Champion's League : United in the quarters

A scurried Ronaldo goal was all that took for United to advance to the quarterfinals in the second leg match against Lyon at Old Trafford.

United went with an unsual combination of 4-3-3. It was also surprising to see a midfield comprising of Fletcher, Carrick and Anderson - possibly the most inexperienced combination but you get the feeling that, may be Sir Alex wanted to show that he had confidence in all of his mid-fielders. It wasn't the most fluent and attacking Old-Trafford fixture, certainly not from United's perspective - United probably were only looking to score a few and keep it tight at the defense. Yet, they did enjoy good amount of possession and created quite a few chances. Lyon on the other side looked dangerous only on occassions - specially through Benzima, their star striker and their free-kick specialist taker Juninho.

United's goal came just a few minutes before half time. Anderson's shot deflected towards Ronaldo who scampered past a few defenders and coolly put it past the keeper. It was Ronaldo's 30th goal of the season and now United legend George Best's record certainly seems to be in big trouble With a goal in the kitty, United's strategy for the second half surrounded around sound defending and breaking on the counter attack. But United didn't come too close to scoring a decisive second. Lyon tried desperately to get the equalizer and sometimes looked like getting one - but on most occassions United did well in the defense and Van der Sar hardly had to drop a sweat. And in the end United coasted to victory.

Elsewhere, Arsenal overcame the defending champions AC Milan with a 2-0 score. I did catch a few glimpses of the game and I have to say Arsenal completely deserved the victory. They were up to the task and kept the pressure on the aging Milan side all through the match. So it wasn't all that impossible task for them to beat the Roseneri as it was made out to be in the pre-match talk. This should give Arsenal lot of confidence, specially because they had gone through a few matches without a victory - after being beaten convincingly by United in the FA Cup. What kind of effect this kind of victory is going to have on the Gunners is something we'll have to wait and watch.