Manchester United failed to secure top spot in Champions League Group E but qualified for the knockout stage of the competition after another 0-0 draw with Villarreal at El Madrigal on Tuesday.
Villarreal, still undefeated at home in the Champions League, join United in the last 16 and the final round of group matches will now decide who tops the group.
Once again there was no separating these two teams who have failed to produce a goal in 360 minutes of European football having played each other four times in the Champions League with every game ending 0-0.
Pellegrini fielded a reasonably strong outfit, opting to use Rossi as a lone frontman and employ Pires and Cazorla to furrow for opportunities around him. United meanwhile were missing Berbatov, Vidic and Van Der Sar but such is their strength in depth
Despite the attacking talent of show, there was precious little attacking play at either end of the pitch. Rooney had a goal wrongly disallowed within the first five minutes, while Santi Cazorla stung the hands of stand-in goalkeeper Kuszczak with a right-foot strike from the edge of the area.
Both sides are extremely adept at withholding possession, biding their time before striking with a defence-splitting pass. Make no mistake – these are two supremely well-drilled outfits, who give little away, and one nullified the other to such an extent that there was barely a shot of note in the opening forty minutes.
As half-time beckoned, Ronaldo took it upon himself to inject some interest into this desperately dull encounter. The closest we came to a goal in the closing stages was when a Rooney cross was headed out from underneath his own crossbar by Capdevila.
Despite a draw being good enough for both teams to qualify neither side was settling for the stalemate and Villarreal had their best opening on 65 minutes with a terrific Cazorla cross somehow evading everyone. Capdevila made a heroic goal-line clearance on 80 minutes to deny Rooney only to be strangely sent off minutes later.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson said that he had been impressed by his side’s second-half performance. “I thought we deserved better out of this match,” said the Scot, who has guided the team to two Champions League trophies in his time in charge. “I was satisfied with the second-half performance and I felt that Villarreal were just happy to get the draw.”
LINE-UPS:
Villarreal: Diego Lopez, Javi Venta, Gonzalo, Eguren, Capdevila; Fuentes, Senna (Bruno 45’), Ibagaza, Pires (Mati Fernandez 65’), Cazorla; Rossi (Franco 77’)
Manchester United: Kuszczak, O’Shea, Evans, Ferdinand, Evra; Nani (Park Ji Sung 84’), Anderson, Carrick (Tevez 85’), Fletcher (Gibson 80’); Ronaldo, Rooney
Villarreal vs Manchester 0-0 United Highlights 2008-11-25
Watch here for the match highlights below
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