Wolfsburg 1 Manchester U 3:MANCHESTER UNITED topped their Champions League group thanks to a forward who has sometimes seemed in danger of dropping out of sight. Following an equaliser for Wolfsburg, Michael Owen won the game with the second and third goals of a hat-trick.
He put his side 2-1 up as he converted a pass from the substitute Gabriel Obertan in the 83rd minute and broke from the halfway line in a counter-attack that ensured Wolfsburg’s elimination in the closing moments of an unusual occasion.
For those weary of United’s three consecutive Premier League titles, of their Champions League victory in 2008 and even of their prominence when that trophy was not wrested from them until in a final with Barcelona, there has been good news of late. The fates conducted a review and opted for a handicap system.
It is compelling to watch a side stripped by injury of its normal defence. The notion of converting the midfielder Michael Carrick into a sweeper holds some attraction when you imagine him playing passes like a libero of yesteryear. He was not left in peace often enough to perform in that sort of considered manner, but Carrick did stand in the centre of a back three.
That 3-5-2 formation is seen only sporadically and its presence gave this match a touch of the costume drama. Even so, the issues were contemporary with United seeking, at a minimum, the draw that would send them into the last 16 as group winners. The task could well have become thorny when Carrick attempted a challenge inside the area after 13 minutes and connected with Makoto Hasebe instead of the ball.
The Dutch referee Bjorn Kuipers took no action. Wolfsburg might therefore have realised they had a daunting assignment to secure qualification even before they heard that CSKA Moscow had gone ahead against Besiktas. All the same, the German club were passive at the outset.
Carrick was in the centre of a trio that comprised his fellow midfielder Darren Fletcher and the left-back Patrice Evra, yet, with the exception of he penalty appeal, they enjoyed a period in which they could familiarise themselves with the duties assigned them by Alex Ferguson. If Wolfsburg could not open with vivacity and menace it was because the visitors had the know-how to hold the ball and force their opponents to cover.
United understood that they were not obliged to be beleaguered. So long as they had some of their normal attacking resources, there was bound to be a good prospect of creating panic in the Wolfsburg penalty area, as they eventually did.
There was a spell when Wolfsburg outflanked those three United centre-backs but Andrea Barzagli and Zvjezdan Misimovic, in the space of three minutes, each sent a header off target when, at the minimum, they ought to have put Tomasz Kuszczak to the test.
It is cliché to say that such wastefulness is most likely to be penalised by United, but that warning is given so often because of the frequency with which it has been true over the years. Three minutes from the interval Nani, whose ineffectiveness may have led Wolfsburg to forget his existence, crossed from the left and Owen headed comfortably past the goalkeeper Diego Benaglio.
The predicament of the home players did at least clear their minds. The situation was rectified to a degree with an equaliser that demonstrated the weakness of an ad hoc defence. The Wolfsburg left-back Marcel Schafer got to the by-line and his cross was headed in strongly by an unmarked Edin Dzeko. While the noise levels rose steeply, the game went back into a lull. It was an indication that Wolfsburg, for all their intent, lacked the quality to belabour even this United selection for long.
The nearest they came after that was in the 71st minute when Hasebe got the ball to Grafite, but the angle prevented the striker from doing any more than forcing Tomasz Kuszczak to concede a corner.
WOLFSBURG: Benaglio, Schafer, Barzagli, Ricardo Costa, Riether, Josue, Gentner, Hasebe (Ziani 72), Misimovic, Dzeko, Grafite (Dejagah 72). Subs not used: Lenz, Simunek, Johnson, Madlung, Pekarik.
MAN UTD: Kuszczak, Park, Fletcher, Carrick, Evra, Gibson, Scholes, Nani (Valencia 74), Welbeck (Obertan 74), Anderson, Owen. Subs not used: Foster, Eikrem, James, Gill, Stewart.
Referee: Bjorn Kuipers (Holland).
