Final Whistle

As we waxed lyrical about the performance of Arsenal on Tuesday night – and spoke of how it pointed to the English Premier League (we are The Premier Football Blog after all!) as one of the strongest in the world – we couldn’t really let messers Rooney and co go about demolishing Italian past-masters Milan 4-0 at home without making at least a cursory mention of the match!

Speaking of Wayne Rooney, the boy is on fire, and looks like he could well push Ronaldo’s epic best of 42 goals very close this season if he keeps on heading these winners into the top corner with such aplomb.

Yesterday I made the major oversight of forgetting about Arshavin, so I will try to avoid that by saying the delivery from Gary Neville and Nani for each of Rooney’s wonderful finishes were also top, top class. We will even forgive Gary Neville for some horrible crosses later in the match, and the rush of blood to the head that made him think his first goal for nearly 6 years could come from his left foot, from 30 yards, against AC Milan, in the last 16 of the Champions League. The guy was confident, ok.

Park was amazingly active, as ever, and put in probably 50% more mileage than anyone else on the pitch, save Darren Fletcher, so both of them were worthy of their goals too.

But, lets not forget where the real meat of Manchester United came from last night: that unpassable triumvirate at the back. It was a joy to witness Van der sar, Vidic and Ferdinand playing together for the first time in ages. There really is no substitute for top-class defences and goalkeepers, and so it proved last night.

Well done Manchester United.

Again, while we are not United fans, we do love the Premier League, and this was another example of how the quality of this excellent league is stamping itself on the world football scene.

While many are pointing to the negative things which came out of the match: in a word, “Glazer”, and another, “debt”, you can’t argue with what happened on the pitch.

That Real Madrid failed to qualify must have only enhanced Sir Alex Ferguson’s happy mood at full time: Rooney, for now, seems a more than adequate replacement for Ronaldo. With service from the flanks that he is currently receiving from Valencia and Nani, United are once more looking like potential Champions of Europe.

An Arsenal – United final?