Manchester United vs Arsenal (UCL) 1st leg1-0

Manchester United 1-0 Arsenal
John O'shea was score 1 goals and Man United had win over Arsenal

Manchester United vs Tottenham Hotspurs 5-2

United 5 Spurs 2

Games at Old Trafford should come with a health warning and it should clearly state that visits are not for the faint-hearted.

Having begun the month with a last-gasp victory over Aston Villa, the Reds ended it in similarly dramatic fashion after coming from two goals down to seal a stunning victory over Tottenham Hotspur which moved them three points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table.

Darren Bent and Luca Modric had given the visitors a two-goal lead at half-time, but Sir Alex’s men stormed back after the break thanks to a brace apiece from the outstanding Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo and another from Dimitar Berbatov.

The Bulgarian was one of five players who returned to the starting line-up after sitting out the victory over Harry Redknapp’s former side, Portsmouth, three days earlier. Rafael da Silva, who had filled in at right-back against Pompey following injuries to Gary Neville and John O'Shea, carried on where he left off, while Nani, Michael Carrick and Rio Ferdinand were also back. There was, however, no place for Ryan Giggs who watched on from the stands knowing he would have to wait for another day, most probably Wednesday against Arsenal, to make his 800th appearance in a red shirt.

United began the match in second following Liverpool’s earlier victory at Hull and immediately set about gaining top spot. Berbatov almost had the first sight of goal after just 30 seconds, but Darren Fletcher’s pass was just too long for the striker allowing Heurelho Gomes to collect.

Having already secured their top flight status, Spurs came to Old Trafford with little to play for other than pride. But they weren’t about to let that pride be easily dented and with a player of Aaron Lennon’s quality in your side there’s always a chance of opening up the opposition. And that’s exactly what the pacey winger nearly did on eight minutes. Fortunately Darren Bent’s header from Lennon’s floated right-wing cross was pushed around the post by Edwin van der Sar.

At the other end, Gomes had to be alert to Cristiano Ronaldo’s speculative 40-yard free-kick which bounced awkwardly in front of the Spurs' stopper who claimed it at the second time of asking. Four minutes later the Portuguese winger flashed a header wide after jumping to meet Nani’s left-wing cross.

United appeared to edging ever closer to an opener, but it was visitors who struck first blood on 29 minutes. Vedran Corluka’s whipped cross was missed by both Vidic and Ferdinand allowing the ball to fall to Darren Bent who duly smashed home from six yards.

Three minutes later things got doubly worse for United who looked more than a little shaky once more at the back. Lennon’s cross from the right dropped to the unmarked Luca Modric who lashed the ball inside the near post to give the visitors a two-goal cushion.

A shell-shocked Old Trafford couldn’t quite believe what they were seeing. United were in need of a minor miracle, or two, and Ronaldo almost provided it seven minutes from the break. Having seen his free-kick strike the wall, the winger reacted quickest and flicked a dipping volley towards goal. Only a superb finger-tip save from Gomes prevented the Reds from clawing a goal back.

United’s comeback mission was given a further boost when Carlos Tevez replaced Nani at the break. And the Argentine was involved in the Reds’ first two chances of the second period. First he laid on a cross for Rooney who saw his curling effort deflected wide, before Tevez himself had a close-range shot repelled by Gomes after a lovely little through ball from Ronaldo.

The Portuguese winger was handed the chance to get United back into the game on 57 minutes when Gomes upended Carrick in the area after a defence-splitting pass from Rooney had put the England international through on goal. Replays showed the keeper did in fact get a touch on the ball, but no-one in a red shirt cared a jot.

From the spot, Ronaldo calmly steered the ball down the middle of the goal as Gomes dived to his left. Old Trafford erupted – the fightback had begun.

Ten minutes later the Reds were back on level terms. A great one-two between Berbatov and Tevez allowed the latter to slide a pass into Rooney whose low shot through the legs of Corluka crept in at the near post after Gomes failed to get a strong enough hand on it.

Victory was now in sight and, quite unbelievably, a mere 60 seconds later United were ahead. Evra laid the ball to Rooney who cut inside from the left and sent an inswinging centre towards the onrushing Ronaldo who met it with a diving header that bounced into the roof of the net. The relief and joy around Old Trafford was palpable.

Surely things couldn’t get any better? They could, two goals better in fact. Sublime control from Berbatov was followed by a neat lay-off to Ronaldo who clipped a lovely cross to the back post where Rooney was waiting. The striker brought the ball down and took aim. The ball hit Jonathan Woodgate on the line, but the defender was unable to stop it dropping over despite his and Ledley King’s best efforts.

Darren Bent saw a curling shot whistle inches past Van der Sar’s left-hand post soon after, before United headed upfield once more and bagged a fifth. And it was another excellent move, started and finished by Berbatov, from the rampant Reds. The Bulgarian sent the ball out to Rooney who again cut inside and crossed for Berbatov who was now waiting in the middle. His header was parried by Gomes, but only back into his path allowing Berbatov to poke home from two yards.

Van der Sar produced a fine stop from Robbie Keane six minutes from time, but it was all over by then. It had been a breathtaking comeback from United on yet another unforgettable day at the Theatre of Dreams.

Manchester United vs Portsmouth

United 2 Portsmouth 0

Another nervous evening's work at Old Trafford, but goals at either end of the 90 minutes from Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick gave United three points against Portsmouth, putting clear daylight between champions and challengers in the Premier League title race.

A procession of chances came and went in-between the two strikes, meaning much of the evening made uncomfortable viewing even though United - and in particular the front pairing of Rooney and Ryan Giggs - often had Portsmouth chasing shadows.

After Sunday's FA Cup semi-final marathon against Everton, Sir Alex Ferguson made wholesale changes for the second successive game, with a string of big-name players returning. Two of them - Giggs and Rooney - combined sumptuously to put United ahead inside nine minutes.

Darren Fletcher, back from injury and on the lung-busting form of recent weeks, won the ball and it was quickly ferried forward to Anderson, whose excellent pass allowed Giggs to spring the visitors' offside trap. Waiting in the centre was Rooney, who finished with aplomb after a perfect rolled cross from his veteran colleague.

Amid the joy and release of any early tension, attentions switched to skipper Gary Neville, who sat stricken in his own half after sustaining a foot injury. After consultation with the club's medical staff, the club captain was promptly replaced by John O'Shea.

With the prospect of a three-point lead looming, United were clearly intent on also boosting a goal difference which had been overtaken by second-placed Liverpool in recent weeks, and the chances came thick and fast.

It was O'Shea who came closest to doubling the Reds' advantage before the break, as he headed Giggs' left-wing corner past James, only for Nadir Belhadj to smuggle the ball off the line and away to safety.

Next, a mis-timed header from Sol Campbell allowed Ronaldo to break down the right and cross low across the area for Giggs. His delicate chip beat James, but also drifted just past the far post. The 35-year-old held his head in his hands, aware that a glorious chance had just gone begging.

It looked like Giggs had made amends a minute later by feeding Rooney to round James and score, but a linesman's flag belatedly - but correctly - chalked it off. Quite how half-time came and went with United only one goal ahead was a mystery.

The fact that so many chances had come and gone seemed to increasingly play on United's minds as the second half unfolded. The Reds' cause wasn't helped when O'Shea suffered an injury after a clash with Belhadj, who appeared to stand heavily on the Irishman's foot. With the injury count rising but the goals tally stuck on one, a nervous atmosphere began to brew within Old Trafford.

The tension was never higher than around the 70th minute, when Pompey mustered two particularly threatening forays forward. Peter Crouch, who ploughed a lone furrow without much joy but with plenty of effort, first volleyed wide, then saw his header well saved by Edwin van der Sar.

Rooney saw another shot well saved by James after latching onto van der Sar's long punt, but a priceless second goal did finally arrive with eight minutes left. Carrick, thrown on at the expense of Anderson, came up with the goods and Scholes, fittingly on his 600th United appearance, was the architecht.

Just as he has done umpteen times in his 15-year senior career, the midfield magician exploited a gap before the Pompey defence were able to plug it by slipping an inch-perfect pass into the run of Carrick, who finished clinically into James' bottom-right hand corner.

With the three points assured, United began to press forward with more abandon, striving to make up further goal difference. Ronaldo had a goal chalked off and also fired over while Rafael was denied by James, leaving the Reds still three behind Rafael Benitez's men on that count.

More importantly, however, the telling gap between champions and chasing pack is now three points, with a game in hand still to make up.

FA Cup:Manchester United had defeated by Everton at Wembley Stadium

Nemanja Vidic turned in a Man-of-the-Match display at Wembley and scored in the penalty shoot-out, but that is of little consolation to the Serbian as the Reds crashed out of the FA Cup.

“We're disappointed because this is a trophy we wanted to win,” he told MUTV. “We played some good football and created chances, but in the end it came to penalties – and that’s just a lottery. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose. In the Champions League final we won… but today we didn’t score our penalties. You have to congratulate Everton.”

Vidic dispatched his spot-kick with aplomb, even though it wasn’t enough to prevent a 4-2 shoot-out loss, but he says dealing with the pressure of converting from 12 yards is “nothing new”.

“I practise in training and I also took penalties for Red Star Belgrade and Spartak Moscow,” he said. “It’s nothing new, but there's always the possibility you'll miss, especially in games where there is pressure. I scored, but it’s not about me scoring. The team didn’t win. We need to forget this game now.

“We must take it and recover for the next game. It’s going to be hard, but we have Wednesday’s match against Portsmouth and we need to be focused. It helps that some players were rested. They are going to be fresh and I hope we have a good game at Old Trafford.”

Vidic was proud of the performances of four teenagers in United’s youth-inflected starting line-up. And he says it's the result, rather than the performance, which was frustrating. “We played well, so we don’t need to be disappointed about that,” he added. “We played offensively and tried to score. We had young players in our team, they showed some quality. We know they are capable of doing that. We just didn’t take our chances."

The Best Moment 2007/08

Cristiano Ronaldo

Porto vs Man United 15/4/09 0-1

Man United became the first English team to beat Porto in the Estadio do Dragao.Yeah!!!

Man United
1	Van der Sar
22	O'Shea
5	Ferdinand
15	Vidic
3	Evra
8	Anderson	18
16	Carrick
11	Giggs
7	Ronaldo
9	Berbatov	17
10	Rooney
Subs:
12	Foster
2	Neville
17	Nani	9
18	Scholes	8
23	Evans
32	Tevez
41	Macheda

It took something special: a quite breathtaking 40-yard strike from Cristiano Ronaldo which, allied to a first clean sheet in six games, took the holders into the final four. Indeed, it would have been the Reds' defensive resolve which would have pleased Sir Alex Ferguson most, as the return of Rio Ferdinand brought an assuredness to the champions and restricted the dangerous hosts to but a handful of opportunities.

Following last week's 2-2 first-leg draw, Porto went into the match with a crucial away-goal advantage. That was tellingly overturned inside six minutes of an imposing second encounter. Had Sir Alex been asked to draw a blueprint of his perfect start, it wouldn't have been too far removed from what actually transpired.

The Reds were already looking confident when Anderson slipped a pass to Ronaldo, but the winger's ambition beggared belief. Having received the ball just inside the hosts' half, Ronaldo took a touch to set himself and arrowed an unstoppable effort into Helton's top corner. The ball travelled 40 yards to the goal, but the Brazilian goalkeeper could get nowhere near it.

A Sporting Lisbon export, Ronaldo was predictably jeered from the first whistle by the blue and white clad hordes in the stands. Suddenly, he had provoked silence on every side of the Estadio do Dragao - bar, of course, the sizeable pocket of writhing, jubilant United fans behind the opposite goal.

The Reds' approach to the game mirrored that of Porto in the first leg: dominant, with the hosts completely on the back foot. Indeed, it took 20 minutes for the Portuguese champions to notch an effort of note, as Bruno Alves' free-kick drifted a couple of yards wide of Edwin van der Sar's goal.

Porto had shown their class at Old Trafford, so it was no surprise that they began to gradually exert themselves on the game. Lisandro's spectacular scissor-kick forced a routine save from van der Sar, but United's defence - reinforced by the pairing of Ferdinand with Vidic - stood firm.

In the latter stages of the half, the chances see-sawed. Ryan Giggs' volley was kept out by Helton, Alves powered a header wide and Vidic stabbed John O'Shea's flick over the bar from close range.

Half-time came and went with no changes of personnel, but with a definite shift in setting as teeming rain began to saturate the Portuguese turf. Dimitar Berbatov almost immediately tested Helton's handling of the new conditions, but the Brazilian was equal to his low, drilled effort.

With United ahead, the onus was always going to be on the home side to fashion chances, however, and the visitors' job was largely one of containment in the second half. After the recent spate of concessions, a clean sheet wouldn't just put United through; it would mark a return to the defensive solidity which had been the bedrock of the season to date.

Raul Meireles sliced a shot past the top corner, Hulk fired a free-kick straight at van der Sar and Rolando powered a free header over the bar when he should have done better, but United's demeanour was largely one of calm throughout, containing the storm rather than weathering it.

On occasion, the Reds could even embark on forays forward. Wayne Rooney, outstanding throughout for his defensive diligence as much as his attacking incision,drilled one effort fractionally over Helton's bar. Moments later, however, Lisandro went one better in hitting the target. Even if it was a wasted opportunity, fired straight at van der Sar, it was a timely reminder that one without reply would be enough.

Ronaldo did threaten again, drawing a fine low save from Helton, but he had already struck the telling blow. Now the Reds must shoehorn two more massive games into an already congested fixture list. But, having signalled a return to miserly ways in defence and with a calm befitting of champions, Sir Alex and his players will be relishing every minute that remains of this captivating season.