Substitute Javier Hernandez struck the only goal of the game with five minutes to play as Manchester United beat Valencia 1-0 in the Champions League.

Hernandez also hit the post in a cameo spell which lit up an effective but otherwise uninspiring Manchester United display.

United, missing several key players includingWayne Rooney, were able to name Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick in their line-up, while Sir Alex Ferguson opted for Anderson in the centre of midfield.

The away side seemed to settle well and the in-form Dimitar Berbatov struck a fierce early effort from distance which was close to finding the top corner.

The better chances fell to Valencia, however.

In a frenzied two minute spell Pablo pounced on a moment of indecision from Carrick to flash a shot from range narrowly over the bar, and then Roberto Soldado contrived to miss an open goal when Edwin Van der Sar missed a cross.

Soldado looked on aghast as his header looped over the crossbar.

Anderson nearly got on the end of Nani's cross from the right shortly afterwards, but in truth there was little in the way of clear-cut opportunities to score.

Both sides exercised caution as the game's bright opening ebbed away, and little changed as the second half started.

Berbatov, who had a lonely evening leading the line, fashioned a chance for himself brilliantly from the left wing ,drawing a save from Cesar Sanchez, but it was an isolated moment.

Coach Unai Emery stirred the home fans into song with his decision to bring on Aritz Aduriz on the hour and turn to a more attacking formation.

His introduction seemed to lift the side and Valencia looked the likelier to find the winner as the game entered its final stages.

Full-backs Miguel and Jeremy Mathieu probed on the wings, while Soldado and Aduriz were a handful which forced Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, playing together for the first time this season, to be at their sharpest.

United fans must have thought their best chance of a smash-and-grab victory had disappeared when Nani's cross was met by Hernandez's outstretched boot and steered on to the post after 83 minutes.

But just two minutes later Federico Macheda, on the field himself for less than 60 seconds, slid a pass across to the Mexican who eased past David Navarro before clinically striking the ball into the corner of the goal.

Valencia grew frustrated as the final minutes slipped away, and left the field without anything to show for their efforts.

It will not concern United, though, who will be delighted by the clean sheet and a first win away in Spain for over eight years - a victory that puts them top of the group, level with Rangers.

source: Mark Patterson / Eurosport

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Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson: Jose Mourinho Is Sometimes 'Managing A Circus' At Real Madrid

Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson insists that his Real Madrid counterpart Jose Mourinho is sometimes "managing a circus", and at other times a "fantastic outfit"

The two managers were rivals during Portuguese boss' three-year stint at Chelsea, which saw him win two Premier League titles, two League Cups and an FA Cup. He then moved on to Inter, guiding the Italian champions to the pinnacle of Europe by winning the Champions League last season, before switching allegiance to Real Madrid.

Ferguson reckons the dual nature of the job makes it Mourinho's  most difficult job to date, but believes that the Spanish heavyweights have improved since he took charge at the Bernabeu.

"Real Madrid are better off without question," Ferguson said, according to The Mirror.

"You can expect Real to improve with Jose this year. The Real Madrid job is the hardest challenge in his career.

"I’ve spoken to Jose a couple of times. He’s not managing a normal football club, sometimes he’s managing a circus, sometimes a fantastic outfit in terms of the quality of the football they can produce and the kind of players they always want. It’s a very difficult club to manage."

In the meantime, when concerning domestic matters, the United boss quipped that Chelsea must have picked their own fixture list, as they now have five victories from five games played in the Premier League - against West Bromwich Albion, Stoke City, West Ham United and recently Blackpool.

However, the 68-year-old maintained that the current title holders have still done well to register five consecutive victories, which sees them having scored 21 goals while conceding just one.

"I think Chelsea chose the calendar themselves," said Ferguson. "They’ve had a quite amazing start to the season. But they finished last season scoring a lot of goals against weaker teams and have continued that way.

"You still have to beat those teams, and Chelsea done that in quite a strong fashion. Anyone who wins the league will have to finish above them. The previous winners always deserve respect, because the Premier League is a difficult league."

Coming to matters involving the title race - which saw the Old Trafford outfit miss out on claiming a fourth consecutive triumph last season - sees Ferguson insisting that it will be a three horse race to the finish line with Chelsea, United and Arsenal battling to be crowned champions.

As for which club will occupy the fourth and final spot that points towards Champions League football, the Scot insists that it is still to early too make any bold predictions.

"It’s still too early to make strong predictions," he said. "You have to give respect to Tottenham’s progress in the last few years. The disappointment for me is Everton’s start. I put them down as one of the big favourites.

"It remains to be seen in what order and if Tottenham can break into the top four. But the top three are the strongest at the moment.

"Manchester City did not have the strongest start to the season, but you have to think that with the squad they have they’ll be there.

"I saw them beat Liverpool and they’re going to be a big challenge with the power they have and the big lads in the team. Roberto Mancini bought half a team in the summer and it’s not easy to bed down. But if they get continuity they’ll certainly be a threat.

"Ourselves, Arsenal and Chelsea have started reasonably well and will all be there at the end of the season."

source: goal.com

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Owen savours cup start

Michael Owen conceded that Wednesday's Carling Cup win over Scunthorpe was a vital outing for several squad members who have found themselves consigned to the first team periphery this term.
The 30-year-old bagged a brace in United's 5-2 victory at Glanford Park, as he made his first start since August's Community Shield. United's starting line-up contained eight players who had made one or less starts so far this term, and a pepped-up Scunthorpe side provided a valuable test of their fitness and sharpness.
"There are a few of us who haven't been playing a lot this season and needed the game, and Scunthorpe made a real game of it," Owen told MUTV. "They're obviously very fit and they never stopped going forward. 
"We scored five goals but they could have scored a few as well. It was a good game. There were a lot of players there tonight that needed that first game; be it players coming back from injury or players who just haven't played, so that was beneficial to us. 
"All in all it was a good workout and we're pleased to get through to the next round - especially seeing the other results!"

Owen feels he and a number of other action-starved players have fallen foul of the early-season schedule, but the striker predicts that the onset of cup duties, allied to the bread and butter of the Premier League, will ensure plenty of squad rotation from Sir Alex Ferguson.
"It's been a strange start to the season," said Owen. "We played weekend-weekend-weekend, and then it was international games for two weeks so the manager didn't need to rotate so much. Subsequently, five weeks into the season the manager had kept a similar team. 

source: Manutd
"We're coming into a period now where the Champions League has started, the League Cup has started and there are Premier League games, so I'm sure there will be a lot more games coming thick and fast now."

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SCHOLES: WE WANT TO WIN EVERY GAME

Paul Scholes has given the Carling Cup an unqualified thumbs-up, even though it could be one of the reasons why England perform so badly at major tournaments.

It was generally acknowledged that the sheer weight of matches is one of the prime reasons Fabio Capello's team put in abject performances in South Africa.

That explanation backs up Michel Platini's belief that England's best players turn from lions in the autumn, to lambs in the spring.

Although most of Europe are using this midweek to play matches, it is either for a league fixture that will allow a gap to be created later in the season, or for cup competitions they tend not to give much importance to.

In England it marks the first step towards a Wembley final on February 27, and for Manchester United the chance to collect the trophy for the third year running.

At this stage, Sir Alex Ferguson prefers to give his senior fringe players more game time, with the likes of Michael Owen among those expected to be selected for Wednesday's trip to Scunthorpe.

However, no-one needs reminding the competition provided two of the biggest nights of United's entire season last year; the two-legged semi-final with Manchester City.

And it is the prospect of playing in such fixtures that will ensure Scholes takes a keen interest in the outcome.

"I would prefer to be playing mega games than be sat at home watching them," said Scholes.

"You do get high intensity games in the Carling Cup and maybe in other countries, cup competitions are not as important.

"But it is in our nature to want to win every game.

"Winning trophies is all about getting to the later stages of competitions and having big games at the end of them. We want to win this, just as we want to win every other tournament we enter."

As Rio Ferdinand's participation depends on him getting over a virus that kept him out of Sunday's victory over Liverpool, Owen could be the most high-profile player involved on United's first visit to Glanford Park.

Most interest will surround new arrival Bebe, who is pencilled in for some involvement after missing the reserve team encounter at Bury last night.

The 20-year-old arrived at Old Trafford via an unconventional route, with eyebrows being raised at how a player who arrived at Vitoria Guimaraes on a free transfer after Portuguese third tier outfit Estrela da Amadora failed to pay his wages, should suddenly be worth in excess of £7million even though he never played a competitive game.

In addition, Ferguson claimed the wide man's fitness levels were not high enough on his arrival at Old Trafford, having admitted he took a punt on Bebe without actually seeing him play.

That problem has seemingly been rectified, so Bebe is set to be exposed to the pressure of being a United player tomorrow in a game Scholes does not expect to be easy.

"Scunthorpe are a very good team at home," he said.

"Anything can happen at places like that so I just hope we can get through to the next round."

In all probability, Scholes will join the likes of Ryan Giggs, Edwin van der Sar, Wayne Rooney and Sunday's hat-trick hero Dimitar Berbatov in getting the night off.

Tomasz Kuszczak will replace Van der Sar, and Anderson is set to start for the first time since rupturing cruciate knee ligaments last February.

Chris Smalling can also look forward to an appearance, as can fellow summer recruit Javier Hernandez, who is set to partner Owen in attack.

Owen's last competitive start was in the final of this competition last season when he scored United's equaliser against Aston Villa at Wembley before being forced off with a hamstring injury that ended his season.

The former Liverpool man is said to be concerned at his limited appearances so far this season, although with games now starting to pile up, Scholes accepts the part of the campaign when he could expect to be involved every week is over.

"The players are not bothered about squad rotation now," he said.

"We have 25 or 26 players training every day and it is something you have to be ready for.

"We know that we are not going to play every game. That is definite. We just have to make sure when we are needed, we are ready to go."

source: my football news 

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REAL MADRID SURGE TO THE TOP

Real Madrid returned to the summit of the Primera Division on Tuesday evening following an incident-packed 3-0 victory over Espanyol.

Cristiano Ronaldo (29 pen), Gonzalo Higuain (78) and Karim Benzema (87) were all on the scoresheet as Madrid claimed three points to move one point clear of Valencia at the top of the standings, having played one game more.

Neither side finished the match with a full compliment of players, with Madrid defender Pepe the first to be sent off in the 60th minute.

Espanyol duo Ernesto Galan (63) and Juan Forlin (89) also received their marching orders.

Osasuna registered their first win and goals of the new season with a comfortable 3-1 home success over newly-promoted Real Sociedad.

The visitors had taken a 16th-minute lead through striker Raul Tamudo before Osasuna broke their season's scoring duck with two goals in five minutes just before half-time.

Walter Pandiani and Javier Camunas both struck from close range before substitute Carlos Aranda sealed his side's first win with 15 minutes remaining.

David Lopez's first-half fluke set Athletic Bilbao on the way to their second victory of the season, a 3-0 triumph over Real Mallorca.

Lopez slipped as he attempted to cross left-footed from the right flank, and the ball whistled with plenty of curl towards goal and just inside the far post.

Mallorca goalkeeper Dudu hardly moved, and second-half strikes from Mikel San Jose and Inigo Perez sealed the three points.

source: football news 

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