Manchester United got thrashed 3-0 by AC Milan back in 2007 and this country loved it.
BBC: AC Milan will face Liverpool in the Champions League final after crushing Manchester United at the San Siro.
Milan started the semi-final 3-2 down but were ahead on away goals after just 11 minutes when Clarence Seedorf headed down for Kaka to drill into the corner. Seedorf capitalised on confusion in the United defence to fire in a second after half an hour and substitute Alberto Gilardino broke away to wrap up an easy win as United limped out in disappointing fashion.
The result ended United’s dreams of repeating their 1999 Treble, but they can have no complaints after being totally outclassed by their Italian opponents.
MEN: MANCHESTER United’s hopes of turning the Champions League Final into an all-English affair were brutally crushed at the San Siro as AC Milan set up a revenge attack on Liverpool.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men chose the worst night possible to turn in one of their poorest displays of the entire campaign, with Cristiano Ronaldo among the biggest let downs. That is not to apportion blame on the young Portugal winger’s shoulders, there were plenty of others around him who did not perform either. But, without the spark Ronaldo has provided so often this season, United were a dreadful disappointment, their treble hopes shattered.
The Daily Mail: Last night, amid the wreckage of the San Siro, there was a creeping sense that the great dictator may end his 21-plus year reign stranded on one Champions League celebration.
United were obliterated by Milan’s superior verve. Remember Madrid four years ago, when Raul, Figo and Zidane subjected them to a symphony of brilliant forward play that left them swinging boots at phantoms? Last night was the re-run, with Kaka as the No 1 ghost.
This was United’s third Champions League semi-final defeat under Ferguson and was by far the most comprehensive.
Twelve months later…
yes indeedy
can’t wait for the next season already.
lets stuff the scousers
lets stuff the bitters, the arse, the mercenary pensioners,
and most of all lets fucking stuff the ABU’s all over the world.
Lets do a quadruple.
Two words.. KNEE JERK!
This is what I lurve about the United haven that is RoM!
United always bounce back in style after any disappointment. next season we will be there again challenging for them all.
Let them talk all the crap . Can’t wait for next season to begin .
I aint gonna be too heavy on the lads… and i dont think any of us should… we won 3 out of 5 trophies, travelled to japan, played catch up…had to deal with unjustified descisions by the FA, and even though i seen loads of the bitters on Weds round here with Barca tops on (the tossers)…lets look at it this way..
United 3 trophies in 1 years…
City 0 trophies in 34 years… so on that ratio… we are 102 years in front of city just on this season alone..
On a more serious note… i hope to god that Hargreaves is fit for next season… if he is… and hope he is… then he will be like a new signing..
If Fletcherino improves on this season, then we will have a very important player in our squad… (none of us would have been saying this 3 years ago… but hands up… he is improving all the time)…
What i would say though is… that I am sick to death of the CR7 stories…and i think its time we parted company… yes he was our best scorer this season… “So what”…
I am sick to death of the hands on hips… throwing the hands in the hair, not tracking back when losing the ball… and not being 110% committed…
If we can get £80m for him, then get it… if we can get £10m for Nani then get it… If we can get £4m (dont know how, but if we can get it) for Kuschak then get it… if you can get the £8m being touted for Campbell then get it… If you can get £3m for Danny Simpson then get it and finally do not pay the asking price for Tevez…that will save £25m…
If you total all of that up.. it gives you £130m, plus say an extra £20m from the Glazers… that would be £150m (major opportunity to rebuild, without really damaging the squad)..
Ribery £45m
Valencia £18m
Benzema £35m
Huntlaar £15m
Daniel De Rossie £15m
Gareth Barry £10m (just to piss on the dippers chips and would be a good player to have).
That gives a total of £138m
That ties up about £12m for some more youth, £5m of Dodo from Brazil, and maybe £7m on Fabien Delph from Leeds…
So for that sake of sacrificing CR7, and not making Carlito’s deal permanent… look at what you would have…
2 recognised class wingers that will get you goals, and more importantly will create goals and also track back..
2 quality centre forwards that would compliment both Wazza and Berba.
Wazza would be freed up to play up front, with any combination of Berba, Benzema, and Huntlaar.
2 good midfielders… the steel and energy of De Rossi, an all round midfielder in Barry, that wayit will create more competition in that midfield, as i honestly dont think Scholesy has got another full season in him, and would give him a coaching role at OT, and Giggsy will only be a fringe player next season, but would also want him around the club in a coaching capacity…
All of the players I have listed are all early – mid 20’s apart from De Rossi, so would be re-investing for the future… and the younger players who are already at OT… would be learning yet again from different players…
Also dont forget that we also have Adam Ljacic coming over in January who is right sided midfield, and Tosic will fill out and improve over the next season, so with them 2 and hopefully with the arrival of Ribery and Valencia, we would still have 2 players competing for that spot on both the left side and right side…
That would be my plan for the summer… and i dont know what you lot reckon, but it seems like a pretty exciting propsition… considering for all those players we would only have to shell out about £20m for sacrificing a couple of players from the current squad.
@FailsworthDevil:Although I agree with you that those players will be useful for us,there are some issues:
1.Benzema wants to go to Spain.TheVirus,actually.
2.Same with Ribery.(Barcelona).
3.Valencia is waaaayyy overpriced,as are the two Frenchmen.
4.Huntelaar wants to play for Real Madrid.
That’s about it.
The other 2 are good ideas,especially De Rossi.
After all this typing,my stance is that Ronnie won’t leave because Sir Alex wants him to stay.And whatever Sir Alex decides to do,will improve the club.
I dont know Boogeyman… and am trying to put this without sounding negative… “Im just sick and tired of the non committal attitude of CR7 and Nani”… and just think there are players out there that would improve the “team”… rather than it being a 1 man show..
I thought we was in the do do when Ruud got sold, but SAF was right to do it… and we are now a more “involved” team rather than a 1 man show.. and thats what i would like us to strive for… 4 or 5 players in the team that can score 20 each in a season, similar to whats going on at Barca… i would love for us to have serious impact players all over the team.
Interesting to see few mentions 4 Barry! Iv seen it on quite few sites now! I guess he’s in similiar mould to hargo (not as good tho of course)!
I’m intrested to see what everyone else thinks! Mixed feelings for me ESP with his scouse links! But if hargo not gonna be 100%???
There is one difference though.After that defeat,United went out and bought 4 players who all had a great 07-08 campaign.I am not saying that we need 4 players again,but we might need something different just so we don’t become predictable.
@FailsworthDevil : i would be very surprised if Fergie went out and bought half of them i.e 3 players, lol
I just think he would be useful to us, as he can naturally play on that left side, so again would free up Wazza from having to cover out there when SAFs tactics dictate that..
I dont know about you lot, but i feel like we have had a season wasted with Wazza when we could be seeing him in his favoured and more importantly bettered position..
I tell ya… Wazza is gonna be classed as the great that could have been coz he is too unselfish and has just done what is asked of him and sacrificed himself for the team to play out left..
I aint knocking that… thats why we adore him, he is a pure legend to us.. but i want to see this pure legend in the position which he is best at..
I dont see why Wazza should sacrifice himself to track back down that left side, just coz the fact that when Nani or CR7 play out there they aint arsed about tracking back…
Im sorry but its like any workplace, even if they are ya mates.. u will carry them for so long, but then u gotta open your gob and say sommat..
Wazza is 10 x more of a united player than CR7 and Nani put together.. and believe until these 2 players go, and we got more team ethic players into the equation, then Wazza, coz he will do anything for the good of the team, will never get the chance to shine in the position he knows best…
Thats why i suggested the rebuilding of players out/in above.
I agree about Roo ,he is the heart and soul of our team
There’s someone in the top picture. Called Kaka. United have to sign him.
I hate that top picture.Kaka was just immense over those 2 legs.
Don’t worry about what happens.Just have complete faith in Sir Alex.
Its a good thing you brought up that match, because the way I was feeling after that match was exactly the same as what I was feeling after Wednesday..
I actually felt like I was watching that match all over again
Anyways, when you’ve one more tophies this year than Liverpool have in the last 4-5 years, you cant complain
I will maintain that we need a breath of fresh air.Someone who will come in and get all the others fired up as well.That could be Hargo.It could be another central midfielder.Or it could be whoever replaces Tevez and/or Ronaldo(if they leave).Remember how the boss renewed his squad in 07.He let Richardson and Smith go and he brought in Ando,Nani,Hargo and Tevez.We also lost Heinze and Ole that summer but for different reasons.
Yes, Kaka was simply Majestic over the two legs!
Especially, his 2nd at OT was a cut above all, but we had the last laugh.!
(atleast on that night)
I think that at the first leg, Rooney’s second was our undoing.It was a majestic moment that had me jumping for joy,but it put us on the back foot for the return leg.I think that United at that time period(with Rio and Vida injured) would have been better off if they had to chase the game at the San Siro.That way,Milan wouldn’t have piled all that pressure on us in the first 30 minutes.Well,as Scott says, what matters is the responese that we showed the next season.
Hahaha. The pic at thebottom made me smile
@Failsworth:
Agree with Klass Jan, he’s a class act and i don’t think he would not sulk as much as Tevez while sitting on the bench.
Benzema, seems he’s “Virus’ bound.lol
De Rossi, Now as Roma isn’t playin in the Ch.league, We could get our hands on him!
Valencia, don’t know why everyone rate him so highly.! 18m is way too much on him, not more the 10-11m, IMO!
Ribery, would luv to see him play in red!
Barry, It really will teke the piss out of the bin dippers!
Fabian Delph, think he has got ‘it’ to cut into the Premier league!
£7m will be a decent price to get him.!
…and i think everyone will remember that moment of brilliance by Scholesy for Wayne’ 1st.!
i know i will.!
Failsworth – if you think that Daniele di Rossi could be purchased for a paltry sum like 15 million quid/Euros then you’re simply dreaming. He’d likely cost about double that, plus very high wages YET he’d still be worth every penny.
denton i think the biggest problem with di Rossi is that he is considered one of the icons of Roma.The heir to Totti so to speak.Not on the field,but in terms of leadership.These players very rarely leave their club.He is like Scholes and Giggs.He will grow old there.I would also like to see him at United but after the Veron situation,we have to be very cautious about which types of players can fit in at United.
We have had a birliant few years and quite frankly been spoilt.
I got upset when we lost the final but why? Only because we lost it?
In the last 3 years we have won plenty and altough it would have been brilliant to retain the CL Trophy we didn’t. Simple as.
Perhaps a knee jerk reaction but our team is good enough in the Premiership. Is it really good enough in Europe? I mean at the highest level?
I think the midfield does not provide enough goals. Perhaps I will be slaughtered for that but they just don’t. They all seem to be defensive midfielders. Where is the creativity? Anderson was creative before he came to Old Trafford. Give him a chance.
Scholes and Giggs will be retiring soon. Who will replace them?
Berbatov might be class but he doesn’t fit in to the United system.
If Rooney is to play in his preferred position we need someone like Benzema.
I actually quite agree with you AlphaRS
Our midfield dont score enough goals. I mean i was watchin the everton-chelsea game and when i heard that lampard scored 20 goals this year i was just shocked. I mean how many goals has carrick scored? 3? But i disagree about buying Benzema. We need a Tall striker. Torres/Van persie Type.
Huntelaar would be great buy.
To Sketch:
Benzema is at least 6foot tall which is only a couple cms shorter than Torres&Van Persie and roughly the same height as Huntelaar. I think he would be a great alternative to buying Tevez but Sir Alex would have to beat his Madrid ambitions out of him 1st!
Bring in Benzema.
There aren’t that many world class strikers out there at the moment.
Perhaps we have the players but just had an off day?!
@ FailsworthDevil
“That would be my plan for the summer… and i dont know what you lot reckon, but it seems like a pretty exciting propsition.”
Absolutely spot on, mate — coupled with Laurent Blanc as No. 2 for a couple of years, followed by SAF as director of football and we’ll be back better than we ever. If we’d won the CL we might not have thought about changes like this for a couple of years. Now we can get ahead of the game, big time.
Lots to look forward to. Hope SAF is a regular on th RoM site
The problems for Fergie to face, and overcome, whilst quaffing the best French red wine at his holiday home in the south of France this summer are:
1) Get the MF sorted out. The strikers are being starved of the ball cos the MF are not doing their jobs.
2) Sort out the Tevez and Ronaldo situations – one way of the other
3) Sort out the captain mess – UTD seem to have a different captain every time they take the field. What’s needed is ONE captain and deputy. Hargreaves might be the best shot if he can prove his fitness.
4) Get rid of an element that’s crept into the teams play recently – booting the ball upfield by the back 4. That’s a ‘Pool tactic that emphasises their lack of ideas. Surely UTD are better than that.
Having said all that the biggest problem facing Fergie is making sure that he signs the right players – players with quality who can fit right into the team. In other words no over-priced or under talented players.
Slightly disingenuous seeing as all the highlighted adjectives were completely accurate. We were abject in Milan that night just as we were abject in Rome last Wednesday. Our defense was makeshift and Milan…err…Kaka took full advantage. We had a full strength team in Rome and were playing against one with a makeshift back line and still got worked. That’s why this recovery will be much more difficult…not impossible, just difficult.
hello there. m new to the site. thought writings & comments are great. much have been said about the season. agreed with some of u guys that rooney is the heart n soul of this team. he needs to be resurrect to the old form. partnering a stiker if we r playing 4-4-2 n behind the striker if we r playing 4-5-1 (imo). what do you guys think.
Costas – I don’t disagree with you about di Rossi’s status at Roma but unless you try, you never know when/if guys want a new challenge. Roma won’t be in the CL next year and their team looks to be unravelling so DdiR might think that a new challenge would be exciting – and lucrative. Who knows ? But, for sure, he’s the next best thing to Michael Essien and we know that the RentBoyz won’t be a selling-team as long a RomanA owns them.