There was only one player that was going to walk away from the Gelsenkirchen Arena with the man-of-the-match award, and that was Schalke keeper Manuel Neuer. The German number one provided a one-man barrier between his goal and countless United attacks that managed to breach the lacklustre Schalke 04 defence. The first-half was basically a practice match for United, who peppered the German side’s goal seemingly for fun, but to no avail. 

Neuer was in inspired form between the sticks and Sir Alex will have been at a complete loss to explain to his side how they were still level when they went in at the break. Ryan Giggs, Wayne Rooney and Javier ‘Chicharito’ Hernandez will have all been convinced they’d broken the deadlock, only to be thwarted by the in-demand 25-year-old. 

It wasn’t until the 67th minute before United finally found a way past Neuer, a clever pass from Rooney sending Giggs clear, the winger finishing with aplomb to give the English side the lead. Rooney grabbed his goal less than two minutes later, after good work from Hernandez outside the area. 

The two goals may well have put the tie, the Champions League betting shows as much, beyond doubt but it won’t have taken the shine off Neuer’s performance, and Sir Alex may now be cursing the fact he didn’t move sooner in his attempts to take the keeper to Old Trafford. If reports are to be believed then Neuer has already agreed a deal to join Bayern Munich at the end of the season, in a deal worth £18million. 

The apparent fee for a player entering the final year of his contract, shows just how highly thought of this young keeper is and those following the football betting will find it hard to disagree. With Edwin Van Der Sar set to retire at the end of the season Sir Alex will be wondering why he didn’t follow up his interest on Neuer. United’s manager was glowing in his praise of the opposition’s goalkeeper when giving his post-match interview: “He was fantastic. That is one of the best performances I’ve seen against Manchester United !…”