Marseille v Manchester United live!
Follow all tonight's latest scores here
Peruse all the Champions League stats here
Email barry.glendenning@guardian.co.uk
Or follow him on a little thing called Twitter
Half-time:
44 min: Nani bursts through the right-hand side of the Marseille penalty area, puts Heinze on the seat of his pants and with Rooney and Berbatov waiting for him to square the ball, promptly loses his footing and slips himself.
42 min: Manchester United win a corner, the highlight of which is ongoing pulling-and-dragging between Marseille centre-half Stephane Mbia and Dimitar Berbatov on the goal-line as they wait for the delivery. Rest assured it's not as homo-erotic as I'm making it sound.
40 min: Marseille almost score directly from a corner. I'm not sure who took it, but it was an inswinger that would have definitely curled in at the near post had Edwin van der Sar, who misjudged the flight originally, not had his wits about him. He snatches it just before it crosses the goal-line.
38 min: "Barry, you may be right to radiate a little sceptism re the cascades of praise for Rooney's goal. Berbatov's overhead beauty v Liverpool just a couple of months earlier has been wiped out of the record," writes Kevin Dawson. "But it was bloody fantastic goal. Steady on. Is this just Offaly bitterness as this week's Irish election marks the end of Biffo Power?"
I can assure you that the election of Brian "Biffo" Cowen to the highest office in the land was nothing to do with me. I'm as embarrassed as anyone by what a complete pig's ear that hapless, blustering, know-nothing buffoon made of both the job and the country.
36 min: The ball's lofted into the edge of the penalty area, where Brandao beats Vidic in the air, but not particularly clearly. The ball looks to be breaking to Van der Sar, but as the United centre-half turns to ensure its safe passage, he gets a shove in the back from the Brazilian and wins a free-kick.
33 min: "Regarding Ulto Ryan's observation about Didier Deschamps and John Inman," writes Ted Storer. "Completely unrelated to the game and its irrelevant passing statistics, am I the only one who is amazed at how much the Reverend in Wallace and Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit looks like Wolves manager Mick McCarthy?" I haven't seen that particular movie, but I'll take your word for it. I've always thought Mick McCarthy is a ringer for this fellow.
31 min: On the edge of the final third, Gibson plays the ball out to Nani, who curls it to the edge of the six-yard box for Dimitar Berbatov to prod home. Marseille keeper Steve Mandanda beats the Bulgarian to it and clasps the ball to his chest.
30 min: "I hate the term 'quarterback' in football/soccer," harrumphs Joshua Collis. "There was also a trend a few years ago of describing any defensive midfielder as playing in the 'Maklel' role. Anyway, given Carrick almost always passes the ball backwards or sideways, rarely looks to tackle, and is protected by a lot of bigger names would the 'scrum-half role' be a better description?"
28 min: With his back to goal on the edge of the Manchester United penalty area, Brandao traps the ball on his chest, then attempts to Rooney the ball into the bottom right-hand corner as he falls backwards. I use the verb "to Rooney", because recent media hyperbole suggests nobody in the history of Association Football had ever scored with a bicycle kick before his effort against Manchester City.
26 min: After latching on to a long ball down! the rig ht wing from Darron Gibson, Nani tries to be too clever, flicking the ball inside him with his right heel, where the backtracking Gabriel Heinze was present to hack clear. Marseille launch a sortie of their own up the left wing and win a corner, from which nothing comes.
25 min: Pass completed stats: Marseille 101-98 Manchester United. I'm surprised by that, I have to say. I thought United would be way ahead in that particular field of pointlessness.
23 min: Ulto Ryan has noticed a resemblance between Marseille manager Didier Deschamps and a famous British sitcom legend. "The water-carrier looks more and more like John Inman every time I see him," writes Ulto. "As he was always available to receive the ball as a player I wonder was he constantly crying 'I'm free!' to his teammates." Like I said, a long night.
22 min: Marseille right-back Fanni skips past a feeble Carrick challenge, advances down the right flank and sends in an outswinger that Van der Sar thought about coming to claim, then didn't. The ball drops for Brandao on the inside left challenge, but he runs down a blind alley and United clear.
21 min: "Re: Darron Gibson," writes Cormac Hayes. "I was at the last Ireland home match and was struck by how awful he was until he popped up and scored a cracker. He is such a frustrating player and I do think Trap has a point about him going to another club and playing regularly. He needs some hunger." Not an accusation you could level at his compatriot John O'shea, eh?
19 min: Marseille winger Loic Remy sends in a cross from the right flank, Edwin van der Sar gathers at the near post.
17 min: Marseille attack down the left flank again. Is it conceivable that Didier Deschamps has identified John O'Shea as a weak link? On the overlap, Gabriel Heinz attempts to swing a cross into the United penalty area, but it hits a prime hunk of Waterford beef and ricochets into the s! tands fo r a throw-in.
15 min: After a fairly frenetic opening 10 minutes, it's fair to say things have settled down a bit. Marseille are starting to find their feet after some early nerves.
14 min: With assorted United players stroking the ball around midfield, Eddie Munro pipes up. "Sorry if this has already been done," he writes. "But it looks like Rooney's gonna be chasing Fanni all night." Heaven help us all.
13 min: Stephane Mbia launches a Marseille attack down the left flank, attempting to thread the ball down towards the byline for Andre Ayew to chase. John O'Shea blocks.
11 min: United have had the best of the opening 10 minutes, dominating possession and looking comfortable on the ball. They attack down the right flank, where Heinze is really labouring against Nani. The Portuguese whips in a cross that's half-cleared to Rooney, whose snap-shot is blocked.
7 min: United win a free-kick on the right side of the penalty area in the Marseille left-back position. Nani tries to whip it in but fails to clear the two-man wall. The ball breaks to Fletcher on the edge of the area, who shoots. Marseille goalkeeper Steve Mandanda gets down quickly to save, before clutching the ball to his chest at the second attempt.
6 min: United are playing with Michael Carrick quarter-backing between the back four and central midfielders Gibson and Fletcher. Rooney's on the left, Nani's on the right and Berbatov is alone up front.
5 min: Charles Kabore tries to play one over the top for Loic Remy, but Patrice Evra beats the Marseille right winger in the air and clears.
4 min: "Most of the articles in the build up to this were questioning whether Berbatov would start, seeing how rarely Ferguson starts both Rooney and Berbatov in European knock-out stage matches," writes David Wall. "In that respect then, the line-up is a surprise. but doe! s it rea lly count where Rooney is stationed out on the wing, as a stand-in for Giggs? Shouldn't there be some indicator of this on the team-sheet, like listing him as 'Rooney*', perhaps as a warning that he's going to be largely ineffective, become frustrated later in the game and collect at least a yellow card?"
3 min: Nani takes the first shot in anger, cutting in from the inside right position. It's a wild slash and the ball sails high and wide.
2 min: Berbatov and Evra combine down the left wing and the Manchester United left back is subjected to no end of jeering from the stands, what with this being his first match on French soil since "captaining" France at the World Cup finals.
1 min: And they're off. Financial lawyer and referee Felix Brych from Munich blows his whistle and Manchester United get the ball rolling, playing from right to left. Gabriel Heinze immediately gets stuck in, clattering into Nani with a reducer.
Justin Kavanagh writes: United may not have it all their own way against Didier Deschamps' side tonight," he writes. "But Mahatma Ferguson (Sean Ingle) can always resort to a spot of non-cooperation (with the press, presumably) and the occasional bit of civil disobedience (moaning to officials from the sidelines), to see his oppressed millionaires through to the next round."
Not long now: The teams are lined up in the tunnel of the Stade Vlodrome, with Marseille's players kitted out in dark blue shirts, shorts and socks asvec light blue trim. United's players wear red shirts, white shirts and white socks. The match officials wear white, which will have my colleague Rob Bagchi seething.
From Twitter: "Gibson?!?!?!?!?" tweets everyone in the world bar Justin Bieber and the Dalai Lama! . "I hea rd that Brandao coulda been a contender," chuckles @kevnmur. "LOL, Fanni!!!" adds @jwdd27. This could be a very long night.
Some team news for tonight's big game from the wires: Darron Gibson is the surprise inclusion in Manchester United's Champions League line-up tonight. The Republic of Ireland international gets the midfield role that was expected to be allocated to veteran Paul Scholes. His compatriot John O'Shea gets the nod at right-back ahead of Rafael, but the remainder of Sir Alex Ferguson's line-up was expected. For Marseille, Mathieu Valbuena is named on the bench after a month out with a knee injury.
Marseille: Mandanda, Fanni, M'bia Etoundi, Diawara, Heinze,
Cisse, Kabore, Remy, Gonzalez, Andre Ayew, Brandao.
Subs: Andrade, Taiwo, Hilton, Cheyrou, Jordan Ayew, Abriel, Valbuena.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Smalling, Vidic, Evra, Gibson, Carrick, Fletcher, Nani, Berbatov, Rooney.
Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Hernandez, Scholes, Fabio Da Silva, Rafael Da Silva, Obertan.
Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)
Good evening everybody. Welcome to tonight's coverage of the Champions League Last 16 first leg between reigning Ligue 1 champions Marseille and Manchester United, who currently sit prettily on top of the Premier League.
As the snazzy graphic published on the back page of today's Guardian Sport section proves, United won't have it all their own way against Didier Deschamps' side tonight. Marseille have an excellent home record in the Champions League against English opposition, having won seven out of nine encounters.
What's more, United have won only three of their 11 Champions League matches on French soil, but don't let that stat fool you - they've lost just two in that time. Sir Alex Ferguson's side have also won nine of their last 10 on the road in Europe and conceded just one goal in six Champions League group games this sea! son. Any way, without further ado let's pluck some team news for tonight's big game from the wires ...
Comments