Manchester United 4-2 Bayer Leverkusen: Match Report
The Reds kicked off
their 2013/14 European campaign with a 4-2 victory over Bayer Leverkusen
as Wayne Rooney hit the 200-goal mark for the club.
In
David Moyes’ first Champions League game as boss, United secured a
hard-fought win in their opening Group A game thanks to a Rooney double
and a strike apiece from Robin van Persie and Antonio Valencia. After
a pretty even opening 20 minutes, Rooney broke the deadlock in the
22nd, volleying home Patrice Evra’s left-wing cross after excellent work
from Robin van Persie in the build-up.
Rooney and Kagawa went
close to doubling the advantage in quick succession just before the
break, and soon after the restart Rooney somehow failed to find the goal
or van Persie when he rounded Leverkusen keeper Bernd Leno after
pinching the ball from Omer Toprak.
United were made to pay
seconds later when Leverkusen captain Simon Rolfes curled a 25-yard shot
past David De Gea, via a wicked deflection off Michael Carrick. It
wasn’t long before the Reds were back in front though with a rare
strike in front of the Stretford End for van Persie, his first there
since Stoke last season. It came via a cross from Valencia with van
Persie hooking an excellent right-foot volley past Leno, who got a touch
to it but couldn’t keep it out.
Rooney fired his landmark strike
on 70 minutes, finishing with aplomb after Leverkusen failed to deal
with De Gea’s long punt upfield, before he teed up Valencia to blast
home the fourth. There was still time for Leverkusen to grab a second
through Toprak and van Persie to miss an open goal, but the most
important thing was three points for United.
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