UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Group C Otelul Galati 0 Manchester Utd 2:BARCELONA MAY be the yardstick by which Manchester United measure their Champions League pedigree but such complacent talk should be forgotten for now. They have still to convince against the supporting cast in this season's competition.
Two Wayne Rooney penalties gave Alex Ferguson’s side their first win in Group C as Nemanja Vidic picked up a three-match ban after a straight red card for a high challenge on Gabriel Giurgiu. The Romanian champions also finished with 10 men when Milan Perendija collected a second booking for hauling Javier Hernandez to the floor, but parity could easily have been extended beyond red cards.
Rooney returned to a more recognisable, adventurous United line-up as Ferguson abandoned the caution of Anfield and sought to prey on the Romanian champions’ inferiority complex from the start. Otelul Galati’s president, Marius Stan, wished merely to avoid humiliation, the club having made a pointless start to their first Champions League campaign and a mediocre opening to the defence of their domestic crown, and he must have feared the worst from United’s starting XI.
In hindsight, Stan should have shown a little more faith in his employees.
Vidic made his first start since tearing a calf muscle in the opening league game of the season. The United captain, whose poor distribution presented the first chance of the game to Bratislav Punosevac, could be excused a laboured display but not so his team-mates. Ferguson was on the edge of his technical area to shout his displeasure with barely a quarter of the game gone.
The visitors enjoyed plenty of possession with Anderson frequently looking to release United’s wingers but they had limited success against a disciplined unit. Had Punosevac, their centre-forward, matched the intelligence of those behind him, Otelul Galati would have compounded United’s problems with a half-time lead.
Vidic was reprieved when Punosevac shot harmlessly at Anders Lindegaard following the Serbian’s loose pass. The striker then repeated the trick after seizing possession on the edge of the area and shooting when Liviu Antal was better placed. Carelessness in United’s defence proved contagious and it encouraged greater belief from the home side as the first half wore on. Ioan Filip strode past Anderson and shot over from 20 yards, Antal headed a corner just off target and then lambasted the hapless Punosevac once again for taking the ball off his toes.
United did not have a shot on target until after the half-hour when Rooney’s free-kick drew a routine save from Branko Grahovac. Nani eventually injected the pace and directness blatantly absent from the visitors’ attacking play and created a glorious chance for Michael Carrick to open the scoring moments before the interval.
Nani’s pass from the byline was gift-wrapped for the United midfielder, but unmarked and 12 yards from goal, he side-footed woefully high.
The game was transformed in the second half, although purely by one incident and not any immediate improvement from United. They remained sluggish on the attack and Rooney squandered their second clear opening when he collected Nani’s pass with his back eight yards from goal, turned and shot inches wide. His next intervention proved far more telling.
United’s threat came almost exclusively down their left flank – in stark contrast to Fabio da Silva and Antonio Valencia on the right – and Rooney was sent clear into acres of space by Nani. His intended cross for Hernandez, however, was blocked by the sweeping arm of the captain Sergiu Costin. A clear penalty and Rooney duly sent Grahovac the wrong way for his 12th goal for club and country this season.
Moments later Vidic threw himself into a high challenge on Gabriel Giurgiu, taking perhaps a touch of the ball but certainly plenty of the man. The tackle was one-footed but reckless, and the German referee Felix Brych had no hesitation in producing a red card and forcing United to deliver a desperate rearguard action for the remainder of the game. In the final minute, however, Antal tripped Rooney inside the area and the United striker duly dispatched his second penalty of the night.
Guardian Service
OTELUL GALATI: Grahovac, Rapa, Costin, Perendija, Salageanu, Neagu (Pena 72), Filip, Giurgiu, Antal, Punosevac (Iorga 87), Frunza (Ilie 83). Subs not used: Branet, Skubic, Sarghi, Viglianti. Booked: Rapa, Perendija, Neagu, Costin, Giurgiu.
MANCHESTER UTD:Lindegaard, Fabio Da Silva (Jones 76), Vidic, Smalling, Evra, Valencia (Evans 71), Carrick, Anderson, Nani, Rooney, Hernandez. Subs not used: De Gea, Owen, Berbatov, Welbeck, Fletcher. Booked: Carrick.
Referee: Felix Brych(Germany).
