Match Report – Bursaspor KD 0-3 Manchester United
 
Competition: UEFA Champions League 
Kick-Off & Date: 7:45pm, Tuesday 2nd November
Venue: Ataturk Stadium, Bursa (Away)
Attendance: 25,000


Manchester United travel back to Old Trafford with 3 points in the bag, as goals from Darren Fletcher, Gabriel Obertan and Bébé saw-off a spirited fight from Turkish champions Bursaspor in the Champions League Group Stages. Fletcher opened the scoring after a under-par first half performance, followed by a fantastic strike from Obertan and a perfectly measured effort from Bébé.

Sir Alex Ferguson opted to leave Chicharito and Ji-Sung Park on the bench, with Dimitar Berbatov up-front, supplied by Gabriel Obertan and Luis Nani on either wing. Paul Scholes returned to midfield, while Chris Smalling filled-in for the rested Rio Ferdinand. 

Sercan Yildirim went down in the box appealed for a penalty early on, but his pathetic dive was rightly waved away by referee Wolfgang Stark. Scholes was, as usual, pulling the strings in midfield, and played ball after ball out to Patrice Evra on the left.

Evra supplied Berbatov with two early efforts, but either was not good enough to threaten penalty-taker goalkeeper and fellow Bulgarian Dimitar Ivankov. Shortly afterwards, Turgay Bahadir should have done better when he was clean on through against Edwin Van Der Sar, who spread his body and blocked the on-coming shot with his chest.

United were down to 10 men for a short period on the half hour mark, when Nani limped off with a groin strain – sitting on the bench, not requiring further treatment in the tunnels. After a delay, Park warmed-up and replaced the in-form Portuguese winger, who should return by the weekend.

After Fletcher has narrowly missed an opener, Scholes scored just before half time. However, on the correct advice of the additional assistant referee, Stark disallowed the goal on the account that Scholes had helped the ball on with his hands.

Minutes after the interval, Fletcher found the net for United. The ball fell to Michael Carrick 25-yards-out and his quick thinking played Fletch into the box with only the keeper and a defender to beat – his low-driven shot did just that. The Reds were ahead !

Fletcher’s opener was only his second goal in 50 Champions League appearances for the club, but there is a lot more goals yet to come from the Scottish International skipper. His patience and hard work had paid off.

The Green Crocodiles were looking to bit back at Sir Alex’s men, and could have done so through  Ivan Ergic or Federico Insua – but Van Der Sar held his nerve to deny both players. Bursaspor are yet to claim their first European goal, and with fishing displayed against The Reds on Tuesday night – they’ll be waiting quite a long time for that goal to come !

Obertan was looking better in the second half, and Park’s quick ball to the Frenchman was duly rewarded with an outstanding goal. The 21-year-old struck straight into the top left hand corner with keeper Ivankov well beaten. Game over. 

Shortly before Obertan had clinched United’s second, Bébé replaced goalscorer Fletcher. The 26-year-old had picked-up a slight knock, and limped off the field for treatment. Himself and Nani will be in the spotlight for the next few days, but both are expected to be fit in time for Saturday’s Premier League home game with Wolves.

The Reds were solid at the back, captained by Vidic. Rafael had a little trouble down the right wing in the first half, but the youngster recovered to make some fine tackles and instigated attack after attack down Park’s wing.

After a break-down in attack in the 77th minute, Scholes regained possession and cued to Bébé running into the area to wrap the game up for United and their 1,000 travelling fans. The 20-year-old Portuguese winger has defied critics with two goals in his last two games, finishing his second off coolly with the side of his foot.

The Red Devils are certain to progress to Round 2 of the Champions League, and a the avoidance of a loss will result in the world’s biggest club claiming top spot in Group C – where they currently lie on 10 points, 3 points ahead of Valencia. 

United Team: Edwin Van Der Sar, Rafael Da Silva, Patrice Evra (Fabio Da Silva ’81), Michael Carrick, Chris Smalling, Nemanja Vidic, Luis Nani (Ji-Sung Park ’29), Paul Scholes, Dimitar Berbatov, Darren Fletcher (Bébé ’63), Gabriel Obertan.

Scorers: Fletcher ’48, Obertan ’73, Bébé ’77

• Video Highlights: Bursaspor 0-3 United