Antonio Valencia took the first small step towards replacing Cristiano Ronaldo by scoring on his first appearance in a Manchester United shirt this evening, but he shared the limelight with Anderson, whose goal in the 2-1 win over Boca Juniors in the Allianz-Arena was his long-awaited first for the club.
Anderson’s goal will not go down in the statistical archives, given that the Audi Cup semi-final is not recognised as a competitive fixture, but, after 75 competitive appearances without a goal since his arrival from FC Porto two years ago, the Brazil midfield player marked his excellent 23rd-minute free kick with a celebratory dance – not, thankfully, by running around the pitch naked, as he had claimed he would when he finally got off the mark.
Valencia, the £16 million signing from Wigan Athletic, made it 2-0 three minutes before half-time, his pace taking him behind the full-back before he scored with a shot that squirmed under Roberto Abbondanzieri, the Boca goalkeeper. The Ecuador winger made a pleasing contribution in his first outing in a United shirt, having been unable to join his new team-mates20on their pre-season tour of Asia due to problems obtaining a visa, while Wayne Rooney was unstinting as he played the full 90 minutes of the game.
Federico Insua pulled a goal back for Boca with a fine volley early in the 55th minute, but United, while still feeling their way towards full fitness with over a fortnight to go before the start of the Premier League campaign, held on to secure their fifth win in as many pre-season games. Nemanja Vidic, who missed the Asia tour with an ankle injury, remained on the bench throughout, while Craig Cathcart, Fabio Da Silva and Federico Macheda picked up some valuable match experience.
The only sour note on the evening for United was the sight of Wes Brown limping off in the first half with what looked like a blow to his left thigh. With Gary Neville and Rafael Da Silva already sidelined by injuries, Ferguson will be hoping that Brown’s latest injury is not serious. United will contest the final on Thursday evening against the winners of Wednesday’s second game between Bayern Munich and AC Milan.
Boca Juniors (4-1-3-2): R Abbondanzieri – M Soto, Caceres Lopez, J Forlin, C M Rodriguez – L Diaz (sub: C Chavez, 46), S Battaglia, F Insua (sub: N Gaitan, 67) – J R Riquelme (sub: G Marino, 88) – M Palermo (sub: L Viatri, 82), R Noir (sub: P Mouche, 46). Subs not used: J Garcia (g), A Gunino, J A Krupoviesa, L Monzon, J Philippe.
Manchester United (4-4-2): T Kuszczak – J O’Shea, C Cathcart, W Brown (sub: R Ferdinand, 37), Fabio Da Silva (sub: P Evra, 77) – A Valencia (sub: Nani, 67), M Carrick (sub: P Scholes, 77), Anderson (sub: D Fletcher, 77), Park Ji Sung (sub: R Giggs, 67) – F Macheda (sub: D Berbatov, 67), W Rooney. Subs not used: B Foster, N Vidic, J Evans, D Gibson, Z Tosic.
Source: Times Online
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