psv!!!
The fact that the Uefa President michel Platini is French and has vowed to defend smaller temas and that Uefa Rules say that the whistle must be blown before a free kick can be taken unlike football rules means that the game might be replayed.
Quick free kicks are allowed in the Premiership but it seems not in the Champions League. Referees get desicions wrong all the time though like earlier in the season a thierry Henry Goal was ruled out for a handball against CSKA Moscow I think that was totally non existant but that game wasn't replayed.
I fear that Michel Platini is only concerned about his presious French teams and we could see similar situations like this where Platini uses his postition to overturn his countrys dubious desicions.
The Uefa President should be someone from nowhere near Europe (preferably Mars) but if not why not get an Australian bloke or somethin. The fact Platini is an ex player means hes even more likely to be bias.
I think if the game gets replayed then you are setting a very dangerous Precedent. You can't have a tournament that replays games every time the referee gets a decision wrong (not that i believe that in this instance he was wrong. Part of the beautiful game is that you take the rough with the smooth, sometimes you get the run of the greenand sometimes you don't, that's football. Lille should be just more determined to exert revenge in the away leg!
An article in the Guardian has an interview with the Lille Director General who says United should be chucked out of the competition. Because they issued their tickets too early, people had enough time to forge the tickets. He compares it to Feyenord and says they were chucked out for similar crowd disturbances
http://football.guardian.co.uk/championsleague200607/story/0,,2019142,00.html
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