Wayne Rooney became the
highest English scorer in the
Champions League as 10-man
Manchester United scraped home
2-0 against Romanian Group C
minnows Otelul Galati.
Rooney slotted home a pair of
second-half penalties to give the
visitors their win, although
skipper Nemanja Vidic will miss
the remainder of the group phase
after being sent off for a high
tackle on Gabriel Giurgiu.
The goals, which took Rooney to
26 in the competition on his first
start since being sent off in
Montenegro and suffering a ban
Sir Alex Ferguson fears will
prevent him from featuring at
Euro 2012 and the win should put
a smile back on the striker's face
as United have now moved into
second spot in Group C.
However, Ferguson will be less
than impressed with the overall
performance.
After tossing away a two-goal
lead against Basle at Old Trafford
three weeks ago, United could not
afford to take this game lightly as
Sir Alex Ferguson might have
expected when the draw was
made.
It was not a surprise that
Ferguson made nine changes
from the team that drew at
Liverpool on Saturday.
But if anything, this one was
stronger, with Rooney, Javier
Hernandez and Vidic amongst
those returning.
However, if the Red Devils chief
had expected the wasteful ways
to be eradicated, he was sadly
wrong.
Time and again United
squandered possession under
little pressure.
At one stage, the normally
dependable Vidic was guilty of
simply passing the ball to a
member of the opposition side
close to his own area.
Bratislav Punosevac immediately
drilled an effort towards goal
which Anders Lindegaard
gathered.
Lindegaard was culpable minutes
later when he smacked a
clearance straight into Vidic.
The Dane was fortunate
Punosevac was moving in the
opposite direction to the one the
ball rebounded into, otherwise the
Otelul striker would have tapped
into an empty net.
Without a point so far and their
own president suggesting
avoiding embarrassment was
their only target, Otelul visibly
grew in confidence.
And Liviu Antal came closest to
breaking the deadlock a minute
before the break when he guided
a close range header over.
It all must have come as a
massive disappointment for
Ferguson.
Clearly the technically superior
team and enjoying an
overwhelming advantage in
possession, United did little with
it.
Rooney did not get into the
contest for half an hour, by which
time Patrice Evra had embarked
on a forceful burst to draw a
decent save out of Branko
Grahovac.
Like their hosts, United's clearest
opening in the opening period
came in its' death throes as Nani
rolled a pass into Michael Carrick's
path.
It was an inviting opportunity that
Carrick wasted by blazing over,
typifying much of his side's
overall sloppiness.
For the first 15 minutes of the
second half it would not be unfair
to say nothing happened, except
for a string of yellow cards, two
for fouls on Nani.
It all livened up on the hour
though, starting with a low Nani
cross to Rooney, whose shot on
the turn bounced narrowly wide.
The pair combined on United's
next attack too, this time to
provide Rooney with space from
which to pick out Hernandez.
Sergiu Costin instinctively stuck
out an arm to prevent the cross
reaching the Mexican.
Costin was fortunate not to be
sent off. Instead, the spot-kick
proved to be United's only
reward as Rooney sent Grahavac
the wrong way.
Once in front, it was hard to see
how the visitors could not win.
Within minutes Otelul were back
in it though thanks to a second
tough call on United by German
referee Felix Brych, who decided
there was an element of danger
about Vidic's challenge on Giurgiu
and promptly sent the Serbian
off.
Vidic was stunned. Ferguson
reacted by introducing Jonny
Evans and Phil Jones to repel a
growing wave of home attacks.
Costin headed over, then
Punosevac's shot on the turn
almost crept in.
Their hopes were ended by the
dismissal of Milan Perendija for a
second bookable offence two
minutes from time, after which
Rooney struck again finding the
same corner as previously after
he had been tripped by Liviu
Antal.
Final - Manchester City 2-1
Villarreal
Final - Napoli 1-1 Bayern Munich
Final - CSKA Moscow 3-0
Trabzonspor
Final - Lille 0-1 Internazionale
Final - FC Basel 0-2 Benfica
Final - Dinamo Zagreb 0-2 Ajax
Amsterdam