Manchester United completely took apart a youthful Arsenal side last night to reach the final of the Champions League. United won the match 3-1 (4-1 on aggregate) to seal their place in Rome as they eagerly anticipate who their opponents will be.

Arsenal flew out of the traps rather predictably but were pegged back with an early Ji Sung Park goal, promptly followed by a 40 yard Cristiano Ronaldo free kick. It was a double blow that Arsene Wenger’s men never recovered from.

United’s third came again from Ronaldo in the second half as United put together a sublime counter attacking move as Arsenal pressed to get back into the game. The night was marred for Sir Alex Ferguson by the red card that was brandished to midfielder Darren Fletcher, resulting in a penalty that was duly put away by Robin Van Persie.

TV replays showed that Fletcher had clearly kicked part of the ball when he brought down Fabregas inside the penalty area and unfortunately it looks like the red card will not be turned over as UEFA rules states that only a case of mistaken identity can get the card banished. It was a thoroughly professional and efficient display from United, which came in the face of genuine anticipation from everyone connected with Arsenal.

However, Wenger admitted after the game: “Manchester United, I have to say over the two games, deserve to go through. The tie could have been over in the first leg and, even though I felt we had a good chance to come back tonight, they were the better side, so congratulations to them and good luck to them in the final. We were caught by a team that has the art to kill and take advantage of every mistake.”

“In three minutes we conceded two goals against a team that defends well and is sure to come out on the counter-attack. We were really up for the fight, ready for the game, but after the first 10 minutes it was impossible.”

United’s stand out performer was the ever present Cristiano Ronaldo who showed with his performances that even in the biggest games he is a force to be reckoned with. The entire United side worked their socks off to get the win and will no doubt now be given added emputis by the fact that Fletcher will not take any part in the final.

For Arsenal it is back to the drawing board. Wenger has to keep his squad in tact for next season but he must make some additions, he needs to quikcly lay to rest that he will recreate his golden Arsenal side and admit that the club needs to spend some money to get in some big names and leadership.

United’s performance ahead of the Barcelona v Chelsea match will no doubt show that whoever gets through that tie will have one hell of a match on their hands come the end of the month and Rome. United put on a display that we all knew they were capable of, but probably all didn’t expect.

Manchester United took another step towards retaining their Premier League crown as they cruised passed a helpless Middlesbrough side 2-0 at the Riverside stadium. Goals from Ryan Giggs and Ji Sung-Park were enough to get United the three points as Middlesbrough now look odds on to be relegated from the Premier League.

With many Boro fans calling for manager, Gareth Southgate, to go for broke before the match their performance was anything but. It was only a matter of time before United’s slick and neat passing football imposed itself on the game and allowed in marksman who were clearly not going to show a single bit of mercy.

United have now put the pressure back on Liverpool ahead of their midday kick off against Newcastle and look a certainty to retain the Premier League title and add yet another trophy to the growing collection of Sir Alex Ferguson.

Middlesbrough on the other hand will be down in the dumps. They have to put this behind them as quickly as possible and focus on winning their remaining matches. If they can do this then they stand a chance at league survival but the performance of Southgate’s side yesterday was hardly inspiring.

So many times United were allowed to pass out of trouble with players dropping off to pick up the ball left, right and centre. For side in the position that Boro are the logic of the performance is bizarre. This is not to take away from United’s quality but Boro maybe should have risked losing four or five nil in a hope to eradicate United’s dominance.

Chants echoed around the Riverside asking Southgate if he knew what he was doing and it may well turn out the case they should have replaced him earlier in the season instead of showing him faith. Boro are going down if they play like this again.

Although they may have mustered a few good efforts in goal the performance was generally flat and that of a Championship standard side. The lack of urgency in the build up to United’s second goal was remarkable and something that will have to be addressed in training this week.

The one thing they will be buoyed by is the fact that should they go down their squad is young enough and inexperienced enough to be able to stay together. Stuart Downing and one or two of the strikers are maybe the only players that will put in a transfer request and have to be sold to cope with the financial impacts of the drop.

It was the perfect preparation for United ahead of their Champions League clash with Arsenal on Tuesday. Many Boro fans would have been hoping that Sir Alex would have named a weakened side for the game, but this was not to be. Every player he put out warranted a first team slot and it was just a case of when and who would score United’s goals in the game.

It is difficult for Boro to pick themselves up from this. They would have been hoping for United’s reserve side but the result will offer hope to their relegation rivals. Maybe Boro should start planning for next season.

There’s a time and place to field an inexperienced, young team during a football season, but it’ not a good idea to do in an FA Cup semifinal. But it seems Alex Ferguson hasn’t learned that yet and paid the ultimate price by getting knocked out of the Cup 4-2 on penalties by a less than mediocre Everton side at Wembley today (April 19th).

It serves Ferguson right for being so arrogant and stupid in his selection and substitutions, but it isn’t right for the team’s fans who spend their hard-earned money following the team all year in, year out. I have no problem with the starting 11 that United fielded as I think they have a lot of depth and the players picked were capable enough of handling Everton. But there’s no excuse for not having a back up plan, and not even dressing Rooney, Ronaldo, Carrick, and Giggs is just plain idiotic to me. You never know what’s going to happen during the course of a match. It could be a penalty, a red, card, or injuries, etc. and you have to back up the youngsters with some experience just in case they aren’t up to the task.

And don’t come back by telling me that Ferguson has won so many trophies during his career, so what? If he knew his team and used some common sense he might have won a lot more. Why go through all of the qualifying FA Cup rounds (and complaining about the fixture list as usual) and then throw it away in the semi final. My God, Ferguson, if you’re going to do that you might as well throw it away in the first round, not the second last. It’s like scaling Mount Everest and then deciding to pack it in when you’re 100 feet from the peak. By leaving Danny Welbeck on the pitch and taking off Macheda and Park, baffles my mind.

Ferguson’s penalty kick selection was just as bad as his substitutions. Granted, Vidic scored, but why was he taking a penalty ahead of Scholes and Tevez? As for Ferdinand and Berbatov having their shots saved, what did he expect? These are two of the laziest players in the history of football. Mind you, I can understand why Ferguson let Ferdinand take a penalty. He should know where the net is by now because that’s all he does for 90 minutes, passes it back to his goalie from wherever he is on the pitch. In fact, if captain Ferdinand put as much effort into his penalty as he did when kicking the ball into the stands after missing it, he might be given the benefit of the doubt.

You’d think that Ferguson would know his players by now and who should play in what situations. I’m sure there are millions of 12-year-old kids around the world who could have done a better job of managing United today. The last thing you want to do is go into the remaining few games of the season and the Champions League with no momentum, not when they’re both up for grabs. And by the way, Everton don’t really have any reason to celebrate the win either. While their manager David Moyes may not have cocked everything up, they still played poorly in a rubbish match, and the same type of performance will see them get thumped by Chelsea on May 30th in the Wembley final.