Valencia seals victory for a patient United
CSKA MOSCOW (0) vs MANCHESTER UTD (1)
SIR ALEX FERGUSON hailed a job well done after his Manchester United side put themselves on the brink of qualifying for the Champions League knockout stages with a hard-fought victory over CSKA Moscow.
Antonio Valencia’s strike four minutes from time maintained United’s 100 per cent record in the group stages and helped them secure a first win over a Russian side in Europe in six attempts.
In a match played on the plastic pitch at the Luzhniki Stadium and in sub-zero temperatures, this was always a potential banana skin for Ferguson’s men, despite being back at the scene of their 2008 Champions League triumph over Chelsea.
But Ferguson insisted the pitch was not too much of a disadvantage to his troops and praised his men for a professional display. “I said before the game that if you’re a good footballer you concentrate on the ball. I think they did that and they did it well,” the United boss said. “We wanted to go for a surge through the middle rather than in the wide positions and I think that worked quite well. We had some good chances at the end of the day, and we’re pleased Valencia got a goal.”
Ferguson also had the luxury of substituting key players such as Rio Ferdinand and Paul Scholes ahead of Sunday’s league clash with Liverpool, and played down fears of a bad injury to full-back Fabio, who was superb on his first-team recall. “Fabio was absolutely outstanding today, the boy’s magnificent for 18 years of age,” Ferguson added. “He’s first class, he just had some cramp, he’ll be okay.”
Valencia proved United’s biggest goal threat, first smashing a shot against the crossbar before Nani had a header turned round the post by keeper Igor Aknifeev.
But Valencia made no mistake four minutes from the end, capping a fine team display when powering home an angled drive at the far post.