It was men against boys at Old Trafford last night as Manchester United reinforced the gulf in class between the top of the English Premier League and the top of the Scottish Premier League.
Whilst Celtic could point to the absence of Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink and Georgios Samaras, Manchester United could equally point out that their starting eleven didn’t include Wes Brown, Rio Ferdinand, Patrice Evra, Michael Carrick, Paul Scholes, Owen Hargreaves, Ryan Giggs or Carlos Tevez.
Absolutely faultless
Whilst Celtic started reasonably tightly and looked to frustrate United, it never really looked likely that they would succeed. They will undoubtedly raise the issue that United’s opener from the absolutely faultless Dimitar Berbatov was offside, but it was a tight decision and no less than United’s dominance deserved.
The game should have been over on the stroke of half-time but Fletcher blazed over when it would have been easier to hit the target.
Training exercise
The second half turned out to be something of a training exercise for the home side as they opened up the Celtic defence at will and Celtic failed to offer even the slightest threat of getting back into the game.
Another offside goal by Dimitar Berbatov was followed by an exquisite finish by Wayne Rooney for his currently obligatory goal.
In the shadow
Let’s talk about Wayne Rooney. Most people feel that he has never quite managed to live up to the expectations and promise of his teenage years. He has been in the shadow of Cristiano Ronaldo for a couple of seasons but last night he made his two hundredth appearance for United and having scored nine goals in his last seven games, notched his sixtieth goal for the club. Last week he gained his forty-eighth England cap and bagged his nineteenth international goal.
It has too be said that for someone who has not fulfilled his potential, he isn’t doing bad!
In last night’s game against Celtic Rooney was World class. His energy, movement, touch, passing, shooting and work-rate were all as good as anyone in the world. It was a master class of forward play and a joy to watch.
Perfect partner
There is no coincidence in the fact that Rooney has found such astonishing form since the arrival of Dimitar Berbatov who seems to be the perfect partner for him.
So with Rooney at his very best, Berbatov looking like the top class player that Sir Alex Ferguson knew he was signing and Cristiano Ronaldo slowly but surely returning to his captivating form of last season, United are beginning to look like a very difficult team to stop.
Who else in last night’s Champions League games could come close to stopping them?
Return to form
Bayern Munich showed a return to some sort of form with a 3-0 win over Fiorentina, Juventus beat Real Madrid 2-1 and Villarreal and Lyon both had big wins. Despite that, I don’t think any of those sides could deal with Manchester United at the moment. In fact, the only team on display last night that might get close to them was Arsenal who demolished Fenerbahce 5-2 in their own back yard.
Tonight’s games see Liverpool, Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter and Werder Bremen put down their markers as genuine title contenders. They will have all watched the ease with which United took care of Celtic and will know that they are the team to beat.
Tonight’s fixtures in full are;
Atletico Madrid v Liverpool, Basle v Barcelona, Bordeaux v Cluj, Chelsea v Roma, Inter Milan v Anorthosis Famagusta, Panathinaikos v Werder Bremen, PSV v Marseille, Shakhtar Donetsk v Sporting.
Liverpool have a tough task in Madrid but I would expect Barcelona, Chelsea, Inter and Werder Bremen to all pick up a relatively straightforward three points.
Favourites
We haven’t learnt much more about the likely outcome of the tournament than we knew before it started. I still believe that Manchester United are probably joint favourites with Chelsea. Barcelona fans would undoubtedly disagree with that and Arsenal and Liverpool fans might have an opinion on that as well. It would also be foolish to ever write off any team managed by Jose Mourinho.
When you think about it, maybe it isn’t quite as clear cut as I am suggesting. Despite that, no team in Europe will want to be drawn against Manchester United in the knock out stages. If Berbatov and Rooney stay injury and suspension free, their partnership will get better and better. The fact that they can improve on what they are producing now should send a shudder through all the other teams.
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