Post Match Reactions - CL QF Leg Two

[JB@Norwich]

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[Steve@ManUtd]

Arsenal (5)4-5(5) MANCHESTER UNITED
Manchester United win 5-4 on penalties

Bloody football eh? Bloody FFO eh?

Try summing this bonkers encounter up? You can't. We knew we had to win, but to do that after some patchy form it was clear we needed a big game display which we are capable of but have been lacking recently.

We traded goals up until half time, and we ended the half 3-2 up. Second half, we seized control of the score with about 30 minutes left and then bank, Arsenal send us to extra time then eventually penalties with a goal moments before the death! That same player turned out to be the victim of the shootout, Isak missing one to miss.

Both sides went for it when they had to and there was a host of chances but I think we did enough to go through and we'll see who we get next round.

But, it was a pleasing showing as mentioned that's hug for us as we hunt momentum.

[AB@Juventus]

Juventus 1 - 0 Inter Milan (Juventus win 3-0 on aggregate)


This was a strange game for us considering GS left his post at Inter just the day before the game. We already had a 2 goal lead heading into the home tie so we already had our plan of action and it didn't change when the Inter manager did.

We planned to play the team, not the manager so we opted for a cautious P tactic hoping for an open game with plenty of abs.

Johnboy's Inter came to play a passing style of play too and the game was back and forth, with both teams having spells but I'd say we were the better team in the first half but couldn't add to our 2-0 lead from the away leg as we entered the break 0-0.

Into the second half and again both teams had chances and possession but we were starting to take control and we sealed our place in the semi finals with 3 minutes to play after S_Gimenez scored his 25th goal of the season.

Statistically we were much the better team so it should have been more than 1-0 but we'll take it along with some important abs for some important players.

Good game John, good luck with Inter.

[Marshy@Atletico]

Atletico Madrid 1 PSG 1 (3-4 agg)

Atletico would entertain a PSG side hurt by a last-game shut out without defender Van-de-Ven. PSG were missing Ramos following two yellow cards in the last game. The home manager Simon Marsh puzzled for a number of hours prior to settling on a 5-2-1-2 normal formation only to see Ed Clark outfox them with a 5-2-3 passing style.
The game was relatively open with both sides having roughly the equal chances until PSG scored the opening goal on 33 minutes.
Disaster struck for Atletico when they were severely hampered losing Alvarez to injury, an 18-20-11 replaced by a 18-13-8 Pieters in defence.
Atletico changed to attack and edged the rest of the games chances but just could not score until the 87th minute through Vinicius Jnr
Sadly despite a further 10 minutes of action Atletico could not muster up another chance and PSG progressed to the semi-finals.

Manager Simon Marsh commented "I am proud of the efforts in the Champions League. We finished above Manchester United, Roma and Southampton in the league and have matched PSG over two legs losing out narrowly. The shot count over the two games was 26-27 but PSG had the rub of the green with us playing with 10-men for 33 minutes in leg1 and losing Alvarez in leg2. With the green our way we probably knock them out. Ed knows he has been in an almighty battle to continue his treble quest".

19/25 players have now made their retaining minutes.

Good game Ed.

[Steve@Chelsea]

Real Madrid 4 - 1 Leeds United (Madrid win 8-1 on aggregate)

The Galaticos smash the Premiership's reigning champions for the 2nd game in a row, to come away destructive winners by a 7 goal margin over the two games. The damage was done in the first game really, and tonight was almost a formality and we just had to make sure we covered the bases of anything weird happening. Thank's for coming Leeds.

All the favourites seemed to win their quarter final ties, so the semi finals are a murderers row of teams. Every single one of them a tough opponent. Let's see who comes out the hat for Madrid but on this form not many will want to see our name come out for them.

[Ed@PSG]

Atletico Madrid 1 - 1 PSG (PSG win 4-3 on aggregate)

A one goal lead can sometimes be hard to protect as you often set up defensively, inviting your opponents to attack, and then arent set up correctly to get something from the game. The obvious tactic would have been to play Counter, but i suspected our hosts would try something different, perhaps Long Ball. After considering all the options, i concluded that a Passing game was the best option since it was unlikely that our opponents would get tactical advantage, and this would give an even game. However, Marshy threw me a curve ball by playing a tactic i never expected, but walked into facing tactical advantage. We got the first important goal and went 2 up on aggregate. It looked like we were going to hold on, as both Goalkeepers seemed to be on good form, but our hosts got a breakthough on 87 minutes leading to an extremely nervy final 5 minutes.

Without leading marksman, Ramos, I expected Haaland to finally end his goal drought, but alas this wasnt the case.The stats over the 2 games were even, but i would like to believe that our extra quality, especially in the shooting department gave us a slight edge.

Good game, and unlucky Marshy.

Our reward is a semi final against Juventus, again with the first leg at home. My record in finals isnt great, so i dont expect to win the competition, but each win gets us a little more cash and a few more abs. If we can manage to get to the final, we might just be near breakevewn on gates+media vs wages for the season.

[Darren]

Arsenal 4 - 5 Manchester United

First of all, massive congratulations to Steve and his side for making it through to the semi final stage, we made it to that round last season and wanted to repeat that but it wasn't to be this season and of course a little bit gutted not to have but someone has to win, it wasn't our day.

Onto the game. We see these silly score lines pop up from time to time and it just a shame that one had to rear its head in such an important game. We knew a one goal lead was never enough to settle this tie and couldn't afford to sit back and let them come at us, but to score four at home and still get taken to extra time is nothing short of crazy and then to lose on penalties is a harsh way for any side to lose a game, it really does come down to what side lady luck is shining on in penalties and it wasn't us in this one but to be honest, United came here and were better than us on the day, just the stupid score frustrates me and keeps me questioning just why I keep playing when it whacks out silly score lines like these ones.

Of course we are disappointed to exit such a big competition but to make it to this stage after winning the toughest group isn't to shabby either. Onwards to getting players their minutes and finishing the season as strong as possible.