MOTD- Manchester United 4-2 Bayer Leverkusen

By on September 17, 2013

Wayne Rooney scored his 199th and milestone 200th career goal for Manchester United as they romped Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 in United’s first Uefa Champions League tie of the David Moyes era. Although things threatened to go horribly wrong for the Red Devil’s at Old Trafford while the score was 1-1, Rooney’s lethal partnership with Robin van Persie helped produce three goals more to take United top of Group A, thus meaning Leverkusen have gone to the bottom of the group.

Although Sami Hyypia’s side’s counter-attacking football caused some trouble for Moyes’s men, the German side failed to create many chances in the opening minuted. United meanwhile took a while to get going, but nearly took the lead in the tenth minute when Van Persie drove a low shot just wide of the post from twenty-yards out. Chris Smalling then headed a Van Persie free-kick over the bar, yet United found the opener in the twenty-first minute. Michael Carrick chipped a cute pass to Evra on the left flank, and Evra swung a inch-perfect cross into Rooney, who smashed a first-time volley into the ground and just under the crossbar.

Leverkusen responded by keeping some possession without actually threatening United, allowing the home side to break on the counter-attack. But Leverkusen’s short spell of dominance quickly faded, with United coming close to scoring just before the end of the half when Valencia flew down the right and clipped a deep cross into the box. Shinji Kagawa precisely chested it down before cutting inside and curling a deflected shot just wide, to Hyypia’s side’s deep relief.

But Hyypia’s side got even luckier as the match rolled on to the second half as Rooney missed a tremendous chance in the fifty-second minute. Omer Toprack dallied with the ball on the edge of the Leverkusen penalty area before tripping himself up and gifting the ball to Rooney, who, after rounding Leverkusen goalkeeper Bernd Leno, somehow passed his shot across the gaping goal instead of cutting it back to the unmarked Van Persie. To add to Rooney’s horror with the miss, Leverkusen equalized second later as Simon Rolfes rifled a blistering twenty-five yard off of Carrick and into the bottom corner leaving David De Gea hapless.

United’s response was of top quality though, as Van Persie’s standing bicycle-kick from Valencia’s cross found it’s way into the back of the net in the fifty-seventh minute. Moyes’s side looked dangerous riding on their momentum, and Rooney found the Red Devil’s third when two Levekusen defender’s failed to clear De Gea’s punt, which bounced through to Rooney. The Englishman zipped towards goal from the left and curled a low shot into the near corner of the net, scoring his 200th goal for the Manchester-based club. Valencia then drove a low effort from the edge of the box into the bottom left corner of the net, but Leverkusen found a eighty-eighth minute consolation goal as Spahic’s thundering header from a corner hit the crossbar and bounced back to Toprack, who tapped it in from close range. Although Hyypia’s men pushed heavily for a third in the dying minutes of the match United saw through with the win, resulting in a 4-2 win in David Moyes’ first taste of the Champions League.
Man of the Match: Wayne Rooney

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.