Champions League: Moyes dreams of European glory as United relocate winning touch
MANCHESTER UNITED 1 vs SHAKHTAR DONETSK 0
MANCHESTER United boss David Moyes insists his target is to win the Champions League after his side eased the pressure on him by qualifying for the knockout stage as group winners.
A second-half volley from midfielder Phil Jones killed Shakhtar Donetsk’s hopes of progressing and prevented United falling to a third successive home defeat for more than half a century.
It was a far from comfortable evening for the hosts, who saw Alex Teixeira fire just wide and Yaroslav Rakitskiy strike a post for the Ukrainians, but enough to provoke an outbreak of optimism in Moyes.
“The win helps improve our form a little bit. We hadn’t played that well but before half time started to get better and in the second half were much better. We were fortunate not to be a goal down,” he said.
“I think a club like Man United always has to try to win the trophy – that’s our job. Teams in this competition are very good but you have to try to get better. Everyone was surprised Dortmund got to the final [last year].”
Jones put United ahead on 67 minutes when Shakhtar failed to clear substitute Robin van Persie’s corner and the former Blackburn player drilled his shot down and past goalkeeper Andriy Pyatov.