UEFA Champions League: United avoid Neuer to rout Schalke 2-0 – Highlights

Salman Zahoor April 27, 2011 0

UEFA Champions League: United avoid Neuer to rout Schalke 2-0 – Highlights

GELSENKIRCHEN, Germany: Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney broke the Manuel Neuer two times in as many minutes to help Manchester United to a 2-0 victory over Schalke 04 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League 2011 semi-final here Tuesday night.

Ryan Giggs. Courtesy: Getty Images

In somewhat a one-sided affair, the only resistance by Schalke 04 was shown by their goalkeeper Manuel Neuer who defended the goal like a wall and performed some of the impossible saves as Manchester United forwards kept ruing the missing opportunities.

The first half remained issueless and Manchester United, despite dominating the proceedings left the field with their heads nodding in negative as Neuer played a game of his lifetime blocking kicks, heads, shots from the likes of Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs, Park ji-Sung, and Javier Hernandez.

Ryan Giggs. Courtesy: Getty Images

In the end, it required brilliance of a veteran Red Devil Ryan Giggs and their young sensation Wayne Rooney to undo Neuer’s heroics as both of the top Manchester United players to sneak past the goalkeeper in the space of two minutes to hand their team the goals they required to clinch the first leg.

Sir Alex Ferguson was elated with his team’s performance as they dominated the whole match and were superior in all equations of the game thus winning the away leg and now will host the German club at Old Trafford.

Wayne Rooney. Courtesy: Getty Images

Alex Ferguson said, “It was a top performance and credit to the players for their belief in themselves and the trust in each other. It ranks as one of our best (performances in Europe).”

Manchester United could easily have scored five to six more goals but Man of the Match was Manuel Neuer who was the lone fighter out there for the home club.

Sir Alex Ferguson, Wayne Rooney. Courtesy: AP PHOTO

United forwards never found any resilience whether attacking from the right, left, or center but Neuer kept them at bay for the most part of the game but a lapse of concentration for a couple of minutes let the Red Devils to steal the two goals they required to have an upper hand over their German rivals.

Ryan Giggs finally broke the jinx in the 67^th minute when the Welshman managed to put the ball in the nets after Rooney passed him the ball through the legs of Joel Matip.

Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs. Courtesy: Getty Images

Rooney then doubled the lead in the next minute when Hernandez passed him a beautiful ball and the England striker didn’t spoil the chance this time and propelled the Manchester United to 2-0 lead with the Schalke 04 supporters stunned in the stadium.

Ferguson said, “I think there was frustration towards the end of the first half with that final save from Ryan’s (header). We had to correct that at halftime. But what broke the camel’s back was Chicharito’s goal (that was disallowed early in the second half) because we saw that we could beat the guy (Neuer).”

Relishing performance of his 37-year-old star performer Ryan Giggs, the Manchester United boss said, “This is strange because his peak seems to have lasted so long now. I see no evidence of this waning. He won’t be playing on Sunday (against Arsenal), he’ll be playing next Wednesday (in the Schalke return) and when he gets that freshness he shows no signs of weakness. He is an amazing man.”

Manuel Neuer, Ryan Giggs, Christoph Metzelder. Courtesy: AP PHOTO

Schalke are now in a deep trouble as they are under two goals deficit in their first-ever Champions League semi-final. The winner of this semi-final will take on either Real Madrid or Barcelona on May 28 at Wembley.

Ralf Rangnick, Schalke 04 coach, “We had imagined this game differently. We lacked the final pass today which we had against Inter Milan (in the quarter-finals). We had to thank Manuel Neuer that we were not two or three goals down in the first half. But why should we capitulate? We need to make things differently and in football many things have happened. We have shown we can score away from home and we will try to get our chances in Manchester.