Dorrk Dot Com

Today’s events cap a series of events that beg for a Manchester United update.

It’s been a long, yet inspiring season for Manchester United, a team that dominated English football during the 1990s but were written off as a tired old side in decline during the past few seasons, which returned only a few lesser trophies. Injuries were mounting, personality conflicts were ruining morale, and a takeover of the world’s most financially successfull club had left it in deep debt.

And yet, United have spent nearly the entire 2006-2007 English Premier League season in first place, always just a couple of steps ahead of the heavily favored, Russian billionaire-financed, back-to-back champions Chelsea. United’s first serious slip-up occurred this last weekend when they fell to mediocre Portsmouth, letting Chelsea narrow United’s lead in the English table to a mere three points (win = 3 points; draw = 1 point; loss = 0 points). There are only five matches left to play this season, United can only make one more slip and comfortably expect the title, as their tie-breaking goal difference dwarfs Chelsea’s. Still, with the penultimate match of the season between the two top teams at Chelsea’s Rent Boy Palace, it may well come down to that, with any other missteps surely disastrous for either side. Chelsea have been ekeing out unimpressive wins of late, just like United did for a long stretch in early 2007, so neither side looks confident going into the final weeks. It’s a far more exciting league season than many expected.

But the league isn’t the only competition United have set their sights on this season. They’ve clawed their way into an FA Cup semi-final this weekend against lowly Watford, and will be favored to make the final (against Chelsea, favored to beat Blackburn in the other semi-final), but favorites don’t always count for much in cup competitions.

There’s also the prestigious European Champions League, which United have failed to really make a mark in recently, aside from their brilliant 1999 run and shocking come-from-behind victory in the final with two last-minute goals. Last year, United were terrible and shamefully failed to qualify from the group stages. This year, they’ve often looked out-of-step, but somehow managed to squeak through to the next round. Tonight, it looked likely they would struggle yet again to move past the quarterfinals, as they lost last week’s quarterfinal first leg in Rome 2-1, with key midfielder (and horror-tackler) Paul Scholes red carded for some ridiculous tackling and only Wayne Rooney’s consolation goal providing any apparent hope of overcoming Roma’s stingy defense when the two teams met again today in Manchester. In two-legged ties, away goals count as tie-breakers, so if United were to win 1-0 at home, the goal in their 2-1 away in Roma would result in a 2-2 aggregate score, with that away goal tipping the victory to United.

It didn’t matter. In one of the most stunning displays of football demolition (and humiliating capitulation by the favored side), United were ahead of Roma 3-0 within 20 minutes, 4-0 by half-time, 5-0 within minutes of the start of the second half, 6-0 with a half-hour left to play, and then a late seventh to cancel out Roma’s pointless mercy goal for a 7-1 win (that makes 8-3 aggregate). United was as breathtaking as Roma was bewildered, and this without Scholes, who is United’s vital midfield general.

There had been a lot of concern over United’s European form, where their star players have crept dangerously close to choking. Before his goal in Rome a week earlier, Wayne Rooney has failed to score in Europe since his Champions League debut hat-trick three years ago, and he’s been off-form most of this season. He got United’s third goal tonight.

His strike partner tonight was Alan Smith, who had spent nearly the entire previoius year out with a broken leg and has looked a shadow of player since coming back. Smith scored United’s second goal, his first in nearly two years.

United’s one new key player this season, midfielder Michael Carrick, has been criticized for failing to live up to his expensive price tag. He scored two goals tonight — both delightful long range shots over the head of the hapless Roma keeper — his first ever in European competition.

Portuguese winger Ronaldo has been amazing this season, and seemed to be saving his best for this match, also scoring his first ever goals in European club competition and dizzying Roma’s confused defenders. Ronaldo still stikes me as an utterly loathesome human being, but he has been incredible to watch and is a very likely choice for European Player of the Year. Defender Patrice Evra scored the seventh.

All the goals were excellent, even Roma’s.

United could well lose in the semi-final against either AC Milan or Bayern Munich, could falter in the FA Cup, and let the league slip away. But the mere possibility of another amazing treble of trouphies this late in the season is far more than anyone expected back in September. And there’s every possiblity that United and Chelsea could meet in the Champions League final as well.

Tags: No Comments