The mission of the recently crowned World Champions on Sunday was to overcome the result that Manchester United had the last time they clashed against Southampton.

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