Leeds United v Manchester United – live! | Simon Burnton

• Click here for all tonight’s latest scores • Email simon.burnton@guardian.co.uk • Hit F5 or turn on autorefresh for updates 26 mins: Fabio is booked, and then commits another foul moments later but without further sanction. And then Diouf is booked for fouling White. 24 mins: Paul Taylor has fairly accurately pointed out that the photo currently at the top of this page looks quite a bit like the alien landing in Close Encounters of the Third Kind . If you’re reading this MBM later, after I’ve changed the picture, don’t worry – aliens haven’t landed in Leeds (though questions have been asked about Ken Bates). 22 mins: Clayton hammers a 25-yard shot at goal, but it’s straight into Amos’s arms. It already looks like LUFC are most likely to score from a set-piece, but it’s a fairly bright opening from them, goal excepted. 20 mins: “What about my home town team FC Groningen in The Netherlands,” ponders Machiel Akkerman, taking the discussion away from the League Cup and towards knockout tie comebacks in general, but let’s go with it. “Last year we were challenging for a place in the Europa League in two legged play-off vs ADO den Haag. The first leg was away and we lost 5-1. The return seemed to be a foregone conclusion but we beat them 5-1 as well, only to loose in the penalty-shoot. Are there more agonising defeats out there?” Probably not, though if you ask me it’s better than losing both legs 5-1. 18 mins: Unpromisingly for LUFC, Leigh Bromby was having a real, genuinely angry go at Snodgrass after the goal. GOAL! Leeds United 0 Manchester United 1! (Owen, 15 mins) Michael Owen breaks the deadlock with a scuffed shot after a very fine MUFC move. Park played the ball to Berbatov in midfield and then got on his bike, Berbatov returned it to the Korean – now totally unmarked – and he squared to Owen, who shifted the ball onto his left foot and then produced a shot which bobbled into the corner. 11 mins: 10 minutes and 31 seconds. For the record, that’s how long it took for a commentator to mention Eric Cantona. 10 mins: Michael Owen goes down on the edge of the penalty area, but the referee is unimpressed. Ben Amos is in goal for MUFC. It’s three years this week since he made his debut for the club in this competition, and this is the third match he’s played for them since. 7 mins: Down to the other end, where Dimitar Berbatov passes to Federico Macheda in the penalty area, but he dallies long enough for Leeds to regroup and crowd him out. 6 mins: Goal-line scramble/melee/clearance! LUFC win a corner, and the header beats the goalkeeper and is heading in only for Dimitar Berbatov to get a foot to it. Two further shots are blocked before the ball is finally cleared. 5 mins: Diouf scoots from the centre of the pitch into the left side of LUFC’s penalty area, lines up a left-footed shot and then … totally misses his kick and falls over. 4 mins: “Hardly a ‘heroic’ comeback,” pooh-poohs Ian Williams of Aston Villa v Tranmere circa 1994. “We (Tranmere) hit the inside of the angle in the final minute, and Mark Bosnich (who starred in the subsequent penalty shootout) should have been sent off. Everyone knows that!” More dissent from Joseph Harden. “Surely, if you’re talking about great league cup games & tranmere, the 4-3 game against Southampton is a better example – 0-3 at half time, 4-3 at the end, Paul Rideout, John Aldridge going crazy … good times.” 2 mins: Fryers gets the third touch of the game, Michael Owen passing it straight to him. He’s bouncing around like an overexcited lamb. Bless. 1 min: Peeeeep! And they’re off! I’m hoping to avoid furious emails tonight, and will therefore refer to the teams as LUFC and MUFC, and won’t call either of them simply “United”, unless by accident. 7.41pm: The teams are out, kick off is moments away. Gird those loins, folks… 7.37pm: Elliot Carr-Barnsley proposes Aston Villa’s 1994 semi-final, second leg fightback against Tranmere as the all-time League Cup greatest match ever. Only vague recollections at this end I’m afraid… 7.26pm: Manchester United’s official website profile of Ezekiel “Zeki” Fryers describes him as “a tall and athletic left-sided full-back”. So he should have no problem making his first-team debut at centre-half alongside Michael Carrick, then. 7.25pm: Here are some proper teams, with substitutes and everything: Leeds United: Lonergan, Lees, Bromby, O’Dea, White, Snodgrass, Howson, Clayton, McCormack, Keogh, Becchio. Subs: Rachubka, O’Brien, Vayrynen, Brown, Forssell, Nunez, Tayor. Manchester United: Amos, Da Silva, Valencia, Diouf, Fryars, Carrick, Park, Giggs, Owen, Berbatov, Macheda. Subs: D’Gea, Wellbeck, Brown, Keane, Thorpe, Pogba, Cole. Referee: M Jones. 7.22pm: “I’m a Leeds fan, on my way in to Manchester town centre to watch the game alone in a pub, just so I can go to a gig afterwards as well,” writes Matthew Briton. “The worst part? I’m at the bottom of my overdraft and only have £6.47 to drink the pain away after the inevitable loss.” Don’t do your team a disservice, M, defeat isn’t inevitable. Likely, sure, but not inevitable. Particularly with United lining up with a flat front five. 7.19pm: “Has Fergie been reading Jonathan Wilson’s column today and the comments below the line?” ponders David Wall. “Surely setting out that formation as 4-4-2 is a ruse and he’s really going to play 2-3-5 just to show that it can still be done, with Fryers and Fabio at the back, Carrick, Giggs, and Park in midfield, and five forwards in Valencia, Macheda, Diouf, Owen, and Berbatov. Takes being bloody-minded to an extreme…” 7.10pm: And Leeds’s line-up looks like this: Lonergan; Lees, O’Dea, Bromby, White; Snodgrass, Clayton, Howson; Keogh, McCormack, Becchio. 7.09pm: Manchester United’s team is in! And it looks like this: Amos; Valencia, Fryers, Carrick, Fabio; Giggs, Park, Macheda, Diouf; Owen, Berbatov. Er, so that’s Michael Carrick at centre-back, then? And Valencia at right-back? Are you sure ? 7.04pm: Hello world! Well, while excitement builds at Elland Road I welcome you with two very special treats of varying relevance to the game in hand. Item 1: some early team news. This, you’ll probably agree, is pretty relevant. Anyway, United include Fabio, Michael Owen, Michael Carrick, Dimitar Berbatov and Ezekiel Fryers are in United’s squad. Nope, I’m not sure who that Fryers chap is either. Leeds will name as good a team as they’ve got. “Man U could run all over us,” says Simon Grayson, unpromisingly. “This is an opportunity for our players and it’s a game where we have nothing to lose at all.” Item 2: Highlights of the single most ridiculous and memorable Carling Cup (or whatever it was then) fixture I have ever seen or probably ever will, a match so energising and enthralling that, having watched my side ship six at home, I came out absolutely buzzing . First-minute goals, missed penalties, unbelievably good performances by Jürgen Klinsmann, it had the lot. I did, on the negative side, emerge from that night with a hatred of Ian Walker that remained with me for the rest of his career. Did you know that he’s now managing Bishop’s Stortford? They’re currently 21st in the Blue Square Bet North, so he’s got a way to go before he’s emulating his dad. Anyway, if you know of any games that beat this I’d like to hear about them. Simon will be here from 7pm. In the meantime, here’s an excerpt from Rob Bagchi’s preview on why the festering rivalry between these two clubs should guarantee that this match is an experience to remember … Manchester United return to Elland Road in the Carling Cup on Tuesday night for the first time in eight years to renew a rivalry that remains among the fiercest in Europe. Following Leeds United’s relegation in 2004, the two sides have met only once, in an FA Cup tie at Old Trafford in January 2010 when the visitors, then of League One, incongruously registered their first away victory against Manchester United since 1981, at the 18th attempt. Before that match, Sir Alex Ferguson spoke wistfully about the long absence of Leeds from his side’s fixture list. “I don’t have to spell out what Leeds have meant to Manchester United over the years,” he said. “It would be a fantastic, feisty occasion every time we met. It always carried a degree of hostility. I used to enjoy the games. The atmosphere was always electric.” You can read the full article here . Carling Cup 2011-12 Carling Cup Leeds United Manchester United Simon Burnton guardian.co.uk

Posted by on September 20, 2011. Filed under News, Politics, World News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.