A supersonic thriller. Kaka is God and Dida should be hanged. Both showed moments of brilliance twice. Bah! And AC lost 3-2. Could I be more pissed??

5^th min and Dida almost held a ball by Ronaldo’s header but wait; he pushed it in back of net. “Thank you very much!!” says Ronaldo. 1-0 ManU. Dida was actually petrified. He was paler than Dada facing Shoaib. He was trembling and shivering. God saves AC.

But then it was brilliance of Italian midfield on the pitch. Gattuso hit Englishmen, the English way. Hard and plenty. He sure is backbone of AC’s game. And I told ya, Seedorf was a force to reckon with.

And then all of a sudden came the second goal of the match. Kaka pulled it through out of nowhere. Absolutely brilliant. If AC has Dida, ManU has Carrick. It could not have been worse for him. He just saw Kaka past by him and so did Van der Sar, and BANG!! The jacket hanging at the back of the net was dancing with a brilliant left footer by the Brazilian.

No it was not over. Just before half time, Kaka again! This time even better. Carrick, Evra, Heinze were spellbound, confused and Van der Sar helpless. Kaka hit the net again with one of the most creative moves of the season, garnished by the lethal right footed finish. 2-1. AC in control at half time. “Sir” Alex fucked royally. Old Trafford fans were gasping with a big mouth open.

In first half, ManU tried few futile attempts at goals and despite Dida at post, AC managed to keep them off courtesy Nesta.

But at half time two things hit AC. Firstly, substitution of Maldini and Gattuso (well, his was almost half time) and secondly, and more problematic a thing call complacency. One should not underestimate any team at a UCL semifinal. And certainly not when you are on the road. This problem is not new for AC though, they faced more of it 2 yrs back in Istanbul in final against Liverpool.

Gattuso was heavily missed in the midfield. And Pirlo is just not at his best this whole season. He was imperious last season. Together with Gattuso he makes a formidable pair just that he is not performing this season. Anyways AC’s attacks were getting fewer in number. But they managed to keep Ronaldo quiet, but Scholes and Rooney got louder.

Suddenly, in one of such moves, Scholes lofted ball was held at Rooney’s chest and only thing between him and net was poor Dida. I smiled “here comes the equalizer”.2-2. Game on!!

Not much happened till injury time and I was thrilled with the scorecard. Good Old Traffordians are going to have nightmares. But Dida was not quite finished yet. In injury time, on a counter run on a highly slippery pitch Rooney got the ball and Nesta was running alongside. He did all good to block far-post and Rooney was left with no other option then to shoot near-post. And another flash of brilliance by Dida. And Old Trafford went berserk. I was like WTF!! 3-2 L

It’s over. Its UCL knock-out again, it’s a 90+ goal again, and is it a fate-sealer again? We have to wait and see in 2^nd leg.

Verdict – top 3

AC

Best player: Kaka, Gattuso, Seedorf
Worst player: Dida, Dida, Dida

ManU

Best player: Ronaldo, no one else impressed me
Worst player: Carrick, Evra, Heinze

Labels: Lord's review, Soccer, Sports, WTF