Manchester United‘s crumbling season took another turn for the worse at Blackburn on Sunday as the champions were held to a 0-0 draw which left Chelsea in pole position to take the title while Rafael Benitez admits Liverpool‘s hopes of qualifying for the Champions League are virtually over after Fulham held the Reds to a 0-0 draw at Anfield.
Just four days after crashing out of the Champions League against Bayern Munich, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side gave a toothless display which left them one point behind leaders Chelsea, who have a game in hand against Bolton on Tuesday.
Just two weeks ago United looked strong contenders to win a treble, but now they may have to settle for just the League Cup they lifted in February.
Without the injured Wayne Rooney, United never looked likely to break down a rock-solid Blackburn defence as Dimitar Berbatov and Federico Macheda laboured to fill the void left by the England striker’s absence with an ankle problem.
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Manchester United have signed 21-year old Mexico striker Javier Hernandez from Chivas de Guadalajara.
Hernandez, known as Chicharito, will join the English champions on July 1, provided he is granted a work permit, and the deal will involve United playing a pre-season friendly to open the new 45 000-capacity Chivas Stadium in Guadalajara.
United boss Sir Alex Ferguson, who has also secured the signing of Fulham defender Chris Smalling for next season, said he was delighted to sign, “an exciting young striker, who has been in such prolific form for both his club and his country.
“He will be a great addition to our squad and we look forward to welcoming our first Mexican player in the summer.
“We are equally excited to play our first game in Mexico, opening the magnificent new Chivas Stadium in July.”
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Sir Alex Ferguson admits that the advantage lies with Chelsea, but insists that Manchester United still have ‘a great chance’ of retaining the Premier League title despite Wayne Rooney not being fit for the Blackburn Rovers game.
As Carlo Ancelotti’s men are on FA Cup semi-final duty at Wembley on Saturday, United will return to the top of the table if they can end a desperate week by beating Blackburn at Ewood Park on Sunday.
They must try and do so without Wayne Rooney, who has been ruled out by the ankle injury he aggravated against Bayern Munich in midweek, and with confidence on the floor following their away-goals exit in the Champions League.
That setback came just four days after the home defeat by Chelsea which saw the Red Devils surrender pole position and leave them outsiders to clinch an unprecedented fourth successive title.
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Manchester United looked certain winners after the first half of their Champions League encounter with Bayern Munich on Wednesday, but Bayern reached the semifinals on away goals after a 3-2 defeat at Old Trafford.
Arjen Robben’s sumptuous volley 16 minutes from time sealed an unlikely away goals triumph for Bayern whose 2-1 first leg lead was wiped out inside seven tumultuous minutes.
With Wayne Rooney making a surprise return for United after damaging ankle ligaments in the first leg, Bayern were stunned when Darron Gibson and Nani put United 2-0 up on the night and looked dead and buried when Nani struck again after 41 minutes.
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Carlo Ancelotti and Sir Alex Ferguson both installed Chelsea as favourites to win the Premiership title after a 2-1 win at Manchester United sent the Londoners two points clear with five games left to play.
“Chelsea are definitely favourites now, there is no question about that,” United boss Ferguson acknowledged. “Two points clear with five games left, it’s a great position for them to be in.”
Ancelotti echoed the United manager’s comments. “Now we are the favourites, yes. That’s normal when we are back at the top of the league.
“But nothing is decided. We have to stay composed, quiet and maintain focus in our game.”
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Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney is reported to have a 40% chance of making a shock return to action in this week’s Champions League tie against Bayern Munich.
The striker’s sprained ankle is believed to be recovering far quicker than previously expected and he could yet feature against the Germans on Wednesday despite officially being ruled out of action for “two to three weeks” after being injured in last week’s first-leg tie.
According to The Guardian, ‘Rooney has responded well to treatment and could be in line for a surprise recall to Sir Alex Ferguson’s squad if he comes through a training session today.
‘Ferguson will not risk the England forward if there is a chance of aggravating the injury further and last night United’s medical staff attempted to play down the chances of a comeback by only rating his chances of playing as “40%”.’
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Bayern Munich beat Manchester United 2 – 1 with an injury-time goal by Ivica Olic in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Tuesday.
The match was eagerly anticipated as a re-run of the famous thrilling Champions League final in 1999 when two dramatic goals right at the end of the game took the trophy to Old Trafford in a devastating blow to the Germans.
This time round, United struck right at the beginning of the match, with England striker Wayne Rooney latching on to a deflected free kick and smashing home a close-range volley for his 34th goal of the season with only 66 seconds played.
Bayern were left to rue a golden opportunity halfway through the first period as Olic somehow missed from about a yard out, completely unmarked in front of goal.
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Wayne Rooney ruled Old Trafford again on Sunday as Manchester United went back top of the Premier League but Dimitar Berbatov’s form in the 3-0 win over Fulham was equally satisfying for manager Alex Ferguson.
While the livewire Rooney notched his 31st and 32nd goals of a remarkable season, languid Bulgarian Berbatov provided the perfect foil with a display that oozed class.
Berbatov, who has never completely won over the Old Trafford faithful, produced a brilliant piece of play to set up Rooney’s second goal and got on the scoresheet himself to take his tally for the season to 10.
While that is hardly prolific for a player of Berbatov’s pedigree who has enjoyed being top dog at most of his previous clubs, Ferguson was more concerned with his silky contribution in other areas.
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Wayne Rooney scored his 30th goal of the season to help Manchester United beat AC Milan emphatically 4 – 0 at Old Trafford in their Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
On a night that saw David Beckham return to where it all started for him, it was the current darling of the Old Trafford faithful who steered United into the quarterfinals by following up his double in the 3-2 first leg victory in Milan with another brace.
A first-half header put Sir Alex Ferguson’s side firmly in control and the the England striker killed the tie in the opening seconds of the second period.
Park Ji-Sung and Darren Fletcher round off a memorable night as United eliminated their opponents for the first time in five attempts since two of European football’s iconic institutions first met, 52 years ago.
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Manchester United midfielder Paul Scholes joined an elite club after scoring his 100th Premier League goal against Wolverhampton.
The Manchester United midfielder chalked up the ton in style with an accomplished finish to give the champions a 1-0 win at Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Although he is not one for personal glory, the former England international was still relieved to have reached the milestone, showing patience and composure to nip past Jody Craddock before drilling his shot into the far corner.
Once a prolific scorer, Scholes found the net for the 98th time in league combat at Sunderland in April last year.
It has taken 11 months to get the extra two, having been on 99 since his effort in the four-goal demolition of West Ham last December.
His latest strike promises to be one of the most important this season for Manchester United as it gave them a narrow victory at Wolves and took them back to the top of the Barclays Premier League.
Scholes said: “It was nice. I had a similar chance against West Ham a couple of weeks ago, but thankfully this time I managed to score.
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