The following news article was added to www.red11.org/news on Thu Dec 12 @ 05:21:06 GMT
FERGIE PRAISE FOR VAN THE MAN Sir Alex Ferguson saw his Manchester United side move into pole position in the Champions League and said: "It's brilliant". Two goals from on-song striker Ruud van Nistelrooy condemned Deportivo La Coruna to defeat at Old Trafford. It was United's sixth successive win in all competitions - and they now top Group D after their second successive victory in Europe. Ferguson said: "We deserve the six points and to win our first two games is brilliant. The players have done really well. "It is a hard competition, as we all know, and to get ourselves in number one position in the section is brilliant for us. "Now we can put the Champions League behind us and pick up next year when we have two great games against Juventus." Ferguson was delighted with the contribution of van Nistelrooy, who has now scored 18 goals from 19 Champions League appearances for the club - UEFA do not count the qualifiers. "Ruud's form has been terrific the last few weeks, marvellous, " said the United boss. "His record is brilliant, he is one of the best strikers in the world, we all know that. These two goals hammer home the point. "His first goal was a marvellous header. He could have scored four as he could have had two penalties." Van Nistelrooy opened the scoring in the seventh minute and added a second shortly after United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez had beaten away a shot from Roy Makaay. According to Ferguson that proved to be the turning point in the game. "We got a little break in the game when Barthez made a fantastic save," he said. "We went straight up the pitch and scored our second goal which won the game for us. "It emphasises what we have been saying about getting the breaks. A few weeks ago we weren't getting the breaks. That was a major one tonight." Deportivo coach Javier Irureta felt they should have had a penalty when Diego Tristan was bundled over by John O'Shea. "The first 15 minutes of the second half changed the face of the game," said Irureta. "We should have been awarded a penalty, then Makaay missed that chance and United broke away to get a second goal." football.guardian.co.uk http://www.red11.org/news Subscription info WWW http://red11.org/list Reply to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] = subscribe to the list. [EMAIL PROTECTED] = unsubscribe from the list. Post message [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
