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Obertan's artistry eases United pain of injuries to Nani and Fletcher

Bursaspor 0 Manchester United 3

Ian Herbert
Wednesday 03 November 2010 01:00 GMT
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Mission virtually accomplished amid the Marmara mountains, but Manchester United's next, more challenging, task will seem that little bit steeper today as the club contemplate heading into next week's momentous derby against Manchester City minus two of their prime forces.

Nani lasted less than half an hour here before he pulled up with a groin strain and Darren Fletcher had played a decisive role for a little less than an hour before going over on his left ankle while shifting his weight on the right touchline. Sir Alex Ferguson said last night that both players will miss Saturday's match with Wolves, with the hit Fletcher also took to his ankle against Tottenham on Saturday – but ran off – contributing to the concern last night that he may also struggle to face Manchester City next Wednesday.

Ferguson had reasons to shrug off this collateral damage though, with Gabriel Obertan's first United goal and his elegant contribution to Fletcher's own suggesting that he can deliver more for the club than his rather lost first half display had suggested. The 10-point target has been attained and one more point in Glasgow against Rangers in two weeks time will see United through once again.

The overwhelming contribution, though, came from the figure who has been here innumerable times before. As Rio Ferdinand said on his Twitter feed, which he had largely used to bait Robbie Savage during the course of the day: "Scholes aka sat nav is spraying the ball around."

The 36-year-old, red-cheeked and blowing as he kicked up a gear when Nani had departed, remained the sole source of invention for much of the game. He needed a crafty piece of control with his left arm to put the ball into the net – which the referee spotted – but was comfortably the best player on the field again, dispatching passes long and short and certainly the lion's share of the 200 United had completed by the half hour, to no material effect.

Frequently, the "Sat Nav" would peer up and look for roads through, only to find them all blocked off and the moment certainly seemed to be vanishing for the poor soul Obertan. But only three minutes of the second half were needed for a display of what he offers. That was when the Clairefontaine graduate's fine run towards the opposition area revealed the promise Ferguson saw in him at Bordeaux, rather than the form of the disappointing season on loan at Lorient which directly preceded his move to Old Trafford.

The fruits of Obertan's labours appeared to have been wasted by Park Ji-sung, Nani's replacement, but Michael Carrick picked up the loose ball, found Fletcher lurking free on the right side of the box and watched him take one touch to control before firing home across goalkeeper Dimitar Ivankov into the bottom left-hand corner.

"His career has been derailed a bit with injuries," Ferguson said of Obertan last night. "It's been hard for the lad, but he's now back and training well. He showed what we know: that he's got talent." Obertan's right-footed goal revealed more. The Frenchman took a ball from Park, nudged it beyond his defender and needed another delicate touch before crashing home. Bebe's second goal in six days – another from the right foot – will give Ferguson a sense of vindication, too, though defender Ali Tangogan seemed to have played the ball into the net before United's 20-year-old reached it.

"He is young and has things to learn," Ferguson said of Bebe. "He has not had a lot of fundamental coaching but he's very brave, quick and for a young player he is quite a good decision maker."

It is hard to quibble too much with a win. This city's location apparently owes much to Hannibal, that great general of antiquity, and though Ferguson has not given the impression of feeling that this trip into Asia was akin to marching an army of elephants over the Alps, any result in a city so feverish about football that the city pavements are painted in the local side's colours means something.

But the dependence on Scholes is worth dwelling on because there have been few United Champions League campaigns in recent years which have been so bereft of the creative trigger.

A footnote for Bursaspor, who might have engineered a fright were they not such hopeless finishers. Edwin van der Sar had two important saves to make, not least from Turgay Bahadir, whose first touch was poor and approach to goal ponderous when clean through in the first half. "The important thing, away from home, is to control the game," Ferguson reflected late last night. That means at Eastlands as well as in the Asia mountains. Now for that far steeper climb towards next Wednesday.

Group C

Results Man United 0-0 Rangers, Bursaspor 0-4 Valencia; Valencia 0-1 Man United, Rangers 1-0 Bursaspor; Rangers 1-1 Valencia; Man United 1-0 Bursaspor; Bursaspor 0-3 Man United; Valencia 3-0 Rangers

Remaining fixtures Man United: 24 November Rangers (a); 7 December Valencia (h); Rangers' other fixture: 7 December Bursaspor (a).

Bursaspor (4-1-4-1): D Ivankov; Tandogan, Erdogan, Ozturk, Verderson; Svensson; Bahadir, Ergic, Insua (Nunez 75), Volkan Sen (Odabasi 81); Yildirim (Ipek 75). Substitutes not used Ozkan, Ozan Hasa, Keceli, Stepanov.

Manchester United (4-2-3-1): Van der Sar; R Da Silva, Vidic, Smalling, Evra (F Da Silva 80); Scholes, Carrick; Nani (Park 29), Fletcher (Bebe 62), Obertan; Berbatov. Substitutes not used Kuszczak, Brown, Hernandez, O'Shea. Booked: Scholes.

Referee W Stark (Germany).

Attendance 25,000.

Man of the match Scholes.

Match rating 6/10.

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