A new dawn looked likely for Manchester United after Alex Ferguson’s team won the European Champions League in Moscow in May.
Just two months after becoming European champions, Manchester United arrive in SA on Friday for their pre-season tour resembling a club in crisis.
Manchester United said on Friday that Cristiano Ronaldo is not for sale, despite the Portuguese winger’s comments saying he wants to join Real Madrid.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored one goal and made another to give Portugal a 3-1 win over the Czech Republic in Group A on Wednesday.
Manchester United have lodged an official complaint with world football governing body Fifa over Real Madrid’s pursuit of Cristiano Ronaldo, the English champions confirmed on Monday.
In the week before a major tournament like Euro 2008 the streets of England’s towns and cities take on an unusually unified look. The red and white flag of St George appears everywhere. It can be seen draped in shop displays, fluttering from houses and stuck to the sides of every other car.
Manchester United have threatened to report Real Madrid to Fifa as the row over the Spanish club’s bid to sign Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo turns ugly. United have been increasingly frustrated by Real’s attempts to lure Ronaldo to the Bernabeu in the last year.
Alex Ferguson will quit as Manchester United manager within three years, he told The Mail on Sunday newspaper. Ferguson, who has been in charge at Old Trafford since 1986, said he would be gone by the time he reaches 70 in December 2011. The Scot reneged on his original plan to retire six years ago.
Manchester United were crowned kings of Europe for the third time on Wednesday when they beat Chelsea 6-5 on penalties after a breathless all-English Champions League final had finished 1-1 after extra time. United’s 37-year-old goalkeeper, Edwin van der Sar, saved the decisive spot kick from substitute Nicolas Anelka.
They are the men who will reap the plaudits and milk the applause — the goal poachers who can grab glory for their nation in an instant. And they will deserve the adulation if they can rise above the increasingly defensive fare of the modern international game and the fear of losing, which hung heavy over the finals of both Euro 2004 and the 2006 World Cup.
Manchester United has another English title and Cristiano Ronaldo. Chelsea has a huge, talented squad and the wealth of owner Roman Abramovich. There is no underdog in this Champions League final as two English clubs make history by going head to head in Moscow.
At the top of their game are Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool. Not so lucky are Derby County, Birmingham and Reading. We present the English Premiership report cards for the four that return to the Champions League … and the ones that got the chop.
It could hardly be more fitting. Fifty years after the Munich air disaster that killed 23 people and rocked a city, Manchester United stand on the brink of a European
triumph, something that means so much to the local people and to the club itself. Eight United players died in the crash in 1958, wiping out many footballers who experts believed could go on to dominate Europe for many years to come.
Sir Alex Ferguson believes his young Manchester United stars will become Old Trafford legends if they win the Champions League. Ferguson’s side retained the Premier League title on Sunday and now the Scot has turned his attention to the Champions League final against Chelsea, the team they edged out of the title.
Ryan Giggs etched his name even deeper into the history of Manchester United as he struck the goal which confirmed the Old Trafford club’s 10th English Premier League title in the space of 15 years. His introduction as a second-half substitute at Wigan on Sunday saw the 34-year-old equal United’s appearance record of 758 games held by Bobby Charlton.
Manchester United clinched their 17th English championship on Sunday by beating Wigan 2-0 in a nail-biting finale to the most thrilling Premier League title battle in years. Pushed to the wire by Chelsea, United claimed the 10th title of Sir Alex Ferguson’s reign by two points after their rivals were held to a 1-1 draw by Bolton in their final match.
Nicklas Bendtner scored with a late header on Sunday to give Arsenal a 1-0 win over Everton in the Premier League, and Liverpool beat Manchester City by the same score. Bendtner jumped to head a cross from Armand Traore past Everton goalkeeper Tim Howard in the 77th minute.
Manchester United took a huge step towards retaining their Premier League title when they beat West Ham United 4-1 at Old Trafford on Saturday after playing more than half the match with 10 men. Cristiano Ronaldo scored twice while Carlos Tevez and Michael Carrick both scored against their old club as United moved on to 84 points with one match to play.
Cristiano Ronaldo been voted footballer of the year by the English Football Writers’ Association, completing a double after receiving the same accolade from his professional peers last week. It is the second season in succession that the 23-year-old Portugal winger has received both of English football’s most prestigious individual awards.
A stunning goal from Paul Scholes gave Manchester United a 1-0 win over Barcelona on Tuesday to set up an all-English Champions League final against either Liverpool or Chelsea in Moscow next month. Scholes was suspended for United’s epic victory over Bayern Munich in the 1999 final, and Ferguson had already said he would play in the final if they qualified.
Alex Ferguson has promised a more ambitious approach from his Manchester United side in Tuesday’s Champions League semifinal second leg at home to Barcelona. Ferguson told the media that ”the game now starts at Old Trafford — it’s the decider.”
Mamelodi Sundowns Football Club on Saturday announced that, effective from June 1, Nike South Africa will be the official technical sponsor of the club for a period of four years. Nike partners with the world’s most successful players such as Cristiano Ronaldo, Ronaldinho, Wayne Rooney as well as Benni McCarthy and Aaron Mokoena.
Saturday’s showdown between Chelsea and Manchester United could well decide who wins the English Premiership title. It could also be a rehearsal for the Champions League final. United hold a three-point lead over the Blues in the league title race with two more matches to follow.
Sir Alex Ferguson has warned Barcelona to brace themselves for an Old Trafford backlash when the two sides resume battle next week. An enthralling goalless draw in Barcelona on Wednesday has left the Champions League semifinal between the two clubs delicately poised but Ferguson is confident there will be no repeat of what was a subdued display by his team.
Manchester United return to Barcelona’s Nou Camp stadium on Wednesday, the scene of one of their greatest victories, with the Champions League final again in their sights. The reigning English champions and Premiership leaders face the Catalan club, who won the 2006 Champions League, on Wednesday in the first leg of a semifinal tie.
Owen Hargreaves was Manchester United’s unlikely goal-scoring hero as the English Premier League leaders came from behind to see-off title challengers Arsenal 2-1 at Old Trafford in London on Sunday. Earlier on Sunday, Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard scored in a 3-1 win over Blackburn Rovers at Anfield.
Wayne Rooney scored an equaliser as Manchester United hit back for a 2-2 draw at Middlesbrough on Sunday, which left them three points clear in the Premier League. After second-place Chelsea’s 2-0 victory at Manchester City on Saturday, the Red Devils needed to win at the Riverside and took a 10th-minute lead through Cristiano Ronaldo.
Manchester United beat Roma 2-0 away and Barcelona won 1-0 at Schalke in their Champions League quarterfinal, first-leg matches on Tuesday to take big steps towards a semifinal showdown. Goals by Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney either side of half-time gave United victory at the Stadio Olimpico as the English champions continued to torment Roma.
Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney gave Manchester United a clinical 2-0 win at AS Roma on Tuesday in the first leg of their Champions League quarterfinal. Portugal forward Ronaldo soared inside the area six minutes before the break to head home a Paul Scholes cross after Rooney had skipped away from Philippe Mexes.
Manchester United beat old rivals Liverpool 3-0 at Old Trafford on Sunday as the reigning champions were left five points clear at the top of the Premier League table. But it was Chelsea who became United’s nearest challengers after a double from Didier Drogba saw them come from a goal behind to beat Arsenal 2-1.
Cristiano Ronaldo scored a first-half double to send Manchester United clear at the top of the Premier League with a 2-0 win over struggling Bolton at Old Trafford on Wednesday. A strike from 12 yards and a long-range free-kick took Ronaldo’s goal tally for the season to 33 and left the champions three points clear of Arsenal.
English football’s big guns were shot down in flames on Saturday as Chelsea and Manchester United crashed out of the FA Cup quarterfinals in two of the famous old competition’s most remarkable upsets. Between them Chelsea and United have won four of the last five Premier League titles and boast some of the world’s finest players.