The Allianz Arena glowed a malevolent red, two genuine greats stood opposite. Munich and United, two names that will echo each other through the ages. Van Gaal and Ferguson, two belligerent, brilliant managers had deployed their players onto the stage. It started with a bang, a long hopeful punt up the field was chased and won by the now revitalised Nani. Bayern's Argentinian centre-half Martin DeMichelis rushed out to meet the Manchester United man and promptly cut him in two. From the resulting free-kick DeMichelis completed the start from hell by slipping to leave Wayne Rooney with the simplest of chances. The camera cut to Van Gaal, He stared straight ahead with a slight twitch of his head. One could imagine him trying to suppress the rage within. For a man who has made discipline an art, this was a bird dumping on a fresh canvass.
However Van Gaal and Bayern re-grouped and took a deserved victory. The wily Dutchman short his best player in Arjen Robben pressed United's midfield high up the pitch. DeMichelis, normally a midfielder was stepping out from the back with ease thus squeezing the space in front of Wayne Rooney. It was a passable impression of Barcelona's destruction of United in Rome last May. Ferguson was flustered, he sent on Dimitar Berbatov and Antonio Valencia to try and regain some semblance of possession yet they actually ceded more to Bayern in the closing stages. The scoreline is certainly still manageable for United but in the absence of Wayne Rooney they look short of inspiration. They need to be quicker and perhaps more direct in possession to put pressure on a Bayern back line that despite Van Gaal's best efforts to conceal are vulnerable, particularly to pace. One senses Bayern will score though and if they do it would be a brave man to back against them advancing.
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