'Hungry' United satisfy Sir Alex

Manchester United FC manager Alex Ferguson was understandably content after his side took revenge for last season’s UEFA Champions League semi-final loss to Bayer 04 Leverkusen by beating their Group F opponents 2-0 at Old Trafford on Matchday Six. "I'm pleased with the performance, we worked really hard, there was a hunger about them which we wanted to see," he said.

Double strike
United played with increasing purpose through the game, and scored two excellent goals to secure the top spot in Group F. Juan Sebastián Verón capped an influential display by teeing himself up to volley the opening goal on 41 minutes, before Ruud van Nistelrooij grabbed the second with 20 minutes to go. Verón fed the ball to Scholes, who stepped over the ball, leaving the Dutch international striker to score between Hans-Jörg Butt’s legs.

Set piece worry
If Sir Alex did have a criticism of his side, it was confined to the way they defended set-pieces. Aside from Jan Šimák’s missed penalty, Leverkusen looked dangerous from corners and free-kicks early in the game. "At the start we were a little bit nervous and they had quite a decent spell to begin with, especially on set-plays - they were fantastic," said the Scot. "We carried a bit of luck defending the set plays but our attacking play was very good at times."

Top performance
Despite the result, Klaus Toppmöller revealed that he was satisfied with the way his inexperienced side had approached the game, and hoped it would be a valuable lesson in the development of some of his younger players. "I'm pleased with the performance," he said. "We had more chances here tonight than we did in the game last April [a 2-2 draw in a Champions League semi-final] We have a number of younger players in this team and I hope they see the difference between themselves and a top team like United. I hope they learn from that and build on this experience.”

Verón praised
The result gave Sir Alex extra satisfaction, knowing that United had ended the jinx which had seen them fail to beat a German club at Old Trafford in 36 years. He was further pleased by the performances of his central midfield players, Verón and Quinton Fortune.

Fortune impresses
"In general it was a good performance and once we got one or two attacks going, the confidence came," said Sir Alex. "Verón revels in European football, but at the moment the central midfield is a bit of a problem for us, with Roy Keane and Nicky Butt out injured. However, Fortune closed down their midfield well for us, and did well."

Injury mystery
A late injury to Rio Ferdinand marred the end of the game for United, and Sir Alex will hope it does not stretch his squad further. "We'll assess the injury tomorrow, we don’t know the situation as yet," he said.