Olympique Marseille v Manchester United: live

Olympique Marseille v Manchester United: live

Follow minute-by-minute commentary of the Champions League last 16 game between Olympique Marseille and Manchester United at Stade Velodrome on Wednesday Feb 23 2011, kick-off 19:45 GMT.

LIVE

REPORT

MARSEILLE

0 - 0

FT

MAN UTD

Wednesday, February 23 19:45

Champions League

Stade Vdrome

(HT 0-0)

Old and new: United's Portuguese forward Nani (right) competes for the ball with Marseille's Argentine defender Gabriel Heinze Photo: AP

By Jonathan Liew 9:49PM GMT 23 Feb 2011

Jonathan's Twitter

COMMENTARY

KEY MOMENTS

WRAP: Well, that'll be about all from me. I could go on for for pages and pages about the defensive masterclass we just witnessed, but I'm not entirely confident anybody would be interested. Ultimately, both sides were happy to leave it to a 90-minute shoot-out at Old Trafford, and given that half the ties in this round are more or less over (four away wins, and just one home win) it's not a bad result for the neutral, either. Thanks for all your emails, I'll see you anon.

21.45 Fergie's still raw about the incident between M'bia and Rooney on 87 minutes. "It's a red card," the Govan knight announces. "The game was disappointing. They made sure they weren't going to lose a goal. We got into some good positions at times, but not enough."

But he's still fairly chipper about making it through: "Nil-nil can be a dangerous score, but it's about winning the game, and if we win the game, we're through."

And on Chris Smalling: "A very sound performance. Excellent. Excellent again. He likes defending." Well that's fortunate, given that he's a defender.

21.40 Right, here's Sir Alex.

21.38 Imagine going to a restaurant. A pretty good restaurant, as well - one of the best 16 in Europe, apparently. They bring you your starters, and it's not bad. They clear the starters away, and you sit and wait for the main course. Through the hatch you can see your main courses being prepared in the kitchen, but time passes and you're still waiting. Eventually the waiter comes over and tells you that your main course will be ready, but only if you come back in three weeks' time. "Well," you'll be able to tell him, "I've thought of the perfect analogy for this."

21.34 Mario Gomez has scored what must be a late winner for Bayern Munich at the San Siro! Are we about to see all three Italian teams going out at the last-16 stage?

FULL TIME Marseille 0-0 Manchester United A result that suits pretty much everyone except me, and you. The red flares go off in the crowd as the players shake hands and ITV, like a smoker dashing out for a fag, goes straight to a commercial break.

90 min Just the one minute of injury time. Nani dances down the left, but he fouls Diawara as he does so. That will probably be it.

89 min Oh, that's nothing like it from Valbuena. Again it fails to clear Berbatov on the near post. As the ball comes back in, referee Felix Brych spots an infringement in the area and awards a free-kick to United.

88 min We're in for a grandstand finish! Ayew wins a corner on the Marseille left!

87 min Berbatov with the header away from Valbuena's corner. Diawara tries a piledriver from 30 yards, but it hits Smalling and runs safe. And Berbatov almost plays it through to Rooney on the break! It wasn't the best ball, and M'bia can wrestle Rooney off the ball in a slightly licentious fashion.

86 min The ball runs out of play and into the hands of Alex Ferguson. Heinze dashes up to him and snatches the ball out of his hands. No love lost between those two... Marseille take the throw, work it down the left, and win a corner.

84 min It ain't gonna happen, is it? Another long ball from the back in the direction of Rooney, but Mandanda claims it easily, like plucking apples off a tree.

83 min It goes short, and Fletcher's cross from the right is blocked by M'bia. A second effort is claimed by Mandanda under pressure from Rooney. United have just switched it round a little here, Fletcher going out to the right, Rooney taking up a more central position and Nani trying to work the left flank.

82 min Now, free-kick to United about 45 yards out after Diawara grapples with Nani. Scholes to take.

81 min Nani almost through after a lovely United move! Nani started the move, nutmegging Valbuena and slipping it to Berbatov. Berbatov tried to play it into the path of Nani, but Kabore just got the tiniest deflection on it, and that gave Mandanda enough time to race out and claim the ball.

79 min The Gibson debate continues to rage. "Give Darron Gibson a break," urges Steven Craigie. "Sir Alex obviously sees something in him we don't see, and he's hardly ever wrong." Poborsky! Cruyff! Kleberson! Veron! Djemba-Djemba! Fortune! Bellion! Miller! Prunier! This one will run and run.

78 min A huge cheer for Valbuena, whose season looked to be over when he got his knee injury last month. Instead, here he is in the last 16 of the Champions League. Remy makes way. Here's hoping the introduction of Scholes and Valbuena open this game out a bit. We could, to borrow a well-worn footballing sentiment, do with a goal.

77 min Scholes is jittering about like a horny chinchilla here. He wants to be on the end of every ball, including his own. He slips the ball to Berbatov on the United left, and the Bulgarian wins a corner. The corner goes short, and Evra can't get a cross in.

76 min All right, that's more like it! Valbuena's stripped off and getting warm. He'll make his entrance at the next suitable juncture in play.

75 min Vidic sends it long for Rooney, but it trickles out for a goal-kick. Adrian Guzman has sent me a one-word email, and possibly the most sensible one-word email I've received: "Chicharito!!!"

73 min Berbatov shoots well over from about 25 yards. "Gibson, give me your bib, son!" writes Philip Marshall. "I heard that Carrick vomited when he realised that he was lining up beside the mono-browed buffoon. I wouldn't have him in my village team, and we're a bunch of overweight old men." Oh come on, Philip, get off the fence.

71 min Farewell, Darron Gibson. Adieu, goodbye, mwah, mwah. He did all right, actually. Paul Scholes comes on.

69 min There is going to be a change for Marseille, but it's not Valbuena but Cheyrou who comes on, replacing Edouard Cisse. Any bright ideas on how to breathe some fire into this game, anyone? All suggestions gratefully accepted, up to and including the actual exhalation of fire, into the game.

68 min Berbatov with a superb chance! It's blocked! The ball trickled into the Marseille area after a pull-back from O'Shea and a back-heel by Nani, Fanni looked to have it covered but missed it completely, and Diawara desperately dived in to deny Berbatov.

67 min Brandao almost gets in behind the United defence. Driven by little but primal fear, Smalling tears back into position and dispossesses him.

65 min We've still not seen a substitution from either side. You sense Alex Ferguson will make a move soon if he wants to leave France with an away goal. He's always said that a 0-0 in the first leg favours the home team.

63 min Listen to that noise. The crowd at the Stade Velodrome sense that the momentum is with them. All they need is that final ball... and that's not it from Heinze. Yuk, yuk, yuk.

61 min Ayew! And Brandao was unmarked at the far post! Remy took the shot, it was blocked and muddled its way through to Ayew, and although the Ghanaian's left-footed shot was dragged well wide, it almost went into the path of Brandao, who couldn't react quickly enough! The last five minutes have been all Marseille.

60 min And now it's a free-kick on the Marseille left, which Lucho is going to take... nah, it's headed away. All right, Didier, have a look at your watch. What does it say? What does it say? That's right, it's Valbuena time.

59 min Here's Remy, all body feints and dancing feet! Vidic blocks it out for a corner. The noise level rises.

58 min Rooney spots Mandanda off his line and tries to chip him from 50 yards! He doesn't get nearly enough on that, though.

57 min It's been a good few minutes for Marseille, actually. Carrick, who so far has been about as much use as a singing carrot, puts the ball out for a throw on the Marseille left, but United are struggling to stamp their mark on the game in this half.

56 min Lucho almost gets on the end of a sumptuous long ball from Heinze, who's had a good few minutes. Van der Sar rushes out and catches the ball with his eyes closed, which is quite a trick.

54 min Rooney crosses from the left, and Heinze with a crucial header away as Mandanda comes for it and misses! Nani was ready to head that into an empty net, but Heinze used all his experience, and all his head, to clear the danger.

53 min Brandao tries to glance a header past Van der Sar from all of 15 yards! That's an easy claim for the goalkeeper. Still, you'd have to put that down as one of Marseille's best chances of the game, right up there with that moment when they made five passes in a row in the Manchester United half. It was Lucho with the cross.

51 min Van der Sar sweeps out of his goalmouth to pick a cross from off the head of Remy.

50 min Brandao heads it away at the near post. Berbatov fouls Cisse as United try to build again.

49 min Vidic and Brandao go up for a high ball. They both make it down to the ground safely, but as they land Brandao's left elbow flies out and catches Vidic in the jaw. By accident or design? Nothing's given. United get a corner on the left.

47 min A little glance by Nani, and O'Shea is away. The Irishman looks up and tries to pick out a cross. Diawara heads it away.

46 min Ayew tries to bundle his way through the United midfield, but gets blocked off.

20.45 Fergie reckons United could pass it better. He also blames the hardness of the pitch. Andy Townsend reckons Marseille don't have much to worry United. I reckon Marseille have a lot more to worry United than Andy Townsend does. Or ever did. Right, we're off again.

20.44 Not that this has been anything like a classic. It's about as much of a classic as Dan Brown's Deception Point, only with a good deal less action. On a number of occasions, however, both teams have come close to coming close, if you see what I mean. The defences are just about managing to hold things together, but the approach play's been pretty good so far. Nani's giving Gabriel Heinze a good solid workout on the United right. Remy's mainly ploughed the right touchline, but he's popped up a few times on the left, to the good-natured surprise of all. And throughout, the spectre of Wayne Rooney looms large. What will he do this time? Will he score from 45 yards? Will he bend time? Will he score a tap-in and then lift up his shirt to reveal solidarity with the people of Libya? Who knows?

20.34 In the other games tonight, it's Inter Milan 0-0 Bayern Munich and Arsenal 1-0 Stoke. I've not tried putting scorelines in italics before, it's rather satisfying. Almost as if they're landmark legal cases. From what I've been hearing, however, Inter v Bayern is succeeding only in being a landmark in boredom so far.

HALF TIME Marseille 0-0 Manchester United

45 min Oh right, that's half-time. Cup of tea, everyone? Cup of tea.

44 min Here's Nani again, dancing down the right. Heinze's terrified of lunging in, and backs off, backs off, backs off. He does quite well in the end, actually, timing his slide as Nani's about to cross and winning a goal-kick.

43 min Shot from distance by Kabore! Yeah, that's gone miles wide. But better from Marseille, who are managing to push United back here.

42 min M'bia wins that round, going down as the corner comes in and winning a free-kick.

41 min Now, a corner to United as Heinze slides in to block a cross from Nani on the right. Some silliness in the area as Berbatov wants to slow dance with M'bia and M'bia expresses his preference for the windmill...

40 min And the corner almost snuck in at Van der Sar's near post! You could see Van der Sar coming to the slow but alarming realisation that he was going to have to intercept the ball's trajectory, and eventually caught it none too confidently at his near post.

39 min Fine cross by Remy! Vidic has to head it out for a corner...

38 min Nani shifts inside in search of a little space. He goes down under the challenge of Cisse, and as he falls, handles the ball.

36 min "Dear Jonathan," writes Rob Potter. "If you spent more time watching the game instead of complaining about the ITV commentators, you might note that Darron Gibson has made all of the passes setting Nani free down the right tonight. I will admit to being surprised myself, but credit where it is due, eh?" Just as I paste those words in, Gibson tries another pass through to Nani that gets cut out. Fair point, though.

35 min Lucho with the cross from the left. Brandao's orange boots propel him skywards, but Vidic heads the ball safely into the arms of Van der Sar.

33 min Evra crosses from the left. A Marseille foot flies in and clears it. Now Marseille might be able to break, but Vidic spots the dangers and shovels it out for a throw.

32 min It's got the feel of a slow-burner, this game. We've not seen the best of United, but we've not seen the best of Marseille, either. The best players on the pitch have been O'Shea, Fletcher, Cisse and Kabore, rather than Rooney, Berbatov, Lucho and Brandao.

31 min Nani with a superb cross from the right! It's smack in the path of Berbatov, but an alert Mandanda rushes out and nicks it.

30 min Another huge long ball from Smalling. Under pressure from Nani, Heinze heads it out for a throw. Or rather, he misjudges the ball completely, it ends up hitting him on the back of the neck, and it goes out for a throw.

28 min Now, here's Heinze, the man Liverpool fans will remember as 'The Man Who Would Be Konchesky'. He clips a cross to Brandao in the area, who brings it down on his chest and tries an acrobatic bicycle kick that trickles harmlessly into the arms of Van der Sar.

26 min Another burst down the left by Remy. This time he wins a corner, which Lucho is going to take. We haven't seen too much of Lucho so far... and that's a less than sparkling corner, landing at the feet of Smalling on the near post.

25 min And now Evra gives the ball away. Marseille spread the ball left, and Remy runs at O'Shea, with Fletcher also tracking him. The cross is blocked.

23 min Marseille have just come back into this. United have given the ball away a few times, and they're suddenly looking a lot less certain in possession. Remy reverses the ball for Ayew, whose fierce left-footed shot is blocked.

22 min Fanni with a deep, swirling cross to the back post. Smalling heads it away.

20 min "How do you rate Darron Gibson?" asks Sam Ainsworth on Twitter. "It's obvious he's wasting away at United, but is he any good?" No, would be my short answer to that one. He's got a hard shot, though, which will get you a surprisingly long way in the game.

18 min Kabore spreads it right to Remy. The cross just flicks Vidic, and Van der Sar catches at his near post. Remy reckons it went out of play for a corner, but referee Felix Brych doesn't.

17 min Ayew, one of the few remaining players in the competition to be named after a Pink Floyd song, almost gets clear down the left, but O'Shea closes him down hastily and he has to go backwards.

15 min The game's just settled down a bit after than slightly hairy start. The quality's not too bad, either. As I say that, Rooney runs the ball straight out of play down the left.

14 min Tom Godfrey writes: "Five minutes in and that's two 'fervid's and a 'fervent' already from Drury. Someone's been on dictionary.com." Everybody's got their favourite piece of Peter Drury commentary. Mine is: "Lightning on the verge of striking twice, albeit 200 miles apart." What's yours? Do share.

12 min Diawara tries to switch the ball from right flank to left, and almost gives the ball straight to Berbatov! If Berbatov had managed to control that, he would have been 40 yards from goal with not a defender in sight.

11 min "There's a breeze here tonight," Peter Drury reckons. "I think it's called Le Mistral." Peter Drury speculating about unwelcome blasts of cold air. You couldn't write this stuff.

10 min Rooney's volley is blocked. Nani again got down the right and crossed, but it just wouldn't sit down for Rooney.

9 min United with the better start and more possession. Nani finding space on the right. Rooney popping up in all kinds of unexpected positions, like the centre circle, and the left wing.

7 min M'bia brings down Nani on the United right. The free-kick's pulled back to the edge of the box, and Fletcher's low, long-range Scud is parried by Mandanda! And then claimed at the second attempt.

6 min Brandao tries to jiggle his way past Evra. Evra says no, and a good job he did, as Brandao would have been clean through on goal.

5 min It appears as though Rooney's been given licence to roam. Either that, or Alex Ferguson's currently trying to make himself heard above the din on the touchline: "Wayne! WAYNE! STOP ROAMING!"

4 min Shrill screeches from the home fans whenever United get the ball and pass it around, like they're doing right now. Eventually Smalling, like all English defenders eventually do, decides he's had enough of passing it sideways and tries a huge punt upfield that runs all the way through to Mandanda in the Marseille goal.

2 min Berbatov is tackled well by M'bia on the Marseille right, but he gets the loose ball and crosses. Rooney can't bring it down quickly enough.

1 min Marseille are in good form, they've not lost since December 5. For all their talented potential going forward - Ayew, Brandao, Lucho, Remy - it could well be their defence that decides this tie. If they can prevent United from getting an away goal, they've got a real chance.

19.45 United to kick-off, playing from left to right for those of you who like to draw a picture in their minds. Three men stand over the ball. Rooney to Berbatov to Nani, and we're away.

19.44 Oh God, it's Peter Drury. "For Manchester United, the competition really starts here. To experience the fervid ambience of the port of Marseilles is to understand just how much hosting a knockout game in this competition, for the first time in two decades..." Drury. Disappear. Now.

19.38 The Stade Velodrome? you ask. Why, that looks nothing like the velodrome I saw on the news yesterday, the one with Chris Hoy and Boris Johnson and a big curving roof. Well, you'll notice that the ground is sort of bowl-like in shape, with the stands sloping down to the pitch. That's where the track used to be. They built the stands over the track, using the natural slope to give it a sort of amphitheatre atmosphere. File under 'useless information that both you and I will forget within seconds'.

19.30 If the last 16 of Europe's premier club competition is a room (go with me here), then Darron Gibson is the elephant in it, in more ways than one. Sir Alex Ferguson has opted for Gibson in preference to Paul Scholes, choosing youth over experience. And skill. O'Shea starts ahead of Rafael at right back.

For Marseille, the tantalising prospect of Mathieu Valbuena's return after a month out with a knee injury. He's on the bench tonight. If you're wondering where you know that name from, he scored for France against England a few months back. Also, he's excellent.

I'd love to hear your views on the teams, the match, the players in the match, that rather clunky elephant analogy earlier, that kind of thing. Drop us a line.

Marseille (4-3-3): Mandanda; Fanni, M'bia, Diawara, Heinze; Cisse, Kabore, Lucho; Remy, Ayew, Brandao. Subs: Andrade, Taiwo, Hilton, Cheyrou, Jordan Ayew, Abriel, Valbuena.

Man Utd (4-3-3): Van der Sar; O'Shea, Smalling, Vidic, Evra; Gibson, Carrick, Fletcher; Nani, Berbatov, Rooney. Subs: Kuszczak, Brown, Hernandez, Scholes, Fabio, Rafael, Obertan.

Referee: Felix Brych (Germany)

19.15 Bonsoir! It's a big night for Marseille tonight. For many teams, winning their first European Cup marks a watershed - the start of a golden era, or similar.

In the case of Marseille, it marked quite the opposite. Three weeks after becoming the first ever winners of the Champions League in 1992/93 - and still the only French team ever to capture Europe's top competition - they were implicated in a bribery and corruption scandal that saw them relegated to the second division, stripped of their league championship and barred from defending their title.

They were a pretty handy team in those days, Marseille - Barthez in goal, Desailly in defence, Deschamps in midfield and Rudi Voller and Alen Boksic up front. (There were more, they didn't win the Champions League with only five players, although that would have been awesome.)

But since that glorious, balmy night in Munich, Marseille have gone past the last 16 of this competition. Their 1993 triumph appears in the record books almost as an anomaly, and instead it was Milan, their beaten opponents that night, who went on to conquer Europe.

Tonight, with one of their 1993 heroes Didier Deschamps at the helm, they can take a huge step towards bringing the glory days back to the Cote Bleue, and writing themselves a new history. Now, that was miles more interesting than some silly preamble about Alex Ferguson's hairdryer, wasn't it? Teams to follow.
Telegraph.feedsportal.com