Man Utd within touching distance of knock-out phase
Manchester United 3 FC Copenhagen 0
Wayne Rooney led Manchester United’s march to within a point of the Champions League knock-out phase even if there is still no end to his goalscoring drought.
Skipper for the night after pre-match drama in the home dressing room claimed Ryan Giggs and Rio Ferdinand, Rooney produced another supremely industrious performance that contained everything but the long-awaited shot which ends up in the net.
Instead, Paul Scholes, John O’Shea and Kieran Richardson took the goalscoring accolades in a win that leaves United needing a single draw to be mathematically certain of reaching the last 16, although in reality the job is done with three games to spare.
The sight of Rooney, still seven days off his 21st birthday, leading United out of the tunnel was something of a surprise, the immediate consequence of a United dressing room that must have resembled a doctor’s surgery in the minutes before kick-off.
Ferdinand was written off completely with a stiff neck but chaos ensued as Gary Neville was initially drafted onto the bench despite being unfit, then taken off it again as UEFA confirmed the Red Devils skipper was ineligible.
Instead, Giggs was put there in his place, presumably still feeling the effects of the stomach bug that ruled him out in the first place.
There was no immediate sign of any disruption though, with United almost taking the lead inside the opening 30 seconds.
Rooney was the architect, sending Louis Saha clean through only for the free-scoring Frenchman to fire against the legs of Jesper Christiansen.
It was not the last time Saha wasted Rooney’s inspired work. Set up in similar fashion again midway through the half, Saha’s shot met with virtually the same result, although on this occasion it at least squirmed through Christiansen’s legs before Michael Gravgaard hooked to safety.
An offside flag then spared Saha’s blushes when he failed to profit from a third Rooney chance.
Not that the England maestro was entirely blemish-free himself. Cristiano Ronaldo could not have done much more to end his young team-mate’s recent barren streak, darting into the area, then chipping to the far post where Rooney inexplicably turned it wide.
It was a rare mistake though as Rooney taunted and teased the Copenhagen defence with all the old swagger.
Yet, amazingly, he still cannot score. Nine matches and counting now.
However, had Gravgaard not got back to prevent Rooney nodding into an empty net after he had audaciously lobbed the ball over Christiansen seconds after the interval, those who saw it would have been talking about it until their dying day.
As it was, Gravgaard’s intervention was merely the catalyst for United’s second, which admittedly O’Shea knew little about as Ronaldo’s corner bounced off his standing foot as he challenged at the far post and rolled into the Copenhagen net.
If there was more than an element of good fortune about that effort, there had been none about United’s opener, which arrived seven minutes before the interval just as it appeared the hosts were getting frustrated.
Patrice Evra produced another of his tireless bursts forward from left-back, then fed Saha, whose lay-off gave Scholes a bit to do but the midfielder dug the ball out of his feet before rifling a shot into the corner.
It was Scholes’ first goal since Boxing Day last year, although most of the intervening time was spent recovering from an eye problem it was feared might claim his career.
Those worries have now been allayed and Scholes is back to form, so much so Steve McClaren has twice attempted to lure him back into the England fold without any success.
Scholes was rebuffed just as curtly by Dutch referee Jan Wegereef on the hour mark, when his claims for a penalty were incorrectly turned down when he was flattened by Christiansen.
Alan Smith could not have wished for a better opportunity than the one fellow substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer presented him with midway through the second period, but he missed it all the same.
How Rooney could do with one of those six-yard tap-ins just now, or alternatively the kind of gift Christiansen presented to Richardson when he allowed the England winger’s tame shot to slip through his grasp.
Not that it matters too much. His wait for a goal continues but, as Alex Ferguson suggests, there is no need for concern about Wayne Rooney.
