Real Madrid Vs Manchester United: A spurs view

By Gary Beaumont
April 9 2003

Once everyone has stopped admiring the performance of Real Madrids footballing experts, I would like to highlight the inept performance from a number of players plying there trade in Manchester (Or the suburbs at least).

Whilst openly admitting I am a spurs fan I unfortunately have to get my European thrills by watching some of our rather more fortunate colleagues (This does not include Arsenal). Over the years I have built up quite an admiration for the way Manchester United go about their business. They always work hard and out fox the opposition especially in regard to tactics and shooting ability. However this admiration was lost after last nights performance and brings me to ask one simple question…

…Will we see any success whilst teams of the ability of Real are involved in this competition?

I do realise that the tie is far from over, but as far as I am concerned it is. For the Red Devils to score 2 whilst conceding nothing is rather a difficult task if you ask me. This defiantly appears to be the case after watching last nights game. When United were going forward they looked a half decent side. However when it came to defending I was appalled to see them admiring the skills of Zidane, Figo, Carlos and Ronaldo rather than putting a tackle in. When they actually remembered they were playing football and attempted to dislodge the ball from the feet of these world-class players, they hopelessly failed. It was all to obvious that by the time they actually put in a challenge, the opposition knew exactly where this tackle was coming from and in turn knew how to avoid this procedure. Am I alone in this view? Or does anyone else believe that by sticking on the shoulder of an opponent and putting in a tackle before they have chance to impress would have seen a closer match?

No bacon for United this year, I would place my mortgage on it!

For legal purposes this does not include the performance of John O’Shea (Who put in a damn good show considering the amount of time he was on the pitch)