Somewhat of a drab overall affair, with neither side
seemingly willing to open up the throttle; but rather, content to remain on cruise
control throughout. United stated their intentions quite clearly at the start
of the second half, looking much more threatening and immediately cutting out
several chances. Vermeer in the Ajax goal did well with several saves and had
to be on his toes to deny Hernandez early on as he burst through the Ajax
defense.
United’s pressure paid off when Ashley Young, recently
returned from an injury layoff, stroked the ball into the net to make it 1-0.
He was coolness personified as he received a deflected low cross from Nani,
beat his defender and slotted the ball between the legs of Vermeer and past
three Ajax defenders on the line to give United a deserved lead.
Having secured the goal, United were happy to sit back and
absorb some pressure from the home side. However, Ajax, largely toothless in
the attack rarely threatened De Gea’s goal and were forced to resort to taking
pot shots from distance. The few times they did carve out a real opportunity,
the chances were wasted either by poor decision-making or woeful finishing.
As they so often do, United scored on a lightning
counter-attack, with Valencia muscling his way onto a poor touch from one of
Ajex’s defenders before slipping the ball through to Hernandez who combined
well with Rooney before slotting home United’s second on the night.
A good result for United as they bring a 2-0 lead back to
Old Trafford without ever really having broken a sweat.
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