Manchester United dominates Arsenal, 3-1
Defending champion Manchester United swept into the final of soccer’s European Champions League on Tuesday night by routing an out-of-sorts and out-of-sync Arsenal, 3-1, at the Emirates Stadium in London.
That gave the Red Devils a 4-1 aggregate victory in the home-and-home series and the chance to play the winner of today’s Chelsea-Barcelona semifinal in the May 27 final in Rome.
So much for the news. Now for the intrigue.
On the same day that it was playing its most important match of the year so far, word leaked out from Manchester United that the team was considering a world-record $94-million offer for Bayern Munich’s French playmaker Franck Ribery.
The offer supposedly would be contingent upon United’s Portuguese standout, Cristiano Ronaldo, leaving for Real Madrid this summer.
Ronaldo had said earlier in the week that, contrary to earlier desires, he would be happy to remain with the reigning English, European and world champions. “I am no longer thinking of Madrid,” Ronaldo said. “That dream is dead.”
But Tuesday’s published report that Manchester United already was seeking other options left Ronaldo with only one way to respond, and he did just that.
Ronaldo, 24, in an imperious performance befitting his status as the reigning FIFA world player of the year, created United’s first goal with a superb cutback pass that caused Arsenal defender Kieran Gibbs to slip and fall and allowed United’s Korean midfielder Park Ji-Sung to score after only eight minutes.
Three minutes later, Ronaldo unleashed a 39-yard free kick that tore into the back of the net just inside the right post and beyond the fingertips of Arsenal goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.
Sixteen minutes into the second half Ronaldo started and finished a sublime counter-attack by United. He back-heeled the ball to Park, who passed to Wayne Rooney out on the left. Rooney crossed the ball into the path of Ronaldo, who fired it past Almunia for his 25th goal of the season.
“I thought tonight they couldn’t handle him,” Manchester United Coach Alex Ferguson said. “We needed someone to give them real problems, and Ronaldo in that form . . . well, he’s fantastic.”
A smiling Ronaldo acknowledged his performance. “I think I am back to my best, yes,” he said. “Certainly in the last few games.”
Ferguson, who will be seeking his third Champions League title, said experience had mastered youth.
“They are a young team, and I don’t think whatever level you play at teams can recover from two quick goals like that,” he said. Arsenal Coach Arsene Wenger, who believed his team had a chance in the second leg after holding United to only a one-goal victory in Manchester last week, was shell-shocked.
“We do not have the feeling that we played a semifinal in the Champions League because it was over after 10 minutes,” he said. Arsenal got a late goal on a penalty kick by Robin van Persie after a red-card foul by Darren Fletcher that will cause him to miss the final.
Chelsea, last season’s runner-up to United, plays host to Barcelona at Stamford Bridge today after tying, 0-0, in Spain.
“If you ask me who I would like to play in the final, neither of them,” Ferguson joked. “I think we should have a bye.”
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