Article 78 — Status Quo for United, Inter Bites Juventus’ Lead & Real Madrid are Champions!
As I had shared in Article 76, https://medium.com/@rasfootballworld/article-76-united-stays-5th-inter-bounce-to-2nd-ea1bb829d004, my two favourite clubs, Manchester United and Inter were playing on the same day at about the same time for the third match week in a row.
These were how the matches went:
First, the United match that kicked off earlier. I remember Selhurst Park to be a tough ground to visit. It is a tight ground with the fans close to the pitch at a time when spectators were allowed into the stadium. It is also the venue of the infamous or famous Eric Cantona’s kung fu kick at a Palace fan in 1995 and David Beckham’s goal from the middle line against Wimbledon in 1997.
The previous match at Old Trafford was frustrating. We had lots of attempts on goal but needed a great goal by Dan James to score. We missed a penalty that hit both posts and stayed out and had another legitimate claim waved away. Palace sucked up the pressure and hit us on the counter with two deadly blows to beat us.
In this match, it was not the best performance from United. Palace was aggressive and closed down high and hard. They had the better of the chances in the first half, testing David De Gea on a number of occasions. The Spaniard was on his game to repeatedly deny Palace attempts. He deserved to be the game’s Man of the Match. Our best chances came from corner kick deliveries but Harry Maguire couldn’t direct any of his headers on target. Before Marcus Rashford opened the scoring, we had no attempts on target.
We opened the scoring after a good piece of team play. Rashford showed remarkable composure to wrong foot Patrick Van Aanholt and Palace goalkeeper Vicente Guaita to score. A goal is a goal and it is always welcomed, more so here in a crunch match for Champions League qualification. We hadn’t properly got going in the match so this goal was a big boost for us. Rashford is known to smash his shots with power and this piece of composure shows maturity and confidence in his play.
In the second half, we were fortunate that Andrew Ayew’s goal was flagged for offside by the VAR. The margin was really close. He was offside by a toe which makes it remarkably close. Luck was on our side. Had that goal stood, it would have rocked United and make the game interesting. Another piece of good play saw Anthony Martial extend our lead to 2–0 with twelve minutes remaining. That wrapped up the game for us.
After that goal, we got more confident and could have scored more to add further gloss to the result. After conceding the equaliser to Southampton late on in the previous match, this match against Palace was a big test for United. On paper, it would look like an easy match for United but I knew for this United team, any match is a potential banana skin. I was not surprised by Palace’s approach of taking the game to us. Largely, we did very well to keep them at bay. There were some scary moments in defence but by and large, we defended very well and we had our goalkeeper to thank as well in helping us keep a clean sheet.
This result meant more than it’s performance. With Chelsea and Leicester City winning their matches, United had to win to avoid losing ground. We kept our end of the deal to keep it status quo between the three teams. Winning without playing well and being at our best is also vital for the team’s growth and mentality. I was left feeling puzzled as to why Ole Gunnar Solksjaer didn’t make his remaining three substitutions to rest key players ahead of the FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea on Sunday.
The match lasted for 101 minutes after Van Aanholt’s serious injury, which he suffered after an unfortunate clash with Martial when he scored United’s second. The game was wrapped up and it was the perfect opportunity to rest players like Paul Pogba, Bruno Fernandes, Martial or Rashford. It was also an opportunity to give players that have played lesser games, minutes on the clock so that when they are called upon, they are ready to play and not rusty. I can’t understand Solksjaer’s sudden change regarding his reluctance and hesitation in making substitutions in the last two matches.
Chelsea is playing us in the FA Cup semi-final on Sunday with the advantage of two extra days of rest. I would have thought that logically, we would take any available opportunity to rest our key players to ensure that they are fresher for the semi-final. It is also a concern that we are starting matches slowly and teams are pressing us from the start. If we are not careful, we might find ourselves engulfed with a mountain to climb before we get into gear.
We might have won ugly in this match but this is just one match. The difference between strong mentality and riding on luck is in how often can a team win ugly and win when the chips are down. In terms of the league, we need to show resilience and composure in lasting the distance to the final line and meeting our objective of qualifying for the Champions League.
On another note, Tim Fosu-Mensah made his return to first-team football after three years! I knew there was no way Luke Shaw or Brandon Williams would have recovered in time for the game against Palace. I was wondering if Diogo Dalot or Eric Bailly would have been drafted in. I was surprised to see Fosu-Mensah get the nod instead. He had a safe and cautious game. There were some moments of shakiness and rustiness but largely he played it safe.
Over to Inter now. Inter had beaten Torino 3–1 to momentarily at least put an end to a crisis. They were playing at Stadio Paolo Mazza against bottom-placed SPAL. Results elsewhere meant that if Inter beat SPAL, they would go back to second in the league table, six points behind Juventus.
That is what just what Inter did and we won it in style with some well-crafted goals. Christian Eriksen was lively for a change. Alexis Sanchez has been catching a lot of attention for how well he has been playing. His form has led to calls among the fans to permanently secure his signing.
Antonio Candreva is having a rich vein of form in front of goal. He scored once and had a hand in the second Inter goal in his previous start against Hellas Verona. He scored again against SPAL. Cristiano Biraghi had an assist and scored a very good goal. I can’t comment much on his all-round performance but it seems like a positive performance.
Thanks to Juventus’ and Lazio’s slip-ups, Inter find themselves in second place after two consecutive wins. They have reduced Juventus’ lead to six points and lead Atalanta by one point and Lazio by two points. Two matches ago, this scenario would have been unthinkable. How quickly things change in football.
However, before we can start dreaming of an unlikely charge for the Scudetto, we need to bear in mind we got a tougher run-in. We are playing against Roma next and would be playing against Fiorentina, Napoli and Atalanta in the next four matches. Juventus are playing against Lazio next and have only Roma to play on the final day of the season in their run-in. The other teams that they face are teams that are not in-form or playing well, Udinese, Sampdoria and Cagliari. It is very, very tough to imagine Juventus dropping more points. Lazio, who they are playing next is not exactly in-form either.
We might be second now and six points behind Juventus in top place but there is an overriding feeling of disappointment for this campaign. On the surface, one would say that the difference between us and Juventus would be the two defeats to them but in reality, the difference is in all our unnecessary dropping of points. In this restart period itself, we dropped points in three games, picking up two points from a possible. In all three matches, we collapsed to lose our lead. If we did pick up nine points from those matches, we would have been at least three points clear on top. Add to that the other games from the regular season where we dropped points…..
All ifs and buts. Very frustrating because Juventus was there for the taking but we tripped ourselves. If by some freak of nature, Juventus keeps dropping points and loses their lead and we actually capitalise to win the league, it would be the most unlikely and unexpected title triumph of all. If and when we get there, we shall discuss it further.
On the same day, the championship in Spain was decided. Real Madrid beat Villareal 2–1 while Barcelona lost 1–2 at home to Osasuna. That meant that Real Madrid sealed their 34th league title after opening up a seven-point lead over their arch-rivals, Barcelona and in that process, dethrone them. It also ends Barcelona’s reign as champions for two consecutive seasons.
I am not a fan of La Liga and I don’t watch the matches so I can’t comment much on the performances and controversies. There were some controversies in matches involving Real Madrid as they got some favourable penalties via VAR. I have not seen them to be able to comment. What I have been impressed with is Real Madrid’s run of ten consecutive wins to overtake Barcelona and seal the win.
As a manager, Zinedine Zidane has won three consecutive Champions Leagues, two UEFA Super Cups, two FIFA Club World Cups, two Supercopa de Espana and two La Ligas. It is an impressive record. Personally, this title triumph is his most impressive achievement. For his earlier triumphs, he had the benefit of a very strong team and the world’s best player, Cristiano Ronaldo in that team to bring the team to victory.
For the 2019–20 team, Real is lacking the star power of Ronaldo and have a transitional squad consisting of players that were part of his former triumphs and young players. Their biggest signing in the previous summer, Eden Hazard hasn’t set the world alight with his performances at Real either. In their run of ten wins, six of those wins were by a slender one-goal margin which is unlike the image of free-flowing, high-scoring Real Madrid teams of the past. This title was also achieved after experiencing a shaky period at various points of the season. They were top at various stages as well and lost the lead to Barcelona but came back to win it. Congratulations to Real Madrid.
