Champions League: AaB Aalborg v Manchester United - as it happened

Dimitar Berbatov scored a long overdue brace as the Champions swatted their Danish hosts aside with ease
Sir Alex Ferguson
Sir Alex Ferguson: access denied. Photograph: Olivier Morin/AFP/Getty Images


The visitors go into tonight's match on the back of a Sir Alex Ferguson hissy-fit, thrown yesterday when the Manchester United manager told hacks he would never co-operate with them again. Quite how how the gentlemen of the fourth estate will cope without being bullied, belittled or glowered at by Fergie on a weekly basis is anyone's guess.

Whether Ferguson will be able to get by without the weekly ego-boost provided by a room-full of obsequious sausage-roll junkies braying far too loudly at his unfunny quips also remains equally open to question. It's also worth noting that, at the time of writing, he had yet to confirm who will aid and abet him in his attempts to wind up other managers in the build-up to big matches now that he'll no longer relying on the press to do so.

Away from all that guff and nonsense, tonight's encounter at the 10,000-seater Aalborg Stadium is Superligaen champions AaB's first meeting with United. Managed by itinerant former Arsenal, Middlesbrough and Bolton manager Bruce Rioch, AaB drew away to Celtic in the opening match of their first ever Champions League campaign, but have had a poor start to their domestic season, amassing just seven points from their first eight games.

Holders Manchester United also drew their first game of the Champions League, against Villarreal, this season and travel to Denmark having seen off Bolton 2-0 on Saturday, with the ease of their comfortable win having been overlooked in all the hoopla over the ridiculous penalty award gifted to them by referee Rob Styles. "The most important thing is that Aalborg get our respect. We must make sure we don't fall into any traps and play to our best level," said Sir Alex Ferguson, shortly before taking his self-imposed vow of silence.

AaB: 1-Karim Zaza; 3-Martin Pedersen, 4-Michael Beauchamp, 6-Steve Olfers, 16-Kaspar Bogelund; 21-Kasper Risgard, 9-Thomas Augustinussen; 23-Thomas Enevoldsen, 8-Andreas Johansson, 14-Jeppe Curth; 10-Marek Saganowski.
Subs: Stenild, Due, Caca, Braemer, Sorensen,
Kristensen, Ronnie Schwartz Nielsen.

Man Utd: 1-Edwin van der Sar; 3-Patrice Evra, 15-Nemanja Vidic, 5-Rio Ferdinand, 21-Rafael; 17-Nani, 22-John O'Shea, 18-Paul Scholes, 7-Cristiano Ronaldo; 9-Dimitar Berbatov, 10-Wayne Rooney
Subs: Amos, Brown, Anderson, Giggs, Park, Evans, Tevez.

Referee: Olegario Benquerenca (Portugal)

The only surprise inclusion in the Manchester United's side is curly-haired Brazilian tyro Rafael Da Silva at right-back, ahead of Wes Brown.

Interesting fact you might not know about AaB, if like me you believe everything you read on Wikipedia: The club was founded in 1885 by English engineers who were building Jutland's railway system and was originally a cricket club.

First email of the evening: Will Sir Alex Ferguson be extending his vow of silence as far as MUTV and the club magazine?" asks Gary Naylor. "I suppose not. Didn't this sort of thing go out of fashion with Pravda and the Völkischer Beobachter? For the universally acknowledged Numero Uno in the world's best supported club to treat his fans in this way is hubris of the highest order."

Champions League update: Real Madrid have just beaten Zenit St Petersburg 2-1 in a cracking game of football. Quite how Zenit didn't win by seven or eight goals is anyone's guess, as they completely outplayed Real in the second half, spurning no end of glorious scoring opportunities in the process.

Another email: "This game is rife with Wigan power," writes Adam Leier, a Latics fan in New York. "Bruce Rioch used to manage Wigan and Andreas Johansson used to play for them. He's pretty deadly! He was the most effective goal scorer of 05/06 per minutes played in the Premier League. He also hold the record for joint fastest red card in PL history, in the final game at Highbury, which led to a penalty, which lead to the final goal ever scored at Highbury."

Game on: The home side line up wearing red and white striped shirts with tasteful white and gold epaulettes, white shorts and white socks. Manchester United line up in blue shirts, shorts and socks. According to ITV4's fancy graphic, AaB will play a 4-1-4-1 formation, with Thomas Augustinussen patrolling the space in front of his back four and Marek Saganowski alone up front. Expect United to play a 4-4-2, with Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov up front.

1 min: AaB win a throw-in deep in United territory, down near the corner flag. The ball's chucked into the mixer and United clear.

2 min: Nani picks up the ball on the left wing, cuts inside and let's fly from 25 yards. His shot stings Kaspar Bogelund's thigh before being hacked clear. "Is Sir Alex revealing his 'blue steel' look in the photo at the top of your article?" asks Niall Glynn.

4 min: Dimitar Berbatov volleys wide of an open goal after Ronaldo charges down a poor clearance from AaB goalkeeper Zaza who, to be fair, was left horribly exposed by a dreadful backpass from one of his defenders. The ball looped up in the air and dropped kindly for Berbatov, whose decision to opt for power rather than precision tells you all you need to know about his form at the moment.

6 min: Great save by Zaza who blocks a Rio Ferdinand volley from six yards with his shins. Manchester United are running rings around AaB at the moment - it's only a matter of time before they score.

10 min: AaB attack and Thomas Enevoldsen curls a wonderful low ball across the edge of the Manchester United six-yard box, forcing Patrice Evra to concede a corner from which Andreas Johansson should have scored. The ball dropped beautifully for the Wigan old boy, but he tried to put his laces through the ball and ended up kicking fresh air.

12 min: From the left wing, Nani tries to play Cristiano Ronaldo in behind the Aalborg defence, but the ref correctly penalises him for offside. From the ensuing free-kick, AaB launch another sortie deep into Manchester United half, with Kaspar Bogelund getting in behind the left back, only to see Patrice Evra recover in time to cut out his attempted cross.

14 min: I'm not sure what's wrong with Paul Scholes, but he's just been carried off the pitch by stretcher-bearers, sitting up on his conveyance looking mightily fed up but in no particular distress. He is immediately replaced by Ryan Giggs, who takes up a position in the centre of midfield alongside John O'Shea.

16 min: Just outside his own penalty area, Giggs gets caught in possession by Thomas Augustinussen, who barges straight into Nemanja Vidic. The Serb stand his ground and wins a free-kick for Manchester United.

19 min: Rafael Da Silva has a shot from distance, forcing Karim Zaza to parry his low drive straight into the path of ... a defender, who taps it out for a corner, from which nothing comes. That could have spilled anywhere.

GOAL! AaB Aalborg 0-1 Manchester United (Rooney 21) Ryan Giggs picks up the ball in midfield, drills a low through-ball past the sleeping Kasper Bogelund and into the path of Wayne Rooney. He latches on to it just inside the AaB penalty area, before flicking it low past the onrushing Zaza and into the goal.

24 min: Bogelund attempts to make amends for his complicity in United's opener by peeling off Ronaldo and volleying a loose ball diagonally from right to left inside United's penalty area. A marvellous saving tackle from Rio Ferdinand helps keep the Danish side scoreless.

27 min: "Let's face it, United are going to hammer AaB in this game," writes Nathan Smith. "The next time someone says that the Champions League should be made up only of national champions, maybe you should point them towards this terrible anti-climax. The group-stages can get pretty tedious, but at least you're guaranteed a few decent games and a bit of tension. Remember the days when you could win a European Cup by beating Bruges in the final?" Bruges? It wasn't so long ago you could win the European Cup by beating Liverpool in the final.

28 min: Terrible ball from Marek Saganowski who, with all the time in the world and the ball at his feet just outside the Manchester United penalty area, sends a low pass for Bogueland to chase into the corner. There's too much weight on it and despite Bogelund's best Nijinsky impersonation, it dribbles over the end-line for a goal-kick.

32 min: With AaB centre-half Michael Beauchamp lying prostrate on the floor injured after a tussle with Nani, Ronaldo incurs the wrath of the crowd by trying a shot on goal instead of putting the ball out of play. AaB left-back Martin Pedersen, who appears to model his look on Billy Idol (tattoos, spiky bleach blond hair and a temperament to match) takes issue with Ronaldo's lack of sportsmanship and goes for him, forcing Wayne Rooney to step in and act as peacemaker.

34 min: Beauchamp is forced to go off injured - he must have pulled something while stretching acrobatically for a clearance against Nani. He's not having much luck in the Champions League this season - he got sent off in a case of mistaken identity against Celtic. Pedersen fought his corner there too - offering to lie on the grenade and walk instead.

38 min: Rafael Da Silva gets booked for a completely unnecessary lunge on Martin Pedersen.

40 min: Pedersen tries to run the ball out of defence, but a sloppy pass gifts possession to Rafael. The young Brazilian sets off on a searing run down the right flank, before prodding the ball across the edge of the six yard box for Rooney to chase. Offside.

42 min: Rafael hogs the headlines again, this time trying to curl a left-footed effort in from distance. He doesn't quite get hold of it, but forces a corner out of goalkeeper Zaza. Corner for United, from which Berbatov almost - but inevitably doesn't - score. He's done nothing in this half and looks like he couldn't care less.

44 min: AaB midfielder Jeppe Curth runs on to a cross from Kaspar Boguelend and sends a dipping chip into the sky. It's a good effort, but sadly for him, it lands on the roof of the net.

44+1 min: "Can you explain why AaB's Beauchamp is being pronounced Beecham?" asks Steve Hewitt. "It does my head in. His accent is antipodean, but that's no excuse." I don't know, Steve. I thought all people pronounced that name Beecham. And let's face it, it wouldn't be the first thing an Australian got wrong. Maybe he's a very effective remedy for cold and flu?


46 min: The second half is underway.

47 min: Corner for Manchester United, conceded by Kasper Risgaard. The ball is sent in to the mixer, where Pedersen steals the ball off Rooney's toe and gallops out of his own penalty area on another counter-attack before picking out Thomas Enevoldsen. He cuts inside Rafael Da Silva before slashing a wild shot from distance over the bar.

49 mins: Ryan Giggs picks up the ball in the final third, shimmies his way into a shooting position and pulls the trigger. His effort is blocked by Caca ... who I may have forgotten to mention, is the attacking midfielder who replaced injured centre-half Beauchamp.

51 min: A clumsy knee-on-knee challenge from Johansson leaves Rafael Da Silva writhing on the deck in agony. The AaB defender picks up a yellow card for his troubles, while the United full-back is carried off on a stretcher, where he gets a bit of treatment before coming back on.

Goal! AaB Aalborg 0-2 Manchester United (Berbatov 55) My report of Dimitar Berbatov's first goal in a Manchester United shirt disappears when I try to launch it, only to be mysteriously replaced by a chunk of text from Scott Murray's report on Arsenal v FC Porto. Weird. Anyway, that's been bounced out of this report now, back to where it belongs. It was a comical goal - the Bulgarian was teed up by a farcical attempt at a back-pass from AaB skipper Thomas Augustinussen and had the good grace to look embarrassed after controlling the ball before smashing it past AaB goalkeeper Karim Zaza.

63 min: Things you've missed while our minute-by-minute tools have gone into meltdown and started flashing up "administrative error" messages: Wayne Rooney having to go off injured, his replacement Carlos Tevez having a goal disallowed for hand-ball, the AaB goalkeeper being booked for trying to steal that all-important yard at a goal-kick instead of taking it from the edge of the six-yard box, the last vestiges of Wes Brown's dignity ebbing away as he's brought on to replace a 19-year-old.

67 min: Andreas Johansson saunters through the Manchester United defence like somebody dribbling around training cones, before laying the ball off to team-mate Jeppe Curth. He shoots into the side-netting under pressure from Nemanja Vidic.

70 min: "Only 20 minutes to go," chirrups ITV4 commentator Clive Tyldesley. Only? This games is well and truly over as a contest - AaB might have nicked one back, but there isn't a hope of them two.

74 min: Ronaldo tries a low, dipping 25-yarder which Karim Zaza does well to hold on to.

75 min: Not for the first time this evening, Kasper Bogelund charges forward from the AaB right-back position, deep into the United half. With three players queuing up for the cross, he puts too much welly on his delivery and sends it flying high over their heads.

76 min: Thomas Envoldsen sends an excellent cross from the left wing towards the back post, where Andreas Johansson literally clambers all over Patrice Evra before heading narrowly wide. No free-kick is forthcoming - the goal would have counted if he'd hit the target.

GOAL! AaB Aalborg 0-3 Manchester United (Berbatov 78) Critiano Ronaldo skins Martin Pedersen down the right wing and sends in a cross, which bounces around waist-height beside Berbatov, who swivels on one foot before expertly volleying the ball past Zaza. It was an excellent strike, but having graduated from the Thierry Henry school of unconvincing brooding indifference, he's far too cool to celebrate his strike and focuses all his efforts on unsuccessfully attempting to stifle a grin instead.

83 min: Berbatov turns provider, using the outside of his right boot to stroke an inch-perfect pass into the path of the onrushing Ronaldo. He takes the ball wide of the goalkeeper, narrowing the angle he has to shoot at in the process, before firing a lazy effort a foot wide of the near post.

89 min: Both sets of players, both managers and all the fans are clock-watching at this stage, as am I.

90+1 min: AaB go forward in search of a consolation, but Evra puts a stop to Caca's gallop, before sending Ronaldo on his way. The referee puts AaB out of their misery with a sharp blast on his whistle - it's game over.

Elsewhere in this group, Celtic have just lost to Villarreal at the Madrigal. Their record away from home in the Champions League remains abysmal. United and Villarreal top the group with four points from two games, while AaB and Celtic have one point each and will almost certainly be left left scrapping over the Uefa Cup crumbs.