It was a night where Wayne Rooney shone once again, as he pushed his season’s tally to 30 goals. Rooney scored twice and helped Manchester United to a 4–0 (7–2 on aggregate) home win over an ageing AC Milan team, that has surely seen its best days.
David Beckham was hoping for a happier return to Old Trafford, but alas it was no fairy-tale ending. In fact, it was a very one-sided affair.
Rooney opened the scoring after 13 minutes and again just after the start of the second half, which more or less ended any chances of an AC Milan come back.
“It was a fantastic night for us. The goal right after halftime finished the tie,” said United’s manager Sir Alex Ferguson in a post-game press conference.
AC Milan manager Leonardo had gambled on taking off his central defender Daniele Bonera and replacing him with striker Clarence Seedorf at halftime, but that tactical switch backfired.
The rout was on when Park Ji-Sung whipped a perfectly timed Paul Scholes pass into the far corner for United’s third goal. Darren Fletcher headed in a fourth near full time.
Rooney scored four goals in the two encounters with AC Milan. He has effectively stepped up to the plate this season and filled the gap that Cristiano Ronaldo left when he parted for Real Madrid.
“He’s one of the best, if not the best at the moment,” said Beckham about Rooney in an interview with Sky Sports.
“Messi, Ronaldo, he’s up there with the best of them.”
AC Milan is an ageing team. The average age of their bench was 34. When they needed some changes they brought on Filippo Inzaghi (36), David Beckham (34), and Clarence Seedorf (33) whereas United brought on younger players like Darron Gibson (22) and Rafael da Silva (21). Youth beat experience on this Wednesday night.
United’s star player Wayne Rooney is still only 24, but Milan’s young striker Pato, 20, was unable to play due to injury.
Milan’s only real tactic seemed to be the chipped ball over the United back three, which had no success. Rio Ferdinand did a good job of keeping the defense well organized.
United enjoyed great success attacking down the right-hand side. They had free reign there, as Milan players like Ronaldinho’s tracking back was poor.
A superb volley from David Beckham after 75 minutes nearly made his return to Old Trafford a spectacular one. The United crowd did give Mr. Beckham a rapturous welcome home.
“The thing I’ll take is the reception I got from the fans. It was unbelievable,” said Beckham.
Costly Loss
Real Madrid was eliminated in the knockout stages of Champions League for the sixth straight season on Wednesday after a 1–1 draw at home with Lyon. Lyon had taken the first leg 1–0 three weeks ago in France.Cristiano Ronaldo gave the team in white a one-goal lead in the sixth minute but Miralem Pjanic equalized in the 75th minute for Lyon.
The Spanish soccer giants spent over $200 million on stars like Ronaldo and Kaka and will now miss out on potentially tens of millions of dollars in revenue with this Champions League exit.
