Manchester United News TV Online

Saturday, August 30, 2008

Report: United 1 Zenit 2


Zenit St Petersburg lifted the UEFA Super Cup in Monaco, despite an admiral Reds resurgence in the second half.

United were 2-0 down after 59 minutes before a rare Nemanja Vidic strike buoyed Sir Alex’s men. John O’Shea twice went close to forcing extra time – and Paul Scholes even found the net – but the UEFA Cup holders hung on to register a 2-1 win.

Scholes’ effort, it must be said, was more a moment of madness than a valid strike on goal. In the 89th minute, the Reds’ midfielder slapped the ball in with his hand and was duly shown a second yellow card for his attempt to deceive referee Claus Bo Larsen. Scholes will now miss United’s opening group stage fixture in this season’s Champions League competition.

Sir Alex, who would have become the Super Cup’s most successful ever manager had United won, was dealt his first blow on Thursday evening when England midfielder Owen Hargreaves felt his knee flare up again during training.

As a result, the Reds’ central midfield berths were occupied by Anderson and Scholes. The Reds’ boss also found room for Nani and Gary Neville, who were in urgent need of minutes on the pitch. They were both busy in the opening stages – Neville getting forward down the right wing, Nani employing his silky skills out on the left.

But it was Zenit St Petersburg striker Pavel Pogrebnyak who had the game’s first real chance. The 24-year-old, who finished top scorer in last year’s UEFA Cup, found himself unmarked 12 yards out but fired his shot well over Edwin van der Sar’s goal.

The Russian side were skilful and sharp, and particularly dangerous down the right flank. Full back Aleksandr Anyukov strode forward at every opportunity and proved a real handful for Patrice Evra. Anyukov’s desire to attack was so strong, Evra had to temper his own trademark forward runs.

After a quiet spell, the game came alive 10 minutes before the break. First, Wayne Rooney forced a save from Vyacheslav Malafeev after stunning work from Carlos Tevez down the right side. Two minutes later, it was van der Sar’s turn to shine as he saved by his post at point-blank range from Croatian centre-back Ivica Krizanac.

It was Zenit St Petersburg who found the back of the net first, just a minute before the interval. Igor Denisov muscled in front of Evra at the near post to flick on a corner from the left. The ball looped over van der Sar and may have been cleared at the back post by Paul Scholes had Pogrebnyak not darted in front of the Englishman to bundle the ball over the line.

The second half began at a frantic pace. Zenit substitute Andrei Arshavin, widely regarded as the Russians’ star player, wriggled through the Reds’ defence before Tevez almost teed up Darren Fletcher at the other end.

Van der Sar then beat away a long-range rocket from Zenit captain Anatoliy Tymoschuck, but was powerless to prevent the Russians’ second.

On 59 minutes, new signing Danny picked the ball up 35 yards from goal and ran straight at Rio Ferdinand. The Portuguese forward jinked inside, wrong-footing the England defender, before blasting his shot into the bottom corner. It was a brilliant piece of individual skill and went some way to justifying his (Russian) record £24million price tag.

The introduction of John O’Shea and Ji-sung Park almost reaped immediate dividends, goalkeeper Malafeev forced into a fine double-save to deny the substitutes. United began to assert themselves more on the match and pulled a goal back on 73 minutes.

It arrived via Nemanja Vidic after Carlos Tevez calmly pulled back Rooney’s deep cross. Vidic, still lingering in the box after a recent corner, fired low and hard with his left foot through a crowd of Zenit players on the line.

Park and Rooney almost combined to engineer an equaliser moment later, but the last meaningful contribution of the match (albeit a baffling one) came from Scholes, who saw red for his uncharacteristic indiscretion.


United: Van der Sar; Neville (Brown 76), Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra; Fletcher (Park 60), Anderson (O’Shea 60), Scholes, Nani; Rooney, Tevez

Subs not used: Kuszczak, Gibson, Possebon, Campbell

Booked: Scholes, Anderson, Tevez

Sent off: Scholes

Zenit St Petersburg: Malafeev; Anyukov, Krizanac (Radimov 71), Puygrenier (Shirokov 62), Sirl; Zyranov, Tymoshcuk, Denisov; Dominguez (Arshavin 46), Danny, Pogrebnyak

Subs not used: Contofalsky, Jin, Tekke, Fayzulin

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