wlt1110

06/04/2008 12:24, Report by James Tuck

Report: Boro 2 United 2

Wayne Rooney rescued a point for United after Afonso Alves' double had looked set to give Middlesbrough a shock win at a wintry Riverside Stadium.
Rooney converted from close range with 16 minutes left after good work by substitute Ji-sung Park to ensure the Reds extended their lead over Chelsea at the top of the table to three points.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s 37th goal of the season had given United an early lead, but Alves produced two superb finishes in each half to put Boro in command in an end-to-end game.
United’s defence, shorn of Nemanja Vidic, was frequently made to look uncharacteristically shaky by a lively Boro outfit and only a series of last-ditch tackles prevented the Teessiders from extending their lead in the second half.
Rio Ferdinand came off with what looked like a leg injury with 20 minutes left and, although United also had chances to win it, Sir Alex Ferguson will perhaps settle for a point after a testing encounter in the driving north-east snow.
As so often this season, United began brightly and took the lead inside 10 minutes. Ryan Giggs, making his 750th United appearance, swung over a deep corner to Michael Carrick, who made space before firing the ball back across goal for Ronaldo to convert left-footed from close range.
It was the winger's 27th league goal of an extraordinary campaign and it looked set to give United
the platform to go on and dominate. Indeed, had the Reds taken one of several more chances in the opening 20 minutes, the game could have been safe.
Firstly, Giggs hit the side-netting after a flowing move involving Rooney and another Ronaldo backheel; then Carrick fed Rooney inside the box, but Luke Young made a good tackle to deny the striker as he was poised to pull the trigger.
Boro were looking dangerous themselves and, instead of wilting, they upped their tempo and Jeremie Aliadiere missed a glorious chance to equalise 23 minutes in when he dragged wide after being played in by Julio Arca.
Ronaldo almost extended United’s lead on the half-hour mark but, after beating three Boro defenders with a lightning burst of pace, he surprisingly failed to hit the target from the left-hand side of the box.
Two minutes later Alves, who had earlier headed an Andrew Taylor cross just wide, gave United a scare with a vicious, swerving free-kick which Edwin van der Sar parried nervously. But soon after Boro were level.
Gary O’Neil thumped the ball forward, Aliadiere headed it on and Alves held off Ferdinand to calmly slot home his first Boro goal on only his second start.
Van der Sar then blocked Stewart Downing's close-range shot, before United had a penalty appeal turned down on the stroke of half-time when Ronaldo’s powerful shot appeared to hit Taylor's hand inside the box.
The Reds were given a scare immediately after the restart when Alves headed a long ball across goal to Emanuel Pogatetz, who was denied by a Carrick block.
But it wasn't long before things got worse as Alves bagged his second of the game. Wes Brown's attempted headed clearance from George Boateng's long ball hit Aliadiere and bounced into the path of the Brazilian, who controlled and curled superbly past van der Sar.
Boro’s record signing could have made the game safe a couple of minutes later but his point-blank header was blocked by Ferdinand.
In an attempt to salvage something from the game, Ferguson brought on Park and Owen Hargreaves for the anonymous Carlos Tevez and John O'Shea, before Ferdinand limped off and was replaced by Gerard Pique.
And it was Park who fashioned the equaliser, cutting inside Taylor and squaring the ball to Rooney, whose shot took a deflection off Pogatetz and evaded Mark Schwarzer's dive.
United poured forward in search of a winner, with Paul Scholes and Rooney going close, but they were unable to find it and almost lost the game at the
death when van der Sar made a last-ditch block to deny Boro substitute Tuncay on the goal-line.
Team Line-ups
Middlesbrough: Schwarzer; Young, Wheater, Pogatetz; Taylor; O'Neil, Boateng, Arca, Downing; Aliadiere (Johnson 90), Alves (Tuncay 77).
Subs not used: Turnbull, Cattermole, Grounds.
Booked: Young, O'Neil, Boateng
Manchester United: Van der Sar; Brown, Ferdinand (Pique 70), O'Shea (Hargreaves 67), Evra; Ronaldo, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs; Rooney, Tevez (Park 65).
Subs not used: Anderson.
Booked: Rooney
Attendance: 33,952

wlt1110

06/04/2008 10:39, Report by James Tuck

Totti set to miss out again

Roma captain Francesco Totti is likely to miss Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final return at Old Trafford with the thigh injury that kept him out of the first leg.
The 31-year-old striker is yet to return to full training and sat out the Giallorossi's 3-2 home win over Genoa in Serie A on Saturday.
Coach Luciano Spalletti, who would have been desperate for his talismanic skipper to return as the Italians seek to overturn a 2-0 deficit, admitted: "I would be happy to have him back next weekend."
Totti has 14 league goals to his name this season and was conspicuous by his absence at the Stadio Olimpico last Tuesday, when United took a giant stride towards a semi-finals thanks to goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney.

wlt1110

04/04/2008 21:30, Report by Ben Hibbs

Carry on Ronaldo

Sir Alex Ferguson has defended Cristiano Ronaldo’s showmanship and insists the Portuguese winger would never disrespect his opponents.

Roma’s combative midfielder David Pizarro claimed the United star is “arrogant”. He was quoted in the English press, saying: "Despite the fact that he is a great champion, he is arrogant. This is the ugliest thing for a player. In the return leg, I will have something to say to him."

Sir Alex feels that Ronaldo’s flicks and tricks should be understood as an expression of talent rather than needless flamboyance. The same way a quick player uses his pace to the fullest, or a tough-tackling midfielder won’t pull out of a 50-50 challenge. Ronaldo’s skill is the only way he knows how to play.

“He just tries to express his talent,” said the United boss. “The boy has the confidence and courage to do it and, as far as I'm concerned, he can carry on doing that. People pay £40-£50 to see him play. That may be annoying to an opponent because he’s prepared to take the ball to them and show his talent.

“But at the end of the day he is a winner. You can’t kick him out of the game because he will always get up and play. The most important message he is giving out is that
this is a great player that isn’t afraid to take the ball and beat men. That’s what he’s saying. And in whatever fashion he does it, I don’t care.

"It’s about having the ability and expression in his play to be able to do it. We encourage it with all the players here. In the modern day it’s a breath of fresh air to see players that won’t be intimidated by opponents. I say keep on doing it.”

Ronaldo’s fellow countryman, Nani, was accused by Arsene Wenger of disrespecting Arsenal’s players by juggling with the ball during United's 4-0 FA Cup win at Old Trafford earlier this year. At the time Sir Alex sympathised with Wenger, but has since watched the footage again and says there was nothing wrong with it.

“I looked at the video again, and I don’t see that Nani was showboating,” he said. “He was under pressure and he kept the ball up. I’ve seen many players do that. Thierry Henry did it against Southampton in a cup final if I remember correctly. We don’t encourage our players to humiliate opponents - that’s important. But fans want to see players show talent like his. It’s great to see players developing their game so that they can use skill in a big game. We don't want that to change.”