Running Commentary - Manchester United v Aalborg Bk

Manchester United are looking for their first victory of this season's Champions League Group Stage after a dissapointing 0-0 tie with Villarreal back at Old Trafford on September 17th. Aalborg, the Champions of Denmark, also opened up their group stage with a scoreless draw against Celtic. If they could steal a point (or three) at home from heavily favored Manchester United, they would put themselves in a much better position to possibly get out of this tough group.

Lots to play for today for both squads, especially the local team. Can Aalborg pull of an upset of mammoth proportions? We'll see.

Here are the starting line-ups...


Aalborg BK
1. Karim Zaza
3. Steve Olfers
6. Martin Pedersen
16. Kasper Bogelund
4. Michael Beauchamp
8. Andreas Johansson
21. Kasper Risgard
14. Jeppe Curth
23. Thomas Enevoldsen
10. Marek Saganowski
9. Thomas Augustinussen

Manchester United
1. Edwin Van der Sar
5. Rio Ferdinand
22. John O'Shea
3. Patrice Evra
21. Rafael
15. Nemanja Vidic
18. Paul Scholes
7. Cristiano Ronaldo
17. Nani
10. Wayne Rooney
9. Dimitar Berbatov


0' - And we're off! Can Aalborg manage to upset the reigning champs? We're about to find out..

5' - Manchester has earned a corner kick after some sloppy man marking

6' - A flubbed clearance by Zaza found Berbatov, who hit the ball as it came in front of the net but it went just wide! Big mistake by Aalborg there.

7' - The Cristiano Ronaldo show has begun. Some nice moves in the center of the park.

8' - Another corner earned for Manchester as a Rafael shot was deflected out of bounds.

8' - Ferdinand gets to the back post on the corner and rips a shot from a tough angle! Zaza makes the save with his leg.

9' - Lots of pressure from Manchester's forwards. Aalborg is having a tough time finding the open man.

10' - Aalborg manages to get a low cross that painfully rolled across the 6 yard box with noone able to get a shot on goal. The ball gets hit out and a corner is awarded for Aalborg.

10' - Nothing ensues from the corner...

13' - The Aalborg fans are quite lively tonight.

16' - Paul Scholes was fouled, and is subbed out for number 11, Ryan Giggs. The foul didn't look like much from here, but Scholes was carted off. Hopefully for Scholes, it's not too serious.

20' - Rafael manages to get forward and found enough space to rip a shot that's saved by Zaza! Aalborg hits the rebound out for a Manchester corner.

21' - Corner is cleared out with no real problem.

22' - GOAL! Nani passes the ball to Ryan Giggs in the middle of the attacking third, who strings a beautiful pass to Wayne Rooney. Rooney, left 1v1 with Zaza, finishes with a strong low shot to the left.

25' - Ronaldo makes something out of nothing and sees his shot just sail over the crossbar.

28' - Aalborg seems content to sit back and watch Manchester play with the ball. Not much pressure from the Danish side.

29' - Van der Sar punches the ball clear after a shot took a deflection off a Manchester defender.

32' - Cristiano is fouled and Manchester take a quick Free Kick. Ronaldo crosses a nice ball that gets knocked out of bounds.

33' - Michael Beauchamp seems to be in pain after the corner was taken and cleared.

34' - A shove fest initiates between Ronaldo and Pedersen. What a peculiar hairstyle Pedersen is sporting today, maybe that sparked the argument.

38' - Bad challenge by Rafael sees him given a yellow card after he dove in to tackle Pedersen.

39' - Beauchamp can't go any longer and is replaced by Caca.

40' - A quick counter ends up turning into a corner for Manchester United. A reoccuring theme tonight.

43' - Rafael fights for the ball and manages to get a left-footed shot off that Zaza barely got a hand too! Impressive game thus far for Rafael.

44' - Nice buildup by Aalborg ends with a Jeppe Curth shot that goes well above the goal.

45+' - End of the first half. Manchester is up 1-0 thanks to a Wayne Rooney strike. Aalborg look overmatched as the team can't handle all the offensive fire power Manchester has to offer. Manchester is unlucky to be only up by one right now.

46' - And the second half is underway!

46' - Corner for Aalborg. Lets see if they can make something out of it. Pedersen will take the corner.

47' - The ball is knocked away before Rafael is tripped up and fouled.

49' - Long range shot by Enevolsen poses no pressure on Van der Sar as it flies into the stands.

50' - Berbatov looks out of sorts. Rooney was making a nice run in front of him and Dimitar decided to try and pass it wide only to have it intercepted. Tevez anyone?

52' - Rafael is fouled by Johanssen, who is given a yellow card for the challenge. The 18 year old just keeps cutting to the inside and leaving Aalborg defenders in the dust. Very impressive game thus far for the Brazilian teen.

54' - Zaza is awarded a yellow card for time waisting on a goal kick. Not sure why he took so long, his team is trailing 1-0.

55' - GOAL! Berbatov rifles one home, after capitalizing on a huge mistake by Augustinussen. The poor first touch bounced into the air and the Bulgarian striker took care of business. Berbatov didn't even celebrate his goal, he must know he's playing poorly.

59' - Rooney is replaced by Carlos Tevez who will want to impress here so as to show Sir Alex, that he does not want to get too comfortable with the bench.

60' - Tevez stumbled with the ball into the back of the net after a Nani shot was saved. No goal awarded though as the ref is indicate Tevez brought it down with his arm. I didn't see any infraction, should've been a goal for the Argentine forward.

63' - Rafael is asking for a sub. Must be because of one of the numerous fouls he picked up with his hip-breaking moves.

66' - Wes Brown steps in for Rafael, who had himself quite a debut. More looks are sure to come his way.

67' - Brown surprisingly did get forward and crossed one into the area. It was headered out and a quick counter is building up for Aalborg.

68' - Aalborg had an opportunity on the counter but Curth fails to get the ball on frame from 10 yards out. Big opportunity lost there.

72' - Ronaldo rolls a ball forward before taking a stinging shot that Zaza manages to pounce on.

74' - Aalborg looks to respond with their own chance on goal...a nicely weighted cross is headered just wide of the net by Johanssen!

75' - Tevez puts a nice move on his defender and finds space to get a shot off but it goes high and wide.

79' - GOAL! Ronaldo does a traditional move, leaving a defender behind, before looking up and placing a well weighted ball to the center of the area. Berbatov adjusts to a deflection and hits it with a well timed volley.

81' - Aalborg never had a chance. They looked like a deer in the headlights all game long.

85' - Berbatov has looked better in the last 15 minutes, then he has all game. He puts a beautiful pass into space that finds Cristiano Ronaldo on the run. Ronaldo's shot hits the side netting as he couldn't get a good shot off due to Zaza closing off his angle.

87' - Manchester United are just toying with Aalborg now. Everytime Aalborg thinks they have a chance at the goal of honor, Manchester counters with a dangerous pass upfield.

90' - Two minutes of stoppage time added on.

90+' - Game over. Berbatov hits a pair tonight, and Manchester United have picked up three points as well as a few injuries. Brazilian right back, Rafael was the Man of the Match tonight in my opinion, with a strong overall performance. His timely defending mixed with his runs forward made for an impressive debut.


That wraps it up for today! What did you think of the game? What did you think of Rafael tonight? Who was your Man of the Match? Share your comments below.