United make Arsenal pay

Arsenal’s hopes of Champions League qualification were dampened by Manchester United after just eight minutes, and fully extinguished only two minutes later.

Whilst Arsenal’s performance was abject at best, United were at their clinical best to capitalise on the Gunners’ mistakes and book their place in the final. They now have the chance to be the first side to retain the European Cup since AC Milan in 1990, and on the back of this display it will be difficult to bet against them.

Ronaldo looked to be back to his best and was a constant threat down the flanks all evening. First leg hero Almunia probably should have done better for his free kick, but it was a fine effort nonetheless having set up Ji-Sung Park with a piercing run just two minutes earlier.

United’s third proved how devastating Ronaldo and Rooney can be in tandem and was as swift as it was spectacular, the ball swept from one end of the pitch almost effortlessly with Ronaldo roofing the final pass from his Scouse colleague.

It is easy to wax lyrical about United’s performance, but the fact is that they were playing an Arsenal side who seemed to have learnt nothing from the first leg of the encounter. Whilst Kieran Gibbs could be forgiven his mistake for United’s first goal (something which will keep him awake for many a night to come), what will be unacceptable to Gunners fans will be the fact that their team almost gave up immediately after and failed to register a decent effort on goal until just over the hour mark.

There were few Arsenal fans left in the stadium at the end to contemplate the brutality of what they had witnessed, but they will know they need to improve to keep pace with the country’s, and Europe’s, finest. They missed experience at the back, as well as the creative touch of Andrey Arshavin and it is clear that Wenger need to recruit astutely in the summer to prevent another trophyless campaign.

The one sour note of the evening was Darren Fletcher’s red card fifteen minutes from time for his foul on Cesc Fabregas in the United box, meaning he will now miss the final. Whilst he made contact with the ball, he did tug at and trip Fabregas and by the letter of the law the referee had no alternative but to give him his marching orders. For what it’s worth (pretty much nothing), Robin Van Persie’s resulting penalty was the best I have witnessed in a while.

So can either Barcelona or Chelsea stop the United juggernaut or is it rolling inevitably to a famous cup victory? Let us know your thoughts.