With Ronaldo back in the squad and Tevez starting upfront instead of the injured Berbatov, predictions were that Derby County will suffer from a flurry of goals.

However, if United could boast of a 3-0 FA Cup win four days before, Derby’s confidence was also lifted by their miraculous 4-3 victory which thus took them through to the last 32 of the FA Cup.

Last year, the former Premier League club lost narrowly by a 75th minute Cristiano Ronaldo volley to nil, which inflicted more worries to their poor record in the EPL.

Since 1962, Derby County have never ever reached the final of a major tournament, and their hunger to be a step closer to qualifying for the final of the Carling was certainly bigger than ever.

Steve Davies missed two great opportunities to break the deadlock for the home side but Kris Commons did not miss moments later. His shot 25 yards from goal stunned the visitors; the Championship club were then 1-0 up against the recently crowned World Champions on 30 minutes.

Ronaldo came very close to equalize 15 minutes from time with a long range free-kick. But it was never enough to overcome the nightmare of loosing away to Derby.

The referee’s blow at the end of the 90 minutes came at the relief of the home supporters; their club have recorded arguably the greatest Giant killing of the year so far.

Manchester United will have some work to do later on when they host opponents Derby for the second leg of the semi-final clash.

Written by: Angela Asante.

The Mancunians suffered a shocking 1-0 defeat against them 32 years ago in the 1976 FA Cup final at Wembley to record one of the biggest upsets in the history of club football.

The home side from the Championship were expected to emulate Nottingham Forest’s success who trounced the other Mancunian side Manchester City a day before, but it was the visitors who had the better of the game.

With Cristiano Ronaldo absent from the squad after being sent to Portugal by Ferguson, and Wayne Rooney left on the bench, youngsters like Nani, Danny Welbeck or Rodrigo Possebon were given a place in the squad.

After twenty minutes gone down the clock, Manchester United found themselves up through Danny Welbeck’s close range goal. The promising English striker of Ghanaian origin could relish his second goal for the club at professional level.

Things got even worse for Southampton when Scottish striker Paterson was given a straight red card after fouling Nemanja Vidic on 36 minutes. The underdogs had to surmount the challenge of playing the rest of the match with ten men, and they failed to do so.

Ronaldo’s compatriot Luis Nani doubled United’s lead with a penalty, thenyoung player Gibson sealed the victory ten minutes from time to rub Southampton’s wounds with more salt.

The atmosphere at St Mary’s was filled with the upset mood of the home crowd. But chants of joy and happiness from Manchester United’s travelling crowd could be heard on the background.

The Champions of the World have kick-started 2009 on a good note with a 3-0 victory away to Southampton; the Reds haven’t succumbed to defeat at this stage since 25 years now.
They are through to the fourth round of the competition where they’ll meet the Londoners Tottenham Hotspurs at Old Trafford later this month.

Written by: Angela Asante

The Reds had the better of the ball, with Golden Boy Cristiano Ronaldo capturing the attention of the crowd with a delightful pacy performance.

The winger came close to break the deadlock with after only five minutes gone down the clock. Ronaldo also tested Osaka’s keeper Yosuke Fujigawa with a weak free-kick that was eventually saved.

Manchester United’s first goal came on 28 minutes through Nemanja Vidic. The defender headed in his second goal in three matches for the Reds, finishing Giggs’ cross out of a corner.
Ronaldo doubled the lead at the last serious kick of the first half in the same manner.
Ryan Giggs again kicked the ball out of a corner which was headed low into the net by prolific goal scorer Cristiano Ronaldo.

Masato Yamazati pulled one back for Osaka on 74 minutes, thinking he had raised his side’s hopes for a come back. But substitute Wayne Rooney saved Manchester United from any fears as he widened the gap a minute later with an easy one on one goal.

Fletcher flashed in Manchester United’s third header and fourth goal of the game after Nani and Evra exchanged few passes.

Rooney clinched his double of the night on 80 minutes, leaving Gamba Osaka with realistically no chance of coming back into the game.

But the samurais defeated humility by controlling the last ten minutes.
Gary Neville was harshly penalized for handballing the ball inside the box; Yasuhito Endo converted the spot kick in total confidence to reduce Osaka’s deficit.

Hideo Hashimoto added a third for his side at the 90th minute to let the score line be 5-3.

At least, the Asian Champions had something to give for their continent: Pride and resilience.

Manchester United’s reward for surviving an eight-goal thriller is a place in the final against LDU Quito of South America on Sunday.

Written by: Angela Asante

They will be the first British team to do so and the feeling of glory is something that has seized every Man U player.

From Rooney to Fletcher, from Carrick to Giggs, the feeling of becoming a World Champion is none less than dominant.

Ferguson has promised to put his strongest line up, which includes the likes of Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney, Cristiano Ronaldo, Ferdinand and Neville amongst others.

“It’s a competition we want to win and I’ll be playing a strong team,” the coach revealed.
One player who has been ruled out due fitness problems is Berbatov.

“Dimitar won’t play,” confirmed the boss at his pre-match press conference. “He’s been in bed virtually since we arrived with a virus. We’re not sure where it’s come from, he may have picked it up on the plane.

“Wayne was injured in training on Tuesday, but I’m hopeful he’ll be okay.”

Ferguson has also ordered his players to put an eye on Gamba’s star Endo.
While the Reds are relishing the opportunity of playing in this competition of champions, England coach Fabio Capello has warned the club saying that the World Cup will make them tired.

However, Ferguson is well aware of the situation as a whole and is already looking ahead for Manchester United’s next Premiership game against Stoke City.

Written by: Angela Asante

The flurry of goals:

There were no goals in the first thirty minutes until Giggs’ free-kick was powerfully headed home by Carlos Tevez aka ‘the bull’ as I call him. The goal scorer then played a wonderful one-two with Nani who buried the ball at the back of the net to double Man United’s lead.

Early in the second half, Benny McCarthy pulled one back for the visitors only for Tevez to widen the gap once more from the penalty spot.
The argentine completed his hat-trick in a cool way, driving Anderson’s square ball across the goal line.
Blackburn Rovers thought they could offer their manager Paul Ince a bit of relief when they score was 4-3 with some minutes left in the game.

However, it was Carlos Tevez who got the last word: He slaughtered the ball with a wicked shot from 20 yards to kill any chances of a Blackburn comeback.

After the match, his manager Alex Ferguson was full of praise for him. Perhaps this will give him the opportunity to be in Man United’s starting line up for the upcoming matches.

Well, this victory means that the Red Champions continue their formidable home record this season. They are the only team from the big 4 to survive in this competition. Manchester United complete the semi-finals line up with titleholders Tottenham who beat Watford, Derby County who beat Stoke City and Burnley who wrote off Arsenal 2-0 after disqualifying last year’s finalists Chelsea.

Written by: Angela Asante.

Manchester United and Villareal both top Group E but the defending champions are first in the table due to a superior goal difference. Tonight’s clash will certainly determine which team comes out on top, and Manchester United aim to finish first of their group.

Giggs earlier stated that nothing should be taking for granted since Villareal are one of the best sides in Europe. Despite loosing 3-0 in La Liga this weekend, the Yellow Submarines could pull a surprise bounce back in the Champions League.

Giuseppe Rossi looks forward to rock his former team, while Fergie and Patrice Evra are already making plans to keep him out of the ball during the game.

Manchester United will have to deal with a lot of injuries. Berbatov, Van der Sar, and Danny Welbeck are amongst those who did not make the trip to Spain but Fletcher and Cristiano Ronaldo managed to put their injury worries behind them.

Manucho could enjoy his first European night while Wayne Rooney will try to get back his winning form. The England striker received a red card the last time Man United played Villareal in Spain.

A win will put Manchester United in an excellent position to retain the first spot. After being goalless for the first time in over 35 Premier League games, Manchester United will like to bounce back with a bunch of goals.

The game could go either way, and a draw is the most likely result.

Written by: Angela Asante

Ferguson has also been charged for arguing with the referee after the match against Hull City which Manchester won 4-3.

Ferguson will start serving his ban on December 2nd. This means that the boss will have no right to be in touch with his players at the training session and during their game against Blackburn in the League Cup.

The Scottish manager will also be restricted from the touch line when his side face Roy Keane’s Sunderland.

Written by: Angela Asante

Manchester United won the Champions League’s trophy in dramatic fashion to stamp their Red supremacy in Europe last season, in a competition where English clubs proved their worth against the likes of Inter Milan, Barcelona, Shalke 04 or Lyon.

But at what cost? At the price of unpaid borrowed money!

Yes, big clubs may inject an indescribable amount of passion, of emotion and of dynamism into the world’s biggest club competition – the UEFA Champions League. However, football is not only about matters going on the pitch. There is more to soccer than what happens on the ground. The economic crisis in football will certainly ruin the game.

It is now understood, following the enormous financial crisis, that clubs who have debts will be automatically excluded from European competitions. Manchester United is one of those currently facing huge economic problems.

In order to promote justice in terms of finance, and fair play, UEFA will soon make new regulation in which the UEFA Pro license will have very strict requirements. These include the fact that clubs with enormous debts will not be able to match the informations required.

Manchester United is in trouble, and needs help from anywhere.

How could it be that the defending champions are out because of financial issues?

Written by: Angela Asante

Several clubs have enormous debts and the totality of them all reaches up to $5.2 billion! Unfortunately, Manchester United – arguably the greatest club ever on earth – is in a dilemma. Their biggest sponsor, AIG, faces challenges due to the world’s financial crisis and besides, their American owners – The Glazers – still do not find the way out to free Manchester United from its huge debts.

The Premier League faces the threat of suspension if there is no answer to its economic problem.

However, one quick solution to these unsolvable questions is the help of foreign investors from Asia and Africa.

Manchester United’s local rivals, the Sky Blues, are the example of a club saved from economic problems.

Will Manchester United follow the example of City to get rid of their financial crisis?

One thing is certain: the world’s economy is yet to reach its worst point in the very near future.

Manchester United should find a solution to escape the nightmare of closing this great club.

Written by: Angela Asante

Fergie already had to deal with worries concerning the physical condition of Michael Carrick and Gary Neville.

However, if loosing an influential midfielder such as Paul Scholes and a hard working striker like Rooney is a major blow, the club can still build their squad on other strong players.

Manchester United can now put their faith in Berbatov who still has the assists of Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez.

As for the defensive area, though Man United will be without their captain Gary Neville for some time, there is not much to think about.

Rafael Da Silva has really proved himself at the back and it is likely that Neville will have to work harder and impress Ferguson in training so as not to loose his first XI place to the young Brazilian.

Hard luck for those injured players, their absence will now give the chance to others to shine.

Written by: Angela Asante