[Nani and Evra helped Rooney celebrate his first goal of the night]
Sir Alex Ferguson made seven changes to the side that lost to Burnley a few days earlier. Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic get their first starts of the season. The manager shuffled the midfield, playing Nani, Paul Scholes, Darren Fletcher and former Wigan player Antonio Valencia. Dimitar Berbatov replaces Michael Owen as Wayne Rooney's partner up front.
The first half ended goalless, with both teams having chances. Ben Foster made a couple brilliant saves to keep United level, while the offense fails to capitalize their chances. United might have more possession and more chances but those didn't count after 45 minutes.
Valencia started the game with respectful applause from the Lattics supporters. In the 56th minute, however, the cheers came from the traveling supporters instead. His cross from the right wing was met by Rooney who heads it home to the top corner.
[Rooney heads his 100th United goal]
After the restart, Foster had to make another great save to keep United ahead. The next minute, United's lead was doubled. A nice exchange between Berbatov, Rooney and Scholes proved too much for the home's defense as Berbatov was put through on goal by Scholes' lob. Dimi then lobbed the ball over goalkeeper Chris Kirkland and finished it to the empty net.
Rooney seemed to seal the match with his second - and United's third - goal. He picked up the ball from the left, cut inside, and his shot was deflected in by Mario Melchiot.
[Owen scoring his first goal for United, with many more to come in the future]
Five minutes from time, the traveling supporters had more to cheer for when Owen scored his first goal for United in an official match. Nani picked Owen up with a very nice pass, and Owen's left-footed strike hit Kirkland's far post in.
Last minute of injury time, Nani curled a freekick over the wall and into the back of the net as Kirkland watches helplessly.
With the Arsenal game coming up next week, a nice display like this is needed by the fans for assurance of the team's capability; especially after the last performance the team gave. Sir Alex was pleased having all of his three strikers scoring goals and the substitute goalkeeper showing nice reflexes to keep the clean sheet.
Last minute of injury time, Nani curled a freekick over the wall and into the back of the net as Kirkland watches helplessly.
With the Arsenal game coming up next week, a nice display like this is needed by the fans for assurance of the team's capability; especially after the last performance the team gave. Sir Alex was pleased having all of his three strikers scoring goals and the substitute goalkeeper showing nice reflexes to keep the clean sheet.
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