CARRICKTER ... United star Michael Carrick celebrates giving United the lead
Published: 16 minutes ago
MICHAEL CARRICK hit the only goal of the game as Manchester United squeezed a victory against Galatasaray.
The England midfielder played a neat one-two with the impressive Shinji Kagawa before rounding the goalkeeper and firing home in the seventh minute.
United missed a penalty in the second half as Nani saw his poor effort saved and the home side had goalkeeper David De Gea to thank for keeping their Turkish opponents at bay.
Jonny Evans was also thanking his lucky stars that a penalty wasn't given in injury time after his poor challenge went unpunished.
The game also marked the return of midfielder Darren Fletcher, who made his first appearance since November due to his career-threatening bowel condition.
The win gets United off to a strong start in Group H of the Champions League, with Romanian outfit FC Cluj beating Portuguese team Braga 2-0 in the other group game.
CARR JUMP START ... Carrick opens the scoring for Man Utd
Galatasaray were desperately unlucky, failing to get a clear penalty before United struck, hitting the woodwork twice before being denied by De Gea’s excellent double save and then having another spot-kick claim waved away in stoppage time.
Such was the significance of Fletcher’s presence on the United bench that it even overshadowed Robin van Persie and Kagawa both being given their European debuts.
Both were involved in Carrick’s early opener.
Initially, Van Persie threaded a pass through to the midfielder. It was Kagawa who got the main credit though, slipping a return pass beyond the visitors’ defence. Carrick stepped inside goalkeeper Fernando Musiera and even though the goalkeeper tripped him, the England man was able to steer the ball in.
RICK SURE ... Carrick celebrates after putting United ahead
The incident did beg the question of inconsistencies within the rules. Had Carrick fallen for the penalty, Musiera would have been sent off and Galatasaray’s position substantially weakened.
As it was, whilst a goal down, they were also able to mount a comeback bid.
Mind you, the Turkish champions already had cause to grumble.
Sold short by Patrice Evra’s lay-off, Nemanja Vidic lunged in on Umut Bulut.
Referee Wolfgang Stark might not have seen the clear foul. There was no excuse for the goal-line assistant missing it. Yet somehow Vidic, and United, escaped.
Galatasaray’s response to falling behind was for Nordin Amrabat to clip the crossbar with a curling shot from the edge of the area that gave returning keeper De Gea no chance.
DENIED ... Nani can't find a way past keeper Muslera
It was not the last time Galatasaray struck the woodwork — Hamit Altintop was the unlucky man second time around after a free-kick had been rolled into his path. Again De Gea was rooted to the spot, thankful to see the ball flick wide of his left-hand post.
Having called for defensive solidity, Ferguson, who brought in Jonny Evans for Rio Ferdinand, could not have been happy.
His side were not creating that much at the other end either.
SHIN THE MOOD ... Kagawa runs past the Galatasaray defence
Emmanuel Eboue did prevent former Arsenal team-mate Van Persie from turning Antonio Valencia’s low cross home at the far post.
Largely though, United’s patient build-up broke down before they got within shooting distance.
In contrast, Altintop was almost Cristiano Ronaldo-esque in his desire to pepper De Gea’s goal.
The shot that fizzed wide not long after the restart was his fifth, only two less than United had mustered as an entire team up to that point.
There then followed the third instalment of United’s penalty embarrassment.
SPOT OFF ... Nani fluffs his lines from the penalty spot
After failures from Van Persie and Javier Hernandez already this season, Nani exuded confidence.
Until it actually came to striking the ball that is. After a little shimmy, the Portugal winger seemed to freeze, and Musiera saved to his right.
Galatasaray took it as the cue to launch another counter and this time Selcuk Inan guided his header marginally wide of the far post.
It was not convincing in the least, yet United’s narrow advantage was almost turned into a winning one when Patrice Evra surged forward and saw his shot flick narrowly wide.
From the corner, United quickly lost possession as Nani appealed in vain for another spot-kick.
Galatasaray sped to the other end and De Gea, of whom so much is being asked, came to United’s rescue with a superb double save, first to deny Burak Yilmaz, then Emre Colak, who seemed certain to finish off the rebound.
Rather than being eased in as Ferguson doubtless hoped, Fletcher’s battling qualities were a necessity for the latter stages as United managed to keep their opponents at bay.
It was never comfortable though, with substitute Javier Hernandez failing to capitalise on a couple of late opportunities before Aydin Yilmaz had another spot-kick claim waved away.
Read more: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/football/4547139/Manchester-United-1-0-Galatasaray-Match-report-and-pictures.html#ixzz26x5al41Y
