In 1999, when Manchester United were playing the second leg of their semi-final tie versus Juventus away at the Stadio Delle Alpi, it required their captain Roy Keane to produce arguably the best performance ever by a player wearing United’s colours to propel them into the final at the Nou Camp. Keane has moved on. So many others from that fabled team of treble winners have. Paul Scholes remains.
And though he did not have to produced the same kind of “as if he had the Devil on him” performance, the quiet laddie let his boots do the talking, scoring the only goal – a marvelous one albeit – of a fiercely competed semi-final to push the Red Devils past a Barcelona team, who, though they might be on the wane, gave it their everything. Here is the goal.
For United to have accomplished this without the services of Wayne Rooney and Nemanja Vidic was commendable. Such was the tempo of the game earlier today that those of us watching on TV would have felt quite exhausted just watching the spectacle. United’s work-rate was of a different order in the game compared to their dodgy outing at Stamford Bridge just a couple of days ago. (I personally felt that Park Ji-Sung outshone everyone else tonight – he was both leonine and workhorse-like.)
Chelsea host Liverpool tomorrow, and the Blues have an away goal advantage. Should be a good game. Considering United have beaten Liverpool on multiple occasions this year, maybe the Scousers would make a good final for us.
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Tags: Paul Scholes