Defend deep and defend well, that is what Manchester United did admirably at Old Trafford on Tuesday night in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final first leg against the reigning Kings of Europe, Bayern Munich.
There was only one save to made by David de Gea in the Manchester United goal, and it was going swimmingly well in the first half for the home side.
The newly-crowned Bundesliga Champions, however, looked a little out of sorts tactically, a surprise for a team led by the brilliant Pep Guardiola.
The normally wide players, Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben went very narrow with Thomas Mueller running the line.
It may have been designed to get the fullbacks forward, but unfortunately, there was no centre-forward to aim for as Thomas Mueller's movement was surprisingly indecisive.
The Bayern midfield trio of Toni Kroos, Philip Lahm and Bastien Schweinsteiger were not so mobile and precise too; not quite the Xavi, Sergei Busquets and Andres Iniesta axis from Pep Guardiola's previous army.
On the other side, Manchester United's own centre-forward, Danny Welbeck tried to be too clever when he attempted to outfox Manuel Neuer by trying to score the perfect goal. That left the match goalless after 45 minutes.
Come the second half, Ryan Giggs, who was largely a passenger (showing his age, not a knock on his ability, but did David Moyes truly expect a 40-year old to make a difference against the reigning European Champions?) made way for Shinji Kagawa, and this change added some guile in midfield.
The big surprise then came with Nemanja Vidic heading in unchallenged from a corner to give the Red Devils a shock lead. Maybe Pep's Barcelona lacked inches, but how on earth were there no "post men" when Bayern conceded?
Then Bayern decided to bring on a real centre-forward in Mario Mandzukic, whose deft touch set up Bastian Schweinsteiger for the imminent equaliser.
All was going well for Bayern after that, until Schweinsteiger got a second yellow for his marching orders. And that too, for a needless challenge on Wayne Rooney, who definitely made the most of a challenge which, replays show, made no contact.
Surely, now the onus is on Manchester United to go to Munich looking for the result. A Bayern side lacking both Schweinsteiger and Javi Martinez does look a little less solid in the middle of the park, but Manchester United will have to chase a result at the Allianz Arena... never an easy task.
A moral victory? Most definitely.
Manchester United have been desperately looking for positives all season long, and not getting hammered at home against a brilliant side is a nice change of pace for the defending Premier League champions. How times have changed. – April 3, 2014.
* This is the personal opinion of the writer or publication and does not necessarily represent the views of The Malaysian Insider.
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