Premier League: Manchester United smashes Wolves 5-0

Match 18th March 2012

Goals: Jonny Evans 21’, Antonio Valencia 43’, Danny Welbeck 45+1’, Chicharito 56’, Chicharito 61’

Manchester United maintained leading position after having a persuasive victory against Wolves yesterday on Molineux stadium thanks to Evans, Valencia, Wellbeck and Chicharito.

Despite of playing on home land, Wolves was begging for a draw. For a while, the strategy seemed not too bad, until defender Zubar was out due to a second yellow car. From there on, it was over for Wolves because the match completely belonged to the “Red Devils”.

Evans fired the first score with the help of Rooney after the first 21 minutes. After that, right before the break, Antonio Valencia, who was totally free in front of the 16m50 thanks to his teammates’s combination, delivered the second. Two minutes later, during the first break injury time, Evans constructed a clever pass for Wellbeck, who scored the third.

(Source: http://www.goal.com/en-gb/match/60569/wolves-vs-manchester-united/report)

MU team entered the second half yearning for more, and Chicharito completed their mission by two more goals after just 15 minutes. In both goals, it proved the strength and danger of United’s attack due to flexibility and various types of combinations.    

UEAF Champions League: Match worth looking forward to: Barcelona VS AC Milan

Fans will expect one of the most worth-watching matches on the coming 28th March in the quarter-finals of the UEAF Champions League.

AC Milan has been an old enemy with Barcelona for a long time. Previous encounters saw them got a draw 2-2 at Nou Camp stadium and then Barcelona took the lead 3-2 at the San Siro.

Despite of winning, Barca seems to prefer another opponent rather than Milan, as its director Andoni Zubizarreta said he was a bit disappointed with the result of the draw “We've already played against them in the group stages, and it's not very appealing to take on teams you've already played against” (FCBarcelona, 2012).

In fact, Barca has a good reason not wanting to see AC Milan that soon because Milan has won the championship 7 times, whereas Barca is the defending champion this season.

Besides of that, Barca and Milan have known each other too well in so many encounters; therefore, the “reunion with old friends”, according to Andoni, is a bit too early in the quarter-finals: “We prefer to play against new teams, sides that don't know us as well and that we can better analyse” (FCBarcelona, 2012). 

On the other hand, AC Milan, according to Giovanni Galli, has little to lose because Barca has to the pressure of a champion defending its title - a psychological advantage, as what he told Goal.com (Goal.com, 2012). However, the goalkeeper still admitted the fact that it’s extremely tough to get pass the Spanish team, especially when his job is to defeat lion Messi.  

Bayern Munich VS Basel: 7-0

Match on 13 Mar 2012 

Nou Camp Stadium 

UEFA Champions League

Goals: Robben 10’, Muller 41’, Gomez 44’, Gomez 50’, Gomez 61’, Gomez 76’, Robben 81’

Mario Gomez proved one more time he is an indispensable factor in the German club by scoring 4 consecutive goals by himself.

This was a sweet revenge for Bayern after an embarrassed loss of 1-0 to Basel a month ago.  

The victory also eliminated the threat of an exit from the Champions League and reinforced Bayern Munich position in the game according to SBS (2012).

Basel coach Heiko Vogel’s strategy was getting a draw rather than on the aggressive side. Well, Bayern gave a clear answer right at the 10th minute when Robben scored the first goal for his team by giving a strong blast from what seemed like an off-side position facing the goalkeeper, to the low right corner.

Then just before the break, Muller, with help from Robben from the right hand side, delivered a swift volley in the 16m50 area, raising the lead to 2-0.

Just 3 minutes later, Mario Gomez, being the fastest as usual, with a soft push, opened the first of his four-consecutive-goals in the game. On the field, it was obvious that Bayern was clearly dominating the game with 3 other players being present in the 16m50 area.    

Then after the break, it was Gomez again; this time with a beautiful volley that was similar to Muller’s.  

At the 61th minute, Gomez completed a hat-trick by his head thanks to exceptional performance of Ribery.   

(Gomez’s third goal from the 7-0 victory against Basel). Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/mar/13/bayern-munich-basel-champions-league

Perhaps the most fantastic goal came at the 76th minute. Here the ball was passing into the 16m50, suddenly Ribery intervened to cut through its path and passed it back to his teammate, Gomez, who were racing from outside the 16m50 with no one around. And of course, Gomez completed his show by giving a fierce shot to defeat Basel goalkeeper.   

Near the end of the match, Robben scored the second goal for himself by skillfully leading the ball pass through Basel goalkeeper before delivering a finishing touch.