Champions League News - Half time report: Glasgow Rangers vs. Manchester United
Starting XI for Glasgow Rangers: McGregor, Davis, Whittaker, Broadfoot, Weir, Foster, Naismith, McCulloch, Hutton, Weiss and Miller. Subs: Alexander, Fleck, Beattie, Loy, Perry and Wylde.
Starting XI for Manchester United: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Evans, Smalling, Fabio Da Silva, Nani, Carrick, Scholes, Giggs, Berbatov and Rooney. Subs: Amos, Evra, Brown, Anderson, Hernandez, Obertan and Macheda.
“Welcome home Ferguson” were the chants as Manchester United entered the Ibrox Stadium to face Glasgow Rangers, a place which is close to manager Sir Alex Ferguson. It was here where it all began and a few miles off of this stadium was
where Ferguson worked as a ships workman.
Ferguson employed his best possible attacking players in his squad, with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov leading the attack. The experience of Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs with Nani flair was enough for the midfield. However, the manager
chose to rest all of his first team defenders, owing to a tough domestic encounter coming up in December.
The first half was dominated in possession by the away side and United didn’t let much pass their half. Wayne Rooney got close to scoring in the 19th minute, but couldn’t control the volley and shot the ball high
above the goal post. United looked confident of finding the break through as a win here would guarantee a pole position in the knockout stages. Rooney had a perfect chance to end his 8 month open play goal drought but was unlucky to be denied by the post.
Shades of the ‘Old Rooney’ were seen in the attack whose hunger and passion for the Red Devils seemed to be coming back.
The English striker seems to be working hard at the field and may well be rewarded with a goal for all his efforts. On the other end, Kenny Miller had a good chance to score against the English Giants but was denied the opportunity by
a good save by Edwin Van Der Sar. That was the closest the Scottish Champions got to finding back of the net. Scholes, Giggs and Nani combined well whenever they had the ball on their feet and made some good chances for themselves.
At the end of the forty five minutes, there was nothing to choose in between the two sides and United would want to floor the accelerator in order to find the break through. United have not lost a single match in 27 fixtures and would
want to bolster their chances in the Champions league by registering a win at the Ibrox.
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