Brasil 2-0 Unirea; A Sign of Things to Come

By: Anthony | September 19th, 2009

Well we started our Champions League campaign in just about as perfect fashion as we could have asked for and although the opposition wasn’t the greatest, we definitely showed we have what it takes to compete on the biggest stage of them all.

Once again our Brasilians got the job done for us as Luis Fabiano and Renato scored the goals that saw us win our first Champions League group stage match in more than convincing fashion. While it was only 2-0 against relatively unknown opposition, we never looked for one minute like the weaker side and the Romanians failed to threaten Andrés Palop’s goal on many occasions.

We set up just a bit differently than usual with Capel starting in place of Perotti on the left and new summer signing, Sergio Sánchez starting at right back in place of Konko. As usual, Kanouté and Fabiano were paired up top as were Zokora and Renato in the midfield.

Our Romanian opponents lined up quite conservatively with only one striker up top and five men in the midfield to try and sound out the attacks of Navas and Capel on the flanks.

Luis Fabinao had a free kick early on which gave the Urinea keeper a taste of what was to come when he forced him to make a tough save off a powerful shot. Navas and Capel did a solid job the whole first half as they ran the flanks and left the Unirea defenders on their toes wondering what was going to happen next.

We continued to dominate but just couldn’t beat the Urinea keeper until literally second before the halftime, Renato made a run down the left and eventually put in a low cross which Luis Fabiano who just happens to be in top form, jogged up and smashed it into the bottom right corner to rightfully put us ahead 1-0.

The second half started with Álvaro Negredo coming on for Kanouté who struggled greatly in this match. Our record signing almost made an instant impact but his shot was saved.

We pushed and pushed for more and finally got one when Fabiano got his head on a Navas corner but it only got as far as Renato who was standing near the goal to put it in and the Brasilian connection hooked up again to make it 2-0.

From there on we saw out the match with ease as the clear gulf in class between Romanian and Spanish football was shown. The Romanian champions were just no test for a side who finished third in La Liga last season.

We now focus on this Saturday when we resume league play against Osasuna. With Fabiano in such hot form, will the small side from Pamplona even stand a chance?