Ibra-himo-who?

You’d be forgiven if you tuned into last night’s Champions League clash expecting to see a goal fest given the hype surrounding Inter Milan’s superstar striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

He himself claims to be better than Wayne Rooney, whilst Jose Mourinho even went so far as to label him “possibly the best in the world.”

I think it must be a case of out of sight, out of mind for the Portuguese coach because whilst Inter and Ibrahimovic may be able to dominate Serie A, faced with the challenge of the Premier League champions, they looked average at best.

United set about controlling the game early yesterday and did so with relative ease for the first 45 minutes. United’s passing was crisp and you could see the players were up for the match. Inter on the other hand were sloppy, slow and uninspiring.

Ibrahimovic and Inter’s other front man, Adriano caused precious little mischief in the United half and can’t of even broken a sweat such was their lack of involvement.

United could have been two or three up by the break were it not for Inter keeper Julio Cesar with United’s own star player, Cristiano Ronaldo, forcing the Brazilian into a handful of saves from a range of free kicks and headers.

Inter did come back into the game in the second half but didn’t do anywhere near enough to make the Champions question what to do next week. Inter are ready for the taking; attack, attack, attack.

Manchester United were without key defenders in yesterday’s game and put out a patched up back four, albeit a stronger one than we expected. Even so, last night presented Inter with their best opportunity to score and they failed to take it.

Nemanja Vidic (amongst others) will be welcomed back for the second leg so Inter will need to score at Old Trafford, against a full strength back line or keep our array of attacking talent at bay for the full ninety minutes –either way, no easy task.

Wayne Rooney was the surprise absentee from yesterday’s starting line-up but you can be sure he’ll be in contention for the second leg. The striker has scored in his previous two outings since returning from injury and he’ll be hoping to carry that form on in the second leg.

In contrast, Cristiano Ronaldo has failed to score in this year’s Champions League despite his haul of 16 goals this season. Ronaldo was unlucky not to score yesterday and his recent form has been too good for that streak to last much longer.

All things considered, United are in good stead to defend their Champions League title with the bookies certainly backing that up. Some making United two to one favourites to qualify. United controlled the match on Italian soil, they’ll dominate it on their own.

My prediction for the second leg: Manchester United 2 – 0 Internazionale (and I’m being conservative).

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