Mar 05
Both sides to score but United favourites to beat Madrid
United take on Real Madrid at Old Trafford tonight in the second leg of their Champions League tie (7.45pm KO, Live On ITV1) and are a top priced 3.2 with Coral to beat the mighty Spaniards.
Sir Alex’s side did well to draw 1-1 at the Bernabeu, where they created plenty of chances and Robin van Persie missed two good opportunities late on.
That result meant that they have only lost once in their last 14 Champions League home games (nine wins, four draws), and their opponents have only won once in their last five away games in England in this competition (two draws, two defeats).
Throw in the fact that United have been in top form and banging in goals in the Premier League and you can see why they are value at 3.2 compared to the 2.4 on offer about the visitors.
Robin van Persie is sure be keen to make amends for his misses in the first leg and makes plenty of appeal in the goalscorer markets.
The Dutchman is a 6 chance with bet365 to net the opener, and can also be backed at tasty looking 2.25 with sportingbet to score anytime.
The other bets that really appeal in this come in the goal markets.
Real have only failed to score once in their last 32 Champions League games but have failed to keep a clean sheet in the Champions League this season (10 goals conceded).
That makes both teams to score look a banker bet at the 1.5 on offer with bet365 and Ladbrokes.
Sir Alex himself predicted such in his press conference, and stated that they will simply have to score more to win.
That statement suggests this game will be a real end to end attacking affair, and over 3.5 goals has to be worth a punt at 2.5 with with Coral.
*bet365 are offering a free bet special on this game. Simply place a bet on any market prior to kick off and they will match your stake as a free bet in-running up to a maximum of £50.
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Tags: Betting
The_Philosopher (488)
Redrich (254)
Opti (215)
Stephen (187)
Moscow (150)
looks like the fix money is against us agin
how many pens will we be denied tonight 
anyway united look the stronger side in the first but cant get it in…
time to check stats
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this is bayern all over again. we are in control of the tie, get a player sent off somewhat unfairly and now its gonna be a crapshoot and we’ve never been particularly good at defending a lead with ten men.
i feel bad for nani. just like rafael he can let his enthusiasm get away with him. we should tell our players that european referees hate english clubs and will do everything they can to stop them winning.
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straight bullshit. fix was in from the first leg with the no call on the penalty and the no call on a straight red offense. and allowing ramos to dive all over. cant believe that we are subjected to this. just unquestionably biased refing in both legs. smh makes you loose faith in the game.
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I hope this hurts scummers – great stuff real!
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I apologise on behalf of Turkish people. Embarassing. Joke.
Jose Mourinho: ‘Best team lost.’
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Roy Keane you are a joke, fuck off you prick. The ref got it right, fuck off.
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@Stephen: roy keane is a massive cunt, he his the worst sort of person, a turncoat with no dignity…… on what plant is that ever a red card. CRIMINAL!!
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How did Arbeola stay on the field after his thigh high and thigh-connecting tackle (studs up) on Evra? He got a yellow card. Nani = Red… BULLSHIT!!!!!
Independent of decision, after the red card, we were all over the place. Fergie should have managed it better by taking off a Welbeck or Giggs with Rooney. Then at 2-1 down, he put in Ashley Young, when Chicharito would have made more sense…
I think the red card/referee is 25-40% at fault while Fergie’s lack of tactical modifications get the remainder…
Not happy about this after leading 1-0 in 2nd half, but looking back to January I knew this would be a tough game, so I can accept going out as within the realm of my reality, as much as I wish to reside in denial.
Next year… just maybe.
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After seeing the lineup, this game had the smell of Barca 2008 or Bayern 2010. The red card made it clear which one came to be.
Fergie should have done better after the red card… United were crumbling at sliced open with Modric’s introduction. We became extremely square and easy to pass rings around. I will blame Fergie for the loss, then the referee, then Ronaldo. We had the chance to knock them out, but crumbled.
Recall, scummy Chelsea sustained Barca with 10 men… and even scored. We collapsed. That is something we must improve upon to persevere under adverse condition and manage contingencies better.
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@Opti:
I put the blame on Fergie after Nani was red carded. Fergie should’ve done better. Look at the Mourinho’s reaction after the sent-off. He bring on Modric that shows how quick thinking he is. But Fergie was busy complaining.
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@fahime shuhaime: We didnt have a bench for us to go into a ten man defense. Who would we bring on? Another defender? we have no midfielders among st the subs and we had the best players we could have bar maybe valencia on. We went for it and it showed.
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@fahime shuhaime: I agree more or less. If a plane blows an engine you don’t just keep flying to your destination… you make decisions to steer to safety… I think Fergie bottled it. Nonetheless, it was a poor decision by the referee… and it’s a shame that that is the discussion points, when we did EXTREMELY well until minute 60 and the red card.
We equaled or perhaps exceeded madrid’s chances of scoring but did not wear our clinical bootstoday
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Also, there were chances of a come-back but Diego Lopez (who had a poor first half) was sublime in the last 20 minutes. I think he denied United 3-4 times point-blank with great saves.
Is Rooney carrying an injury? He was pretty poor in the 20 minutes he was on.
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Well we proved we can compete against the top teams-with 11 men that is.
This is the second time a red card has cost us what would have probably been a nice ride to the final. We are utterly hopeless with 10 men. We just do not have the tactical acumen or the players to defend with our lives. So you would have thought we would have drummed it into the players that they must be ultra careful. European referees are known for these kind of decisions and at this level they are gamechangers.
Nani wasn’t entirely at fault but it was a risky challenge when there was no real danger. Rafael was young but Nani should have known better.
It is a shame as he looked sharp and hungry (maybe too hungry) and had he stayed on I think he could have helped us to victory.
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@colver: I agree Colver with your assertion that we don’t have the players to hold on to a game in a situation like tonight after the red card. We fought hard and were very unfortunate for with the refereeing decisions. I don’t think we could have expected much more from the team. But if we’re honest, how many times this season have we had games by the scruff of the neck and given the impression we have control of our destiny? I would argue very few – and that is with 11 men against much more modest modest PL opponents. So we should not be surprised by our inability to hold a very good Real Madrid side, psychologically on the ascendancy, with 10 men. Even when we did make subs towards the end, Young and Valencia are not the players to my mind who you feel confident are going to turn a game around for us.
I think this Utd team played to its full ability tonight, and we should be proud of that. But regardless of the harsh sending off, we lack enough players who can control possession, or close up shop should we need to. Today this was exposed by Modric who changed things for them as much as the sending off did for us. For this reason, today confirmed to my mind what I’ve said before – we’re still one or two key players short of a team that can win the Champions League again. But we have to give credit for the performance tonight – bar a crazy 10 mins or so after the sending off.
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Its such a painful way to go out.
Roy Keane needs to go home and shut up. I think he must just shut up.
I was a little dissapointed to see the squad visably deflated by the red card. At the time we had Madrid against the ropes but the card was psychological blow from which we didn’t recover.
Real capitalised on our shell-shock and got themselves back in the game. By the time we came back to our senses they had scored two goals.
From that point on it was perhaps too much for us to overcome from a belief point of view.
We created chances with 10 men and we even came close to scoring. Much to my satisfaction we didn’t concede either during the last moments of the game as we were chasing the impossible dream. So why didn’t we just go at them full throtle from minute one?!
I said earlier that if we can limit them to 1 goal we should be fine. But once they scored the second it was just like the Titanic. “She can stay afloat with the first three compartments breached but not four”
We could have gone through with 1 goal conceded but not 2.
With 11 men Madrid were not that difficult. With ten men we were mentally beaten already. We shouldn’t have built Madrid up so much in our heads.
They are our equals. they are better than us.
Patrice Evra had a genuine penalty claim in the second half post red card. Ramos pushed him off the ball in the box and made no contact with the ball. How that was not a penalty is beyond me.
United gets slandered alot about buying officials and have refs in our pockets. But the people who say those nasty things conveniently forget games like tonight.
Rafael play so well. He is such a great player. He’s a true red. He is all heart and all fight. he gives me confidence in the future of this club.
van Persie’s miss in the first leg was a critical point in the tie. It would have changed everything me thinks. Spilt milk.
One positive I take out of this is how Mourinho was sucking up to Ferguson when the red card came and them sucking up to the club during the post match interview.
Maybe its a tell-tale sign that he will be coming to Manchester United. Or he at least wants to keep the United option open.
Opti: yes maybe next year my friend.
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