Team ethic sparks Sir Alex joy

Manchester United FC manager Sir Alex Ferguson hailed an outstanding performance by his players following a 3-0 UEFA Champions League Group D victory at Juventus FC which took the Red Devils through to the last eight of the competition.

Second victory on Italian soil 
Two goals from Ryan Giggs in the first half and simple tap-in from Ruud van Nistelrooij secured United’s seventh consecutive appearance in the quarter-finals of the competition and only their second victory on Italian soil.

'Fantastic performance'
Sir Alex said: "It was a fantastic performance by the players and I am delighted. We had to make some changes with the team due to injuries and to do that in an important game means that you need to some time to adjust and I am pleased with the way the players reacted. It was a tremendous team performance overall and I thought [Juan Sebastián] Verón was fanastic in the first half and [David] Beckham showed what a good passer he his."

Plaudits for Giggs
The Scot experimented with Roy Keane in central defence alongside Rio Ferdinand and although his captain was in majestic form it was the recently-maligned Giggs who stole the plaudits after coming on as a substitute for Diego Forlán after only four minutes. Sir Alex said: "Football is a funny old game you know. I didn't want to use Giggs tonight but then I had to put him on as Forlán got injured. European nights have never been a problem for Ryan. He has been excellent on many occassions and tonight was one of them."

Lippi lament
Juventus, for their part, were left to rue a series of missed chances and some uncharacteristic lapses in defence. However, coach Marcello Lippi maintained that the debilitating 'flu virus which had swept through the squad in the past week had more to do with his side’s under-par performance. He said: “We paid for the problems we have had in recent weeks. It was a bad evening and we paid physically – some of the players were drained from the virus.”

Praise for United
However, Lippi was quick to praise United and admitted that they deserved their victory. “They were world class," he said. "They can create all sorts of problems from lots of different situations. They have great quality and you need to be able to move quickly to counter them. We weren't able to do that tonight."

Deportivo next up
Juventus remain in second place in the group, although the Serie A champions are level on points with RC Deportivo La Coruña. The two sides meet on Matchday 11 in Turin on 12 March and Lippi will be hoping that his team are not as generous as they were against United.

'Things went against us'
Lippi said: “Things went against us tonight. Zambrotta trod on the ball for their first goal after we had just hit the crossbar and then [Antonio] Conte made a mistake for their second. There was another mistake for the third when [Igor] Tudor tried to direct the ball back and it hit the post."

Lippi remains upbeat
Lippi felt that there had been little or no positives to be taken from the game, but remained upbeat on his side’s prospects of reaching the quarter-finals. He concluded: “We are still in second place and we will do everything possible to qualify. We cannot look back we have to keep looking forward.”