Braga 1 - 3 United

De Gea

Valencia Smalling Evans(Rio) Evra

Nani(Rafael) Anderson Rooney Giggs

Welbeck(RVP)

Chicharito

So United played for 10 minutes and still managed to win away from home. We were trailing up until the 80th minute in a game which was as interesting as an F1 race, i.e. very very VERY boring.  Even the floodlights gave up on the game and decided to call it a night barely an hour into the game. United were poor today but as soon as Rafael and our Dutchman stepped on the pitch, we did look like a changed side. They replaced the ineffective Welbeck and Nani. The latter looks disinterested. If I was a gambler, I would play a tenner on him being at another club by next season. 

Chicha's 6th goal of the season

Braga are a tough nut to crack in their back yard and they proved just that with an industrious display...until their goalie fucked it all up. On the 80th minute, their goalie was caught in no man's land and RVP concluded brilliantly from outside the box. I swear that was our first decent shot at goal. On the 80th minute! Four minutes later Rooney was floored inside the box and the referee justly awarded a penalty. After last Saturday's miss, I was a tad pessimistic about Roo taking the pen, but his shot today was inch perfect (although if you look carefully, he hit the ground). Chicharito managed to put some daylight between the two sides with the most bizarre of goals. He was barely 3 yards away from goal and instead of shooting, he made about one thousand five hundred touches before unleashing the weakest of efforts. He still managed to force the ball home whilst lying on the ground....quite fortunate, I must say, but they all count! 

We have won our group without really breaking a sweat. The upcoming CL games will be a perfect chance for youngsters to get a taste of European football, while the underperforming/injured players can get some minutes under their belt and, maybe, a morale boosting performance. Yes, by the word underperforming, I am referring to Nani. We can fully focus on the PL whilst City and Chelsea fight tooth and nail against their European opponents. Good stuff.

Two tricky away games in the PL next. They're both very winnable but these 'small' clubs have proven to be a banana skin on countless of occasions. Just look at what Celtic have just done to the mighty Barca! Come on United!