1-2-3 by Owen takes United to the next round in style.

Hat-trick by Manchester United’s no. 7 Michael Owen against VfL Wolfsburg made it sure that his team reached the next round of the champions league in style by being the group leaders. With the result Wolfsburg are out of this year’s champions leaguebut they have earned a place in the Europa League, a competition lower than the champions league. In the other match PFC CSKA Moscow joined Manchester Unitedafter defeating Besiktas JK 2-1 to progress into the knockout stage.

Going with a second string team to Germany, as most of the players were injured, Sir Alex would have been delighted to see his team win in style with a special thanks to Michael Owen who showed a glimpse of his footballing skills of the past. After having the most of the possession, which is a regular for the red devils, the first goal took nearly the half when Michael Owen headed past goalkeeper Diego Benaglio with a perfect cross by Nani from the left corner. The teams went into the break with United leading at half time.

Second half saw the home side coming back into the match when Dzeko leveled in the 55th minute with a similar type of circumstances as that of United’s first goal, Marcel Schäfer being the architect for this one. Owen’s second came through a brilliant foot work by Gabriel Obertan who kept the defenders wondering and in the end giving a simple cross to him for an easy finish at the goal. Owen finally wrapped up the proceedings in the trade mark time for United, i.e. 90th minute with a brilliant solo shot over the goal keeper’s head. Final score Manchester United 3,Wolfsburg 1.
With the brilliant night at the VfL Wolfsburg arena, the focus now shifts to the next round where Manchester Unitedwill up against one of the giants of Europe next year.
Results of other matches are:
Group A: Juventus 1-4 FC Bayern München
Maccabi Haifa FC 0-1 FC Girondins de Bordeaux
Group C: FC Zürich 1-1 AC Milan
Olympique de Marseille 1-3 Real Madrid CF
Group D: Chelsea FC 2-2 APOEL FC
Club Atlético de Madrid 0-3 FC Porto

Manchester United travels to Germany with a long Injury list, Oportuinity for young players.

n the last champions’ league group stage match, Manchester United will be travelling to Germany to face Wolfsburg VfL in what is a no stress match for the red devils but for the home side this is big match for them considering the situation the there group. In the other match, Besiktas JK will be up against CSKA Moscow in Istanbul. The situation for the Russian side is complex as they have to bank on the match at Germany and hope that there team secure more points than Wolfsburg to have a chance of going to the next stage.

Also a consolation may be waiting for Beşiktaş but they have to secure a win better than 2-1 and hope the German side do not lose in order to finish third and earn transfer to the UEFA Europa League round of 32. Pretty complex, isn’t it???
Worry for Manchester United that their whole lot of players will be out for the match which includes Rio Ferdinand, Goal keeper Edwin Van der Sar, Nemanja Vidić, Gary Neville, Dimitar Berbatov, Wayne Rooney among others. But Sir Alex is confident of a good show at the VfL Wolfsburg Arena. His main concern will be reducing the injury list for the coming weekend’s premier league match against Aston Villa. Ryan Giggs will be seen in an extended role and could be seen in the thick of the action in the mid field and also not to forget Paul Scholes and Michael Owen role. This is also a huge opportuinity for the upcoming young red devils specially Darren Gibson who put up a good show in last week’s match against West Ham United.

Other big matches on that day are:
Group A: Juventus Vs FC Bayern München
Maccabi Haifa FC v FC Girondins de Bordeaux

Group C: FC Zürich v AC Milan
Olympique de Marseille Vs Real Madrid CF

Group D: Chelsea FC Vs APOEL FC
Club Atlético de Madrid Vs FC Porto
All matches will be starting at 2045 Hours GMT (0245 Hours IST)

Red Devils looking forward to cement their top place in Champions League

A strong and determined Bestikas JK side will be visiting old Trafford to play one of the crucial match in Group B against the leaders Manchester United.

While it will be more of a innovation match for the home side. Meanwhile the other two teams in the group i.e.Wolfsburg and CSKA Moscow will be facing each other in Moscow in a must win tie for both in order to get the last qualifying spot for the knock out stage in the champions league. Looking into the table, a win will take the German side VfL Wolfsburg almost through to the next round leaving little to calculate in the 11th hour for the others.Manchester United have already qualified for the next round following their 100% record till date in this year’s campaign.

Manchester United will be determined to win this one in front of their home crowd and continue their winning streak and hope that Carrick, Fletcher will find the opponent’s net as early as possible. From the home side everyone who started the game against Everton during the last weekend seems to be fit and will be starting unless Sir Alex has plans to experiment with his players. Wait for Owen Hargreaves seems to be getting longer and there is no news about Park Ji Sung’s recovery. Further with a favourable result, Manchester United will be looking to cement their pole position in the group.
CSKA‘s 3-3 draw at Manchester United last time out would have given fresh confidence to Leonid Slutski‘s side who could join Wolfsburg on seven points with victory in Moscow. On the other hand, the German champions have the advantage, however, leading CSKA by three points and knowing that a draw at the Luzhniki Stadium would suffice to send them through.
So it will be pretty exciting mid week for the group which will make the picture clearer for those who will take the next step to Madrid.
The match at Old Trafford will begin at 2045 Hours GMT on Wednesday (0215 Hours IST on Thursday)

Carrick goal takes Manchester United to victory.

Manchester United won their champions league match at home of 2009-10 season with a 2-1 victory over VfL Wolfsburg. On what was looking as an easy fixture on paper came out to be a tricky task. It was Vlf Wolfsburg who took the lead through Edin Džeko’s towering 56th-minute header but the game was levelled by Ryan Giggs and the second goal was scored by Michael Carrick’s. With this result Manchester United go on top of Group B of the champions league as in the other match CSKA Moscow defeated Besiktas 2-1 with Alan Dzagoev and Miloš Krasić struck in each half for the Russian side. It was a packed to capacity crowd at Old Trafford. The match started in a pretty ordinary way with no goals scored in the first half, although there were chances for both the teams but none of them were converted in a goal. Wayne Rooney’s free kick gone wide, Valancia couldn’t convert his delicate touch for goal and rest were half chances as the match progressed. The deadlock was finally broken in the 55th minute when Edin Džeko’s of VfL Wolfsburg scored with a beautiful header to give the visiting side a 1-0 lead. Just after 3 minutes the hosts replied back through Ryan Giggs who scored via a free kick which got deflected off the defensive wall to mark his 150th goal for the Red Devils. And finally in the 77th minute, Michael Carrick scored with a brilliant first touch from the pass given by Ryan Giggs just outside the opponents D-area to give United a well deserved 2-1 lead which remained till the final whistle.

Meanwhile in other matches played around Europe the results were:
Group A
FC Bayern München 0-0 Juventus
FC Girondins de Bordeaux 1-0 Maccabi Haifa FC
Group C
AC Milan 0-1 FC Zürich
Real Madrid CF 3-0 Olympique de Marseille
Group D
APOEL FC 0-1 Chelsea FC
FC Porto 2-0 Club Atlético de Madrid