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Manchester United vs. Barcelona: Running Commentary

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The game we’ve all been waiting for is finally here. Manchester United vs. Barcelona. Winner goes to the Champions League final. It doesn’t get much better than that.

Manchester United plays host to Barcelona needing a win to clinch the Champions League final berth, or a 0-0 tie to force overtime in this home-and-home series. The match is set to begin at 2:45 p.m. on ESPN2.

I will be doing a live commentary on the match so feel free to follow the match here. Even if you’re watching the match yourself, if you happen to be online please feel free to share your thoughts and opinions on the match in the comments section below. I have a feeling today’s match will be far more exciting than the first leg between these teams.

Enjoy the match.

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FINAL- That’s all for me. Hope you enjoyed the match and the commentary. What a beautiful game. Share your post-game thoughts on the match in the comments section below.

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FINAL- MANCHESTER UNITED 1, Barcelona 0. And Manchester United gets the job done. After a shaky first leg, Man U gets the goal it needed and its defense stands tall. What a game.

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95th minute- Man U is holding on here as Barcelona sends 10 men at goal.

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93rd minute- You wonder how Silvestre will handle coming into a game this fast and intense.

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92nd minute- Evra is still being tended to, Silvestre will replace him and it’s looking like it will be closer to five or six minutes of stoppage time.

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90th minute- Patrice Evra is hurt. And THREE minutes of added time.

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88th minute- Eidur Gudjohnsen in for Yaya Toure. Barcelona throwing it all at Man U now.

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88th minute- Three minutes left and Man U is controlling things.

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83rd minute- Nice battle between Ronaldo and Zambrotta. Talk about a dramatic last few minutes.

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81st minute- Henry with a shot on goal but Van Der Sar saves it easily.

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78th minute- Henry with a close-range header saved by Van Der Sar.

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76th minute- Ryan Giggs comes in for Nani and Darren Fletcher comes in for Paul Scholes.

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73rd minute- Wow, Barcelona nearly picks out Xavi with a perfect pass but it doesn’t connect.

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71st minute- Bojan Krkic comes in for Samuel Eto’o. This kid is lightning.

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70th minute- Yaya Toure gets a yellow for a foul on Park. He’ll miss the final if Barcelona finds a way to equalize and advance.

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69th minute- Tevez has been pretty quiet today.

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66th minute- I wonder if Ferguson considers putting in Anderson soon.

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62nd minute- Michael Carrick with a yellow card for fouling Messi. Good call and necessary foul because Messi was running down the middle of the field unmarked.

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61st minute- Thierry Henry comes in for Iniesta. It will be very interesting to see how Henry impacts this game.

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60th minute- Nani with a great run at goal followed by a horrid shot about 20 rows into the stands.

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57th minute- Valdes stops a Tevez shot. Great save and a great give-and-go between Ronaldo and Tevez.

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56th minute- Messi with a dangerous run. I tell you, every time he runs at goal he looks scary, even if his last shot was weak.

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53rd minute- Whoa, Nani with a great chance but doesn’t put it away.

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52nd minute- Zambrota with a yellow card for a late challenge on Evra.

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52nd minute- Park Ji Sung is everywhere. He just doesn’t stop running.

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51st minute- This hasn’t been Gianluca Zambrotta’s best night. Man U corner misses everybody.

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49th minute- Man U needs to attack here because if they sit back Barcelona will find the equalizer.

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49th minute- I wonder when we’ll see Thierry Henry.

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48th minute- Barcelona corner kick

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47th minute- Barca with some early possession.

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46th minute- And we’re back.

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HALFTIME- Manchester United 1, Barcelona 0. What a game this has been. Crisp passing, sharp challenges, great soccer. It will be interesting to see what changes Frank Rijkaard makes to his squad.

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45th minute- Great stuff from both sides. End to end stuff.

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44th minute- Milito almost gets a header on goal but he mistimes his jump. He was wide open in the area.

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43rd minute- Barcelona free kick from about 35 yards out, toward the right end of the area.

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41st minute- Nani narrowly misses a header on a great cross from Park Ji Sung. I tell you who has played well so far is Park Ji Sung. he has been active and all of his passes sharp.

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39th minute- Van Der Sar caught a knee to the head from Wes Brown but he looks okay now.

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38th minute- Edwin Van Der Sar is hurt.

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37th minute- Deco with another chance that doesn’t miss by much.

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34th minute- Deco comes close for Barcelona, which has regained its footing in this game.

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29th minute- Puyol just caught a headbutt to the face from teammate Diego Milito.

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28th minute- Wow, Man U is tearing Barcelona’s defense apart. A second goal seems certain.

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27th minute- Nani looks dangerous today. The Nani-Ronaldo wing combo is going to cause problems all day for Barcelona.

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25th minute- Van Der Sar with a brave move to jump on a loose ball in the box with an attacker running in on him.

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23rd minute- Another Man U corner kick.

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22nd minute- Puyol and Tevez collide again. There’s a UFC fight I would like to see.

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21st minute- Park Ji Sun misses by inches on a beautiful set-up from Ronaldo.

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20th minute- Here comes Messi. And he gets a shot off that forces a diving save from Van Der Sar.

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19th minute- Barcelona was definitely stunned by that goal and has yet to get back into this game.

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18th minute- Apologies for the slow updates. I had some technical difficulties. What a goal by Scholes. Man U still isn’t safe though. Barcelona is still just a goal away from being in control.

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14th minute- GOAL MANCHESTER UNITED. PAUL SCHOLES WITH A BlAST FROM 25 yards out!!! WOW

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5th minute- Barcelona definitely has Man U on its heels early on.

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3rd minute- The game is off to a fast start. Both teams flying around.

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PRE-GAME- Here is Man U’s lineup:

———–Tevez——Ronaldo—————

Park—-Carrick——Scholes——-Nani

Evra—–Brown—-Ferdinand—Hargreaves

—————Van Der Sar———————

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PRE-GAME- No Vidic and no Rooney for Man U today. That won’t help the home team.

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PRE-GAME– The teams are taking the field. The stadium is buzzing and the homefield will be in full force at Old Trafford.

PRE-GAME- Here is Barcelona’s lineup:

——————-Eto’o———————

——Iniesta——————-Messi——

Deco————-Toure————–Xavi

Abidal—–Milito—-Puyol—Zambrotta

—————Valdes———————

Comments

  1. Tevez plays like a coked-up bulldog. His relentless pressure up top forced Barca to play at an uncomfortable pace and often eventually led to turnovers. Impressive

    Reply
  2. Barca looked powerless in the final third. How can a team with so much attacking talent be so poor? I somewhat question to decision to take off Iniesta because it seems like he had the ability to deliver in some better passes in the final part of the pitch.

    Reply
  3. Glad to see Park Ji Sung making an impact. Gotta big-up my Korean bredren. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to see most of the game (ducked into a bar in the last 5 min), but it sounds like it was pretty exciting.

    Reply
  4. God that was a dull end. I actually got caught up reading something around the 89th before realizing the game was still on. But Barca never looked like they would score, not really.

    Hopefully Man U can get healthy for the final, get Rooney back up top, Ronaldo on the wing, Hargraves in the middle and not at RB. Good thing Scholes put in a good game, since he’s going to play anyways.

    Reply
  5. The final whistle blows, and Man United is playing for the champions league title. The game was exciting, and it really makes me not want to watch the Chelsea Liverpool match tomorrow.

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  6. Barca’s season changed when Ronaldinho’s health and form dipped.

    Oh what this series and season would have been like if Ronnie reverted to his form from 2003-2005.

    Reply
  7. Speaking of being past it, what has happened to Thierry Henry? I don’t see a lot of La Liga, but by all accounts he is rubbish these days. He used to put the fear of god into me when he played for Arsenal…

    Reply

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