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With just 15 seconds gone, batman-like Martin Demichelis fouled Nani outside the box. Nani swung-in a good cross, and after a deflection from Markus Van Bommel, the ball fell to Rooney. Wazza blasted it into the roof of the net to give The Reds a very, very early lead.

It was Roo’s 34th goal of the season… was it too good to be true ? 

United had been given a dream start, and Nani looked to add to the scoreline, as his right wing cross turned-out to be a shot and nearly caught-out Bayern goalie Hans-Jörg Butt.

Franck Ribery was a major threat, and with Arjen Robben out injured, he was Bayern’s main playmaker. He out-ran both Nani and Gary Neville down the left flank, and led them on a lot of chases. However, the large Frenchman didn’t make much of an impact in the early stages.

Ribery forced an easy save from Van Der Sar, but he was looking increasingly dangerous, as his crosses were very nearly being put in the back of the net. Hamit Altintop and Olic among those who just shot wide.

Rooney then had two magnificent opportunities, the first he twisted and turned, but his shot was blocked, and then a left wing cross nearly ended in a goal, but Roo shot straight at goalkeeper Butt.

After the interval, Bayern were even better, they regained more possession and had alot more chances. Van Der Sar was kept on his toes for the first few minutes, as two corners threatened the goal. But the Germans just couldn’t find a goal, as Olic, Daniel Van Buyten and Thomas Muller all struck wide.

Sir Alex made changes to the team, with Dimitar Berbatov and Antonio Valencia replacing Ji-Sung Park and Michael Carrick respectively. But the subs didn’t help much, as Ribery lifted the roof off the Allianz Arena…

Neville stupidly gave away a free-kick for a blatant hand ball, the ball wasn’t going anywhere dangerous, but he somehow decided sticking out his arm was a good idea. Ribery lined-up the free 25 yards out, his strike was awful, but Roo’s deflection totally sent the ball off-course and into the bottom left of the goals. The pressure was paying off…

Neville was booked for the incident, and so Sir Alex sent-on Ryan Giggs to help him out. Nani made way for the veteran, and Giggs’ first involvement was a corner. Nemanja Vidic nearly made Giggs a ‘super-sub’, as the Serbian centre-half headed against the crossbar !

But that was United’s last say in the game. There was 2 minutes of injury time added on, and I, as many others expected, the whistle to be blown when Bayern took the goal-kick. Instead referee Frank De Bleeckere let play continue, Rooney was injured in an aerial challenge from the goal kick and Bayern played on into the box…

Possession was lost by the Germans, but Evra failed to clear the ball, and Olic burst onto the ball and fired it into the goals, a cheap, yet costly defeat.

With defeat comes improvement, well hopefully. Because there will need to be alot of IMPROVEMENT if we can emerge victorious against a Chelsea side that slaughtered Aston Villa 7-1 last weekend !

So, United have it all to do; win against Chelsea, or draw, and win by 1-0, or higher, against Bayern next Wednesday (7th of April). Until next time…


NOTE:  We would like to apologise for the absence of a ‘Match Preview’ for the game against Bayern Munich on Tuesday night. The Preview could not be posted due to unforeseen technical failures. We will of course post a Preview for the Chelsea clash on Saturday… We sincerely apologise for any inconveniences.