By Richard Siau / David Hobbs
August 1 2003
United win their third match of their pre-season tour of the States in style with a 4-1 thrashing over Italian champions and Champions League runners-up Juventus. The victory sends out a clear message to all European opposition season; that they will be a force to be reckoned with.
| Manchester United 4-1 Juventus - Match Report |
Manchester United thrashed Serie A champions, and Champions’ League runners up Juventus 4-1 in East Rutherford, New Jersey- in their 3rd instalment of tour of the USA. Great goals from Giggs, van Nistelrooy, Scholes, and Solskjaer sealed the win for the Red-Devils, but Czech Pavel Nedved made sure United didn’t keep a clean sheet. United controlled the game, and made Juventus look amateur, but two United players stood out- Juan Sebastian Veron, and debutant Tim Howard. Veron’s accurate passing and skill sent a message out to Sir Alex- not to sell him. Howard’s superb saves kept United in the game, and made a big impression in front of Sir Alex. The first chance of the game went to non-other than Ruud van Nistelrooy whose close range shot was pushed away by Italian goalie Buffon, and fell to Veron, who failed to finish. The first goal came about halfway through the first half, when Scholes was tripped on the edge of the box and United were awarded a free kick. Giggs stepped up to take it, and was superbly placed in the back-of-the-net. Even You-know-who would have been proud of that freekick. Half Time- Manchester United 1 – Juventus 0 United’s 2nd goal came a few minutes after half-time when Solskjaer took on the Juve defence and fed Paul Scholes who doubled United’s lead. 2-0 United A game without Ruud van Nistelrooy scoring wouldn’t be right, and he made sure it was right when Veron’s dazzling cross to van Nistelooy was controlled by the Dutch-Man and hammered in the back-of-the-net. 3-0 United On the 60th minute, Juve manager Marcelo Lippi was furious with his players, and substituted 10 of them! Sir Alex decided to sub’ only 3 of his players, taking Veron off for Darren Fletcher, bringing Bellion on for Scholes, and bringing Forlan on for van Nistelrooy. Juventus finally pulled one back when French international David Trezuguet fed sub’ Pavel Nedved to slot home a consolation goal for the Italians. 3-1 United. Debutant ‘keeper Howard was in action when he produced two magical saves from Del-Piero and Trezuguet. Solskjaer immediately cancelled Juventus’ goal out when a great long ball by Diego Forlan was met by the Norwegian international and driven into the back of the net. Uruguayan international, and scorer of two of United goals against Club America Diego Forlan had a chance to make it 5-1, but placed it just wide of the post, but it was a good solo effort. But a bit of bad news came through when it was confirmed that United have been fined just over £1.5million by the office of fair-trading, for fixing the price of their replica shirts. But all in all, a good night, Sir Alex had this to say: “The feature of our play has been the manner in which we've scored our goals," "We had two more special ones tonight -- Ryan Giggs's free kick and Ruud van Nistelrooy's magnificent strike.” Sir Alex
also commented on the Veron ‘speculation’, saying: “The stories are
emanating from England but the media are here and can see Veron every day.
It's very strange,” |
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| The Line-Ups |
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Manchester United: Howard; P Neville (Butt 75’), Ferdinand, O’Shea; Fortune, Solskjaer (Richardson 80’), Veron (Fletcher 65’), Scholes (Bellion 65’), Keane, Giggs; Van Nistelrooy (Forlan 65’) Juventus: |
| ManUtdWeb Man of the Match - Juan Sebastian Veron |
| Excellent passes, great skill, and an all-round good performance. He is clearly indicating that he would much rather stay at a club where he can play with other players of equal skill, rather than going to a lesser team which will not accomplish as much. |
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