the blog of manchester united

In a matchday where many extra-ordinary results sprung out, Manchester United kept their marching order in this season’s UEFA Champions’ League campaign with 3 wins in a row, including 2 crucial away wins by hammering Dynamo Kyiv in Kyiv with 4 goals, although Dynamo were able to get two on the scoresheet to keep the scoreline respectable. Cristiano Ronaldo was the star the day with a brace with Ferdinand scoring his second goals in as many matches, and Rooney continued his scoring streak.

The game was a good advert for European football as Fergie pointed after the match, and it was an attacking display from both teams. I thought United played well as a team, there wasn’t a dominant player that night, although Giggs’ performance with 2 assists is worthy noting, especially with criticism at him lately. Vidic was back after a couple of games out for concussions, while van der sar was substituted late in the game after conceding the second, more likely due to protect him from aggravating injury. The result showed United do have depth, and the bench do perform when being called-up with O’Shea, coming in for the injured Evra (who was hurt during the warm-up) and Fletcher (in for Scholes who was out due to knee injury) partnering Anderson (who’s in for the still-injured Carrick) performed well and kept United’s flowing football.

A couple of thoughts:

1. Did Vidic concede a penalty? No, he used his body to screen the attacker, and in the end it was a struggle between the two, if not an offensive foul on Vidic. I thought it was good piece of defending from the Serb, although the referee could’ve called it differently had it been seen from a different angle.

2. Do United deserve the penalty? It was a close call, but at the end of the day, the defender used his upper arm to block Tevez’s cross, and it was right in the box when the ball touched the upper arm (although the initial movement was out of the box). Again, credit to the referee for taking this decision (more accurately, credit to the linesman who has spotted it right on).

Three games played, three wins, and with 3 more games to go, we can look forward to United’s chance in this season’s Champions’ League with much optimism!

Man of the Match: Cristiano Ronaldo

Well taken header, penalty was executed with confidence, Brown’s assist was a result of Ronaldo’s pass and movement, and Gigg’s delivery for Ferdinand’s goal came from a foul on Ronaldo. The team was the star, but his movement made a difference to the final touch -final score.