Sporting Fans Give Ronaldo a Standing Ovation after goal
Review: Sporting Lisbon 0 Manchester United 1 (Ronaldo 61)
Christiano Ronaldo scored the winning goal against his former team as United started their Champions League campaign with an away win.
Four 1-0 wins in a row. Not exactly the breathtaking football of last season, is it? But there were signs last night that United were getting back on track. Both Rooney and Ronaldo were back, and the latter was the star performer. The defence was on good form and Edwin van der Sar produced two excellent saves to banish his indifferent form from the end of last season.
This was not a vintage performance, but United away in Europe never is these days. A cautious 4-5-1 approach is what Fergie has favoured for the last few seasons, and last night it was pretty effective, if not pretty.
Once Sporting were 1-0 down, they opened up and let United counter attack. Ronaldo was given lots of space on the left and United started to actually look good for the first time this season. It is not surprising this happened after Saha had replaced Rooney and we were able to stretch the Sporting defence even further.
It was mainly all about Ronaldo returning to his old club. When he scored; a diving header from an excellent cross from Brown, he barely celebrated and even apologised to the fans. At one point he took on the entire Sporting defence as well as the many divots in the dreadful pitch. He looked like a skier doing an Olympic slalom.
When he was substituted, the entire ground stood up to applaud him off the pitch. It is so good to see that, when in England it seems it is the norm to vilify an ex-player.
So, not the best performance, but a lot of positives from the night. An away win, Ronaldo on form, the return of Rooney, Vidic and Ferdinand again excellent and van der Sar on top form. Roll on Sunday when we take on managerless Chelsea.
Popularity: 28% [?]