adminMANCHESTER. — Manchester United ground out a tight 1-0 win over Real Sociedad at Old Trafford yesterday to move closer to a place in the Champions League knockout phase.
The decisive goal in the first ever meeting between the teams came within moments of kick-off, Inigo Martinez scoring an own goal after the excellent Wayne Rooney had struck the post.
Both sides hit the woodwork thereafter, Real Sociedad on two occasions, but unlike in Saturday’s 1-1 draw at home to Southampton in the Premier League, United were spared the pain of shipping a late equaliser.
Victory, coupled with Bayer Leverkusen’s success against Shakhtar Donetsk, leaves United a point above the German side at the top of Group A ahead of their return fixture against La Real on November 5.
Amid domestic shortcomings, it also eased some of the pressure on United manager David Moyes, whose storied predecessor, Alex Ferguson, was once again in attendance, a day after launching his new autobiography.
With Robin van Persie carrying minor toe and groin injuries, Javier Hernandez was handed a start up front for United, while La Real recalled captain Xabi Prieto following a spell out with hamstring trouble.
United were trialling a new ‘singing section’ in the East Stand and the 1 500 fans in that area were given something to sing about within only 69 seconds of kick-off.
Rooney left three defenders in his wake with an uncharacteristic jinking run on the left-hand edge of the penalty area and although his shot hit the post, Martinez inadvertently shanked the rebound into his own net. Rooney was one of several players criticised in Ferguson’s book, with the Scot repeating his allegation — contested by Rooney — that the striker asked to leave the club in May, but he was at the heart of every United attack.
He had a volley saved by Claudio Bravo and then volleyed acrobatically over the bar from an Antonio Valencia cross, while Hernandez saw a header disallowed for offside.
The visitors began to threaten on the break, however, and after David de Gea tipped a Haris Seferovic shot over, Antoine Griezmann almost silenced the stadium with a free-kick that bounced back off the left-hand upright.
The scares continued early in the second half, with Jonny Evans slicing a cross from Seferovic inches over his own bar in the 51st minute.
Bravo had to produce a sharp save to block a Phil Jones header from point-blank range, but in response, Alberto de la Bella almost embarrassed De Gea with a cross-shot from close to the left-hand touchline that hit the near post.
Rafael ceded his place to Chris Smalling with half an hour to play, apparently due to injury, but gradually United began to reassert control.
Meanwhile, Manchester City got their Champions League bid back on track yesterday, coming from behind to beat CSKA Moscow 2-1 in testing conditions in the Russian capital.
CSKA took a 32nd-minute lead courtesy of former Manchester United winger Zoran Tosic, but Sergio Aguero quickly equalised and then put the Premier League club in front before the interval at the Arena Khimki.
Aguero, who scored twice in the 3-1 weekend win at West Ham United, picked up where he left off to give Manuel Pellegrini’s side a second victory in Group D that leaves them well-placed, along with Bayern Munich, to progress to the competition’s knockout stages.
“It is an important win,” Pellegrini told UK Sky television after the game.
“Now we have to play the next two games at home. I told the players that we had to make sure we didn’t lose this one. We are not in the next round yet but this was an important step.”
Reaching the last 16, of course, is something City have never managed to do before despite their huge outlay on players in recent seasons, but their attacking quality shone through here on a poor pitch in cold conditions and in an unsavoury atmosphere.
Torrential rains last month seriously damaged pitches in the Moscow region to the extent that Leonid Slutski’s side had to play their last home group game against Viktoria Pilsen hundreds of kilometres away in St Petersburg.
The pitch at their temporary Khimki Arena home was passed fit for the visit of City, but it was far from ideal, while British television claimed that the visitors’ Ivorian midfielder Yaya Toure was subjected to monkey chants from spectators within the stadium.
That could lead to further problems for CSKA, who have not won, or even scored a goal, in any of their last five games in the Russian Premier League and now face an uphill battle to qualify for the last 16 after this result.
City boss Pellegrini brought Jesus Navas in for Samir Nasri, while Pablo Zabaleta and Aleksandar Kolarov came back into the defence. However, that defence was again missing Vincent Kompany and their soft centre was exposed when the hosts took the lead just after the half-hour mark.
European Champions League results
Group A
At Leverkusen, Germany
Bayer Leverkusen (GER) 4 (Kiessling 22, 72, Rolfes 50-pen, Sam 57) Shakhtar Donetsk (UKR) 0
Group B
At Madrid
Real Madrid (ESP) 2 (Ronaldo 4, 28-pen) Juventus (ITA) 1 (Llorente 22)
At Istanbul
Galatasaray (TUR) 3 (Felipe Melo 9, Sneijder 38, Drogba 45+1) FC Copenhagen (DEN) 1 (Claudemir 88)
Group C
At Lisbon
Benfica (POR) 1 (Cardozo 83) Olympiakos (GRE) 1 (Dominguez 29)
At Brussels
Anderlecht (BEL) 0 PSG (FRA) 5 (Ibrahimovic 17, 22, 36, 62, Cavani 52)
Group D
At Moscow
CSKA Moscow (RUS) 1 (Tosic 32) Manchester City (ENG) 2 (Aguero 34, 42)
At Munich, Germany
Bayern Munich (GER) 5 (Ribery 25-pen, 61, Alaba 37, Schweinsteiger 64, Goetze 90+1) Viktoria Plzen (CZE) 0 — AFP.
Online Reporter