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UEFA Champions League: Matchday Commentary

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Manchester United takes on Bayern Munich today (2:45pm, FSE/FSN) while French rivals Lyon and Bordeaux clash (2:45pm, FSC) in today's two UEFA Champion League quarterfinal first-leg matches.

Wayne Rooney is back in the fold after missing Manchester United's league match at the weekend, so the defending English champions will be at full strength when they take on a Bayern Munich team that will be without Arjen Robben or Bastian Schweinsteiger. Both midfielders are injured for today's match in Germany.

Lyon, led by Jean Maxoun and Jeremy Toulalan, will look to upset Bordeaux, led by Yoan Gourcouff and Marouane Chamakh, in what should be a tense encounter in Lyon.

I will be providing live commentary on today's Manchester United-Bayern Munich match so please feel free to follow along here. As always, you are welcome to share your own thoughts and opinions in the comments section below (comments on the Lyon/Bordeaux match are also welcome).

Enjoy the action (Commentary is after the jump).

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FINAL– And it's Bayern Munich with the 2-1 comeback victory. Shades of the 1999 Champions League final, when Manchester United scored two late goals to win the title.

The more worrisome news for Manchester United than the loss is Wayne Rooney, who limped off after rolling his right ankle. Could he miss the crucial match vs. Chelsea, or worse yet, have a serious foot injury? We will find out soon enough.

That's all for me. Thanks for following along. Feel free to share your post-game thoughts in the comments section below.

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92nd Minute– Olic steals the ball from Patrice Evra in the area and races in for a clutch goal.

Rooney is limping off. UH-OH. Not a good sign.

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92nd Minute– GOAL BAYERN MUNICH!!!!! WOW, Ivica Olic scores a LATE winner. WOW. Bayern 2, United 1.

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90th Minute– WOW, SAVE VAN DER SAR, stops a late shot from Gomez that was definitely goal-bound.

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90th Minute– Whoa, Munich comes close with a dangerous ball into the area. United gets very lucky.

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88th Minute– Rooney gets the yellow for a bit of a harsh kick.

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87th Minute– Miroslave Klose looks the same as he did in 2002.

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86th Minute– Miroslave Klose comes in for Altintop.

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84th Minute– Vidic OFF THE CROSSBAR!!! He heads home a Giggs header but it's off the bar.

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83rd Minute– Rooney's free kick is headed out for a corner.

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82nd Minute– Wow, Nani dove so badly to draw a free kick. Giggs coming on and United has a free kick about 24 yards out, top of the left corner of the area.

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81st Minute– Ryan Giggs is ready to come in.

United will be happy with a draw at this point.

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78th Minute– Scholes gets a yellow.

Deserved equalizer from Bayern, which has been the better team for the sum of the match.

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77th Minute- GOAL BAYERN and it's Ribery with the free kick, deflected off the wall and past Van Der Sar. Bayern Munich 1, Manchester United 1.

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76th Minute– Gary Neville gets a yellow for a deliberate handball and Bayern has a dangerous free kick, 25 yards out, left of the arc.

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73rd Minute– Gomez is on for Muller.

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71st Minute– A second United goal would cripple Bayern in the series.

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70th Minute– Antonio Valencia and Dimitar Berbatov come in for Michael Carrick and Park Ji Sung. Bold moves by Sir Alex.

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62nd Minute– Mario Gomez is warming up now. Bayern needs something up top.

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59th Minute– Riberydribbles at Neville, but Nani tracks back and helps close him down. How Ribery hasn't exploited Neville more is beyond me. Good work by United on the Frenchman.

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56th Minute– SAVE VAN DER SAR. Altintop with a great dribble into the area, but his hard shot is stopped.

Van Der Sar with another save, this time on a Van Bommel shot. Bayern is pressing hard for that equalizer.

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54th Minute– It's rare when the United midfield loses a battle but Bayern's midfield has done very well to control things.

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50th Minute– SAVE VAN DER SAR. he has to dive to full stretch to keep out a deflected shot.

Patrice Evra with terrible acting on an alledged foul.

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47th Minute– United starting slowly this half and Bayern is flying.

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47th Minute– Target practice for Bayern early on. Olic forces a tough save and Bayern keeps the pressure on. Corner for the germans.

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46th Minute– We're back.

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HALFTIME– Manchester United 1, Bayern Munich 0. An early goal gives United the lead, but they've been kind of sleepy since. Bayern Munich has shown more energy in chasing an equalizer, but no goals yet for the home team. 

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45th Minute– SAVE BUTT, Great shot by Carrick but Butt grabs it.

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45th Minute– Nani is limping off after getting stepped on.

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43rd Minute– Nothing from the United corner. Here comes Bayern again, but Rio is there to intercept.

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42nd Minute– United corner.

it's unreal how many times Rooney is getting the ball 25 yards and closer, with one defender on him.

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39th Minute– Rooney with an uncharacteristic miss on a great chance.

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37th Minute– Questionable call against Bayern that robs them of a great chance. Not sure what the call was.

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33rd Minute– SAVE Van Der Sar, stops a long-range Pranjic shot. Didn't really trouble him.

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31st Minute– Van Der Sar is very busy tonight.

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31st Minute– Rooney takes a shot by it's right at Butt (stop laughing).

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30th Minute– Bayern corneris taken short, Van Der Sar catches the cross with ease.

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29th Minute– Lung-busting run from Van Bommel, but Neville does well to race in and pick off his final pass. Good attacking soccer right now.

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28th Minute– Bayern is on the attack again, but Olic is ruled offside on what looked like a great chance.

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23rd Minute– Bayern is moving the ball, but you can tell they miss Robben and Schweinsteiger.

Ribery chips a pass to Altintop, but Altintop can't quite settle it.

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21st Minute– SAVE VAN DER SAR, stops a Ribery shot from distance. Bayern looking a bit better now.

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16th Minute– Nani JUST wide. Chance comes soon after Rooney had raced in on goal, only to have his shot blocked. United starting to find a good rhythm.

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15th Minute– Lahm with a nice run forward but the cross from Altintop is out of bounds.

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12th Minute– Bayern begins to get a footing. Now they get a corner.

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7th Minute– Bayern off to a slow start.

And for those wondering, Rooney scored 64 seconds into the match.

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4th Minute– Rooney gave DeMichelis a head fake in the penalty area and raced in unmarked to volley home the Nani free kick, a bad free kick also surrendered by DeMichelis.

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2nd Minute- GOAL MANCHESTER UNITED!!!! And it's Wayne Rooney, who fakes out his man and goes in wide open to volley home a Nani free kick from the right flank. WOW.

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1st Minute– We're off.

Park on the left, Nani on the right. 

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PRE-GAME– You can rest assured Park Ji Sung will be helping Gary Neville on Franck Ribery, who will be working the left flank for Bayern today.

The broadcast has Nani on the right and Park Ji Sung on the left. We'll see if that's right.

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PRE-GAME– Can Bayern stop Wayne Rooney? Daniel Van Buyten is a physical player so you wonder if he will look to be physical from the start. Will the ref call it close?

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PRE-GAME– Here is today's lineup for Manchester United:

MANCHESTER UNITED

———————–Rooney————————

Park—————–Scholes——————-Nani

————Carrick———–Fletcher—————

Evra——–Ferdinand——-Vidic———-Neville

——————–Van Der Sar———————

BAYERN MUNICH

—————–Muller——–Olic——————–

Ribery——–Van Bommel——Pranjic——–Altintop

Badstuder——Van Buyten—-DeMechelis—–Lahm

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Comments

  1. You are so right on Rooney. He was completely marked out of the game, but I would have to say that Van Buyten and Demichells are top class defenders.

    Ferdinand is not what he used to be – if he starts we can get around him.

    Reply
  2. I hope Bob Bradley was watching…this game tape is a great how-to video on how to shutdown Rooney. I know he scored but that goal could have been scored by any player that was on that field at that moment. Also, another British Defender getting torched and costing their team the game. Just more proof of how vulnerable Englands Defense is to speedy Forwards and Midfielders. meanwhile Charlie Davies recovery is nearly complete.

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  3. A great finish makes up for a poor start. They were the better side for 89 minutes and it was good to see them pull it off. Chelsea fans must already be celebrating their fresh EPL Title after Rooney limped off. But its no gimme.

    Reply
  4. When ever I saw Demichelis on the field with his face guard I thought that Bayern started “The Lone Ranger” or “Zorro”…

    Reply
  5. Aaron, I agree that 10 goals is too high. It took Pele three world cups to score 10 goals and he was a much better player than Villa. Plus Spain is too balanced and they are likely to spread the scoring around.

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  6. Come on serious injury for Rooney! I normally don’t wish injury on anyone, but this is the world cup and all best are off.

    Reply
  7. excellent book. i think it’s interesting how one of the ideas is that champions league/top flight players are injured/worn out by WC time yet players/managers constantly say top flight competition is the key to WC success. definitely somewhere in the middle and on a fine fine line

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  8. Didn’t really want to write a dissertation on the book…but just wanted to point at how spot on he is (although doesn’t seem to be difficult as they’re so predictable)

    Reply
  9. I wonder if Rooney didn’t initially hurt his foot when he kicked the Bayern player (can’t remember who it was, but that player got subbed right after the Rooney kick) late in the second half.

    Reply
  10. Great read by the way, have it on my desk at the moment. What you neglect to mention is the fact that a big part of this chapter on England not winning the WC is how the game takes a toll on the body. Point being, Rooney has been week in week out dealing with injury and resting for his body. This ankle roll looks a bit painful and it will be interesting to see how this injury affects pain across his body. oh roooooney. Wish you best of luck even though I’d rather not see him on the pitch against us haha.

    Reply

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