First Half
In the opening exchanges the game was fraught from United’s perspective as Real were fluid and ferocious via the movement from Di Maria and Ronaldo; both came inwards creating gaps in the full back areas.
Of the full backs it was the Brazilian having the most difficulty as Ronaldo toyed with him, pulling him in, then out and to the touchline. Rafael was at times rash and allowed people past easily. This lead to one occasion when de Gea made one of his many saves after a shot from Coentrao following Ronaldo’s layoff.
The first 15 minutes felt like a full half such was the pace of the game, the game was open and United were definitely involved as an attacking threat when they once the ball was moved away from their area, typically with pass over the top of the Real defence in Arbeloa’s direction. This ensured that Real could not concentrate solely on attack. At this point in the game this counter threat came from Welbeck, Van Persie and Kagawa.
We must refer back to the United full backs and their tracking of the Real ‘wingers’ in this early part of the game; Di Maria was a major force throughout his time on the pitch and his horizontal movement saw Evra at times pulled to the right. This took narrowness to new levels! The same could be said for Rafael but without as drastic a re-positioning.
United manifested as a 4-2-3-1 with van Persie the lone front man but often partnered by Kagawa who appeared to be United’s main threat but his touches, runs and passes were not quite on the mark to take advantage of the possession he had on the break.
BOOM! 20 minutes in and United were asserting themselves. They won a corner which was delivered by Rooney and amongst the hustle Welbeck gained space from Ramos, Lopez looked lost (in general really!), and he headed to the right hand side which was now vacant as Di Maria moved off post.
Real were shocked but their game plan didn’t change, Benzema stood out as their point of reference as the Real wingers switched but Di Maria started further in, attacking at pace and sitting centrally so it was Ozil who now tormented Rafael. The German was class throughout the night.
It was following this that United suffered at the hands of their former charge Ronaldo. This was a good h4, that cannot be disputed, but what was frustrating was the build-up. Rooney would have been better served getting closer to Di Maria to prevent the cross. Perhaps his desire to influence the game further up clashed with his defensive responsibilities and his starting position afforded the Argentinian space to cross. In this game Rooney often seemed too high.
The movement in front of the defence was key to Real’s first half performance as Jones dutifully performed in his tracking responsibilities. With Ronaldo spending the early phases on Madrid’s left, Jones was dragged to that side. This left Carrick isolated and there were a number of instances where United were left exposed in that area. This also led to space in the channel inside Evra. Early in the game Di Maria had some success exploiting that space and pulling Evra inside. United had doubled up on their right, and perhaps this was the reason that Real moved Ronaldo to the other side as the game wore on. United needed to push higher and reduce the possibility for the team who had scored the most goal from outside the box in the Champions League who over the course of the game had 28 shots (10 by Ronaldo) but only 8 on target; compare this to United’s 13 and 8 respectively, profligate! The gap between midfield and the advanced midfield players was now too great. Kagawa’s lack of defensive instincts did not help, but conversely United four high players kept Madrid on their toes.
The out ball for United was most profitable through Welbeck who was having a tremendous game. This success was helped by Real’s three man defence with Coentrao pushing on. United were also a three man defence of sorts as Rafael could be seen starting high and inside in a 4-3-3 towards the end of the half.
