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Ninety minutes of decent football, if you can call it that. Manchester United remain conservative in Europe rather than adopting a swashbuckling style, but this bland performance hardly justifies the money spent on amassing the plethora of attacking talents.

The 1-0 victory for the Red Devils came from Cristiano Ronaldo in the first half, and it was enough for them to equal Juventus’ Champions League record of 10 straight home wins. Manchester United never got into their stride and Lyon were not in the mood to stamp their authority either, choosing to defend in numbers and hitting United on the break. After the break, Lyon came out of their shell and had several chances to level the tie at 2-2 but United held on to progress into the quarter-finals.

Alex Ferguson lamented the dismal finishing but praised his rearguard in the face of Lyon’s pressure, saying: “Some nervousness came in, because we didn’t take the chances and kill the game - so we were on a knife edge. The more important part of it was that we were defending well and that made a big difference.”

United started the match on the right note as they dominated possession and had better exchanges. The twin engines of Ronaldo and Nani racing down the flanks provided the deep thrusts into enemy’s territory. However, a combination of rugged Lyon defense and misfired shots deprived the Red Devils.

Wayne Rooney cut a forlorn figure up front and had to drop deeply at times as his supplies were cut off by a solid pairing of Cris and Squillaci. A stalemate was in the air but Ronaldo decided to act. Amidst a moment of confusion at the back, Wes Brown crossed to Anderson whose shot was blocked and Ronaldo reacted quickly to slot the ball coolly past keeper Coupet.

To their credit, Alain Perrin’s side were no pushovers. In the second half, they tested keeper Edwin van der Sar with Juninho and Hatem Ben Arfa both shaving the goal posts. United, on the other hand, switched into a passive mode and almost paid for their lack of endeavor. In the 74th minute, Lyon had their best chance when Keita found the space to smash his low shot against the woodwork with the keeper beaten.

United heaved a sigh of relief and could have secured their position when Lyon threw more men forward in desperation. Rooney latched on to a poor Ben Arfa back-pass but was denied by Coupet’s block. He then wasted another great chance when substitute Carlos Tevez put him clear. Just as well, since increasing the margin of victory put an undeserved gloss on United’s performance, Lyon deserved better than an outright humiliation.

In this match, I have another chance to take a close look at the budding star, Benzema. He catapulted from a virtual unknown to superstardom after Ferguson expressed a keen interest and he continued to hog the limelight with the media painting a close resemblance of him to Zinedine Zidane. Certainly, there are glimpses of the qualities which will make him an able striker in United’s squad: pace, power, balance and gracious change in direction.

Having scored 26 goals for Lyon this season, it was unfortunate that he was relatively quiet when getting to the edge of the box. I believe, given more time and with Alex Ferguson as mentor, the lad will blossom and even eclipse the potential of Cristiano Ronaldo. For the time being, the Glazers may not loosen the purse strings but if there are some spare cash after disposing Louis Saha, I say why not?

Liverpool and Chelsea will take to the pitch tonight and if they clear their obstacles, Inter Milan and Olympiakos respectively, all four England teams will march into the last eight. Though there is no guarantee any of them will reach the Finals, it is undeniable that a massive cash influx and quality players have transformed the top guns in the Premier League into teams to be reckoned with.

More updates later, till tomorrow.

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