Jose got swept aside

Vida gets mobbed by his ecstatic team-mates

It's round 2 for Ronaldo vs. Zlatan and Fergie vs. Jose as Inter visits Manchester. It's a familiar place for Jose as he had sat at the visitor's area several times in the past few years. Only this time, he would be leading an Italian club on English soil. Based on mathematical scoreline probabilility, Inter would have some advantage since a draw with some goals by them would suffice. Of course, to score even a goal, they need to think of a way to breach the titanic defence at Old Trafford coupled with the 12th man crowd.

One would have expected Jose to be much more impressive in holding out but they were already one down just after 4 minutes of playing. It's a typical familiar sight with Giggs swinging in a corner and Vidic connecting it with a header. Good job by Vidic to lose his marker (it's Vieira btw..haha) at the end and he definitely caught Julio Caesar by surprise. Inter won't fret too much though because they just need to score 1 goal to go through unless United adds another one to their tally.

Once again, Inter could not cope up with United's through ball style. For some reason or so, they themselves can't play through balls. They had to pass directly to the receiver and for that, even the likes of O Shea is sufficient to stop them. The only reason how Inter could become a threat to United's goal is when they pass to specific people like Zlatan and Stankovic. Zlatan himself has the individual strength, power and skill to bulldoze pass the defenders while Stankovic has his pretty terrifying long shots. Other than that, they are of no threat to the United defence. With just 4 minutes into second half, United sent Inter to doom when Ronaldo forced in a header to make it 2-0.

I think divine intervention is on Man Utd's side..haha. Two counts perhaps which could have changed the nature of the game. The first was when United was leading 1-0 and Ibrahimovic's shot could have equalised and send them to the quarters at the same time coz United would be under severe pressure to score another. But alas, the post comes to the rescue. The second incident was Adriano and his shot looked to have clearly beaten van der Sar and for the second time, the post was there to bounce the ball to safety. At the blow of the final whistle, it's 2-0 to United and Fergie has only beaten Jose for the second time in all their 13 meetings or so. Ronaldo of course, has beaten Zlatan for good this time, if Cantona wants to know..haha.

Besides the point of this crunchy Champions League match, there's a fueling speculation that Jose may be the man to succeed Fergie in Old Trafford. Mourinho's bravado in shaking hands with the United faithful does little to quell such speculations as the Portugese tactician wants to show why he's the special one in England and not in Italy..lol. He'll have lots of reflection to do though on Inter's underpar performance against United. Looks like the only team he will ever have to get to the Champions League final is his good old Porto. Anyways, it'll be interesting to see which team will be United's opponent in the quarters. All four English clubs progressed through to the quarters with Liverpool being the notable one in smashing Real Madrid 4-0 at Anfield. Chelsea and the Gooners barely squeezed through. Ahhh..another all-English final once again?