Manchester United became the only English team who failed to win their first leg in the last 16 of the Champions League last night. The Stade Velodrome is arguably one of the most intimidating grounds in Europe and United walked straight into a tough encounter against Marseille. Tottenham, Arsenal and Chelsea had all enjoyed victories in their respective last 16 first leg meetings, but the score ended 0-0 between Marseille and United on the night.

There really wasn’t a lot to write home about from the game, neither side had a lot of chances and both defended well to keep the other out of the box. Manchester United started with the most possession and an early shot from Darren Fletcher tested Steve Mandanda - the Marseille goalkeeper and French number two. This was the first game that Patrice Evra had played in France since before the World Cup, he was thus hounded with plenty of boo’s throughout the course of the match. His conduct with French management at the South Africa World Cup is still not appreciated by the home fans.

Nani had green lasers directed at his eyes by the home fans for segments of the evening, an incredibly dangerous obstacle for a player to surpass. However, this shone a light on the fact that he was the player the home fans were most afraid of. Gabriel Heinze looked like he may struggle with Nani at the start of the game, but the Argentine held his own on the left. Applause must also be given to Chris Smalling, he looks like a confident and perfectly able replacement for Rio Ferdinand. He is 21 and has climbed the ranks quicker than any other player in top flight English football. The United scouts have definitely found themselves a long term star.

Ferguson produced a master stroke by selecting Gibson ahead of Paul Scholes, the Marseille team were tall and strong with bundles of energy. Gibson looked confident on the ball and tracked back on every possible occasion to support the defensive line. However, Ferguson may have left it a little late to bring Scholes on. United needed more attacking options so Gibson could have been brought off a little earlier. Scholes came on 18 minutes from the end and looked sharp moving forward.

Ferguson gave credit to Marseille at the end of the game, ‘They made it difficult for us and didn’t give us time on the ball. At this stage away goals count but I think on our home pitch, our own ground, we will be much better’. Manchester United play Chelsea next, what a fantastic game that will be!

Elsewhere Inter Milan suffered a home defeat at the hands of Bayern Munich. Bayern exacted revenge after losing out to Inter in last years Champions League final with a late late winner on 90 minutes from Gomez. Inter had many chance in the game to go ahead but failed to do so. The next leg is in Munich so Inter will not be the favourites to come out of this tie on top.

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