In their pre-match press conferences, both managers announced their squad for the match.

On Real Madrid's side, the starters are Casillas, Marcelo, Heinze, Cannavaro, M. Torres, Diarra, Guti, Ricardo, Kaka, Raul, and single striker Ronaldo.

Sir Alex Ferguson also fielded the strongest squad he could: Edwin van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic, Evra, Carrick, Paul Scholes, Anderson, Cristiano Ronaldo, Park Ji-sung, and single striker Wayne Rooney.

Real Madrid's formation is 4231, and Manchester United's formation should be 4321.

The media's verdict on this game is that a draw is more likely.

Real Madrid sits at home, sitting on a favorable location, people, and has a strong attack, but a weak defense. If you don't want to have an accident in the game, it's best to focus on defense and wait for an opportunity to counterattack.

Manchester United have been best known for their solid defence this season, conceding the fewest goals in the league for the same period in their history, and some have now called this Manchester United backline the "best defense in history". And they are away again, so they will definitely stand on the defense first.

The media consensus predicts that this game will not be very exciting and that there will not be too many goals.

Judging by the odds offered by the bookmaker, the probability of a small ball is very high.

Pellegrini was indeed as expected by the media, with both days of training focusing on defending and counter-attacking, as well as training from set-pieces.

Pellegrini didn't want to take any chances. Although he wants to win, he would rather take a 1:0 than a 3:1, and he doesn't want to be scored by the opponent to score an away goal.

Who knows what kind of fighting force Manchester United will have when they return to home?

Real Madrid's weak backline can't withstand the devastation of the opposition.

On the evening of April 1, 80,000 fans poured into the Bernabeu and the stands were full.

During the warm-up before the game, Ricardo and Ronaldo gossiped for a while.

Cristiano Ronaldo is a particularly proud player, but he is quite convinced of Ricardo. And Ricardo is also very aware of Ronaldo's achievements and maintains a respectful attitude towards him, so the two talked happily and agreed to exchange jerseys after the game.

When the game officially begins, Manchester United kicks off first. Instead of rushing to attack, they patiently fell in midfield.

Real Madrid's midfielders did not hesitate to harass and harass, not giving Manchester United players the opportunity to send accurate long balls comfortably.

But once United hit the ball up front, Real Madrid dropped back at full speed, hoarding forces in front of the penalty area and not allowing their opponents to get off their feet comfortably.

It's the same with Manchester United, when Real Madrid broke the ball and prepared to counterattack, their midfielders also spared no effort to harass them, especially Park Ji-sung, a man who claims to have three lungs, is simply tireless, making Real Madrid unable to organize the attack well.

Although the competition was fierce, the content of the competition was lackluster.

Although this game is not a Champions League final, the importance of both sides is almost the same as that of the final, neither of them dares to give the other side a chance, and would rather sacrifice the attack than defend steadily.

It wasn't until the 12th minute that the first shot on goal came in, when Ricardo forced his way down on the edge of the box, pulled the ball back, swept it in front of goal, and Ronaldo stabbed the ball straight at the opponent's three defenders, similar to the one he scored against Turkey at the 2002 World Cup. The difference was that this time the ball didn't go in, and Vidic quickly fell to the ground to block it.

Three minutes later, United returned to color, and after they played a combination on the left, Patrice Evra received Cristiano Ronaldo's pass and crossed with his feet, Park Ji-sung stopped the ball on his chest at the back post, and volleyed sideways, Marcelo flew to block the ball and block it with his back.

With the end of mutual temptation, the pace of offensive and defensive switching on both sides gradually accelerated.

United, who were more active up front, had more shots on goal, but most of those shots came from outside the box and failed to create a real threat.

In the 18th minute, Anderson received a pass from Rooney and fired an anti-aircraft gun from 30 meters away.

Soon after, Cristiano Ronaldo took a free-kick from 35 yards out and his direct free-kick deflected off the back of the net.

In the 24th minute, Patrice Evra sent in a clever pass, Scholes forced his foot to shoot from outside the box, but Cannavaro blocked the ball.

Manchester United fired a number of long-range shots, but they didn't come to fruition, while Real Madrid almost scored on a counter-attack. In the 28th minute, Kaka sent a through stopper, and Ricardo pulled the ball and turned around, passed Ferdinand like a wooden stake, and shot with his left foot, and the football hit the crossbar with a "snap", which scared Sir Alex Ferguson Sr. to cover his chest with his hands.

He immediately jumped to the sideline and waved, signaling the team not to get carried away, but to pay attention to defense and recycle the formation a little.

If Ricardo is allowed to do this again, his heart can't stand it.

The roof leak happened to rain overnight. One minute later, Vidic lost his balance on the ground while battling Ronaldo for the top and rolled in pain clutching his knee after falling to the ground.

After a brief diagnosis by the United team doctor, he was substituted, with O'Shea coming on and Brown moving to the middle to partner Rio Ferdinand.

After the game, this scene was considered the turning point of the game.

Brown's frontal defensive ability is a far cry from Vidic's. Vidic is a tall and muscular man, and he is still not too old to lose his explosiveness and turn around quickly, and his partnership with Rio Ferdinand has been a seamless one, conceding the fewest goals in the same period.

And his departure, although it did not cause Manchester United's defense to fall apart immediately, also caused a big hidden danger.

Manuel Pellegrini noticed this, and he took advantage of the dead-ball opportunity to call Ricardo to the sidelines to teach him the opportunity, and made Ricardo resolutely cut inside in the middle to disrupt the United defence.

In the 32nd minute, after more than a dozen passes, Real Madrid moved the ball to the left side of the Manchester United penalty area, about 30 meters away from the goal.

Ricardo took the ball, and in the face of Anderson's defense, he supported his left foot, flicked his right foot back and forth above the ball twice, and suddenly accelerated to start and swept past Anderson.

As if the team had gotten a signal, everyone started picking up the pace, interspersing runs in the United defence.

Ricardo dribbled diagonally into the United penalty area, and when Carrick stepped forward to defend, he knocked the ball with his left foot, the ball rolled over the outside of his right foot, and the whole person blew past Carrick like a gust of wind, to the top of the arc, and made a gesture to shoot from distance.

Ferdinand immediately raised his leg to block, but Ricardo poked the ball lightly, and the ball rolled to the left side of the small penalty area, and Ronaldo had already shaken off the faltering Brown, took the ball on the edge of the small penalty area, and passed the attacking Van der Sar, easily pushing the ball into the empty goal.

"Ronaldo Goalllllllll! Thanks to the tacit cooperation of the two brothers, Ronaldo opened the scoring for Real Madrid! ”