Ferguson sounds Premiership title warning after opening win
Sir Alex Ferguson sounded a warning to Manchester United's title rivals after the reigning Premier League champions finally got their season up and running with victory over Tottenham on Sunday.
A spectacular 30-yard goal from young Portuguese talent Nani, his first for the club, earned United their first victory of the season and lifted them up to 10th in the table after they had started the day next to bottom.
However, United were far from convincing and survived two second half penalty appeals after Dimitar Berbatov went sprawling under a challenge from Nemanja Vidic before referee Howard Webb waved away another protest after Berbatov's shot hit Wes Brown.
Tottenham manager Martin Jol is convinced it struck the England defender's hand, but Ferguson insists Webb made the right decision.
Despite his side's nervous performance, Ferguson believes United will continue to make up for lost ground after failing to register a win in the opening three games.
United entertain newly-promoted Sunderland, managed by former United star Roy Keane, on Saturday.
"We've got players to come back so we're going to have to be patient," said Ferguson.
AC Milan defender Alessandro Nesta has refused to come out of international retirement to play in Italy's upcoming Euro 2008 qualifiers against France and Ukraine, the Italian Federation president Giancarlo Abete said Monday.
The 31-year-old announced his retirement from the international scene over the summer but Italy were hoping to convince him to come back after Inter Milan centre-back Marco Materazzi was ruled out of the two crunch qualifiers with a thigh injury.
"When Nesta said he no longer wanted to be a part of the squad, he acted in the right and proper way as always," Abete told Rai Uno. "He's a player who has given so much to the national team.
"Yesterday (Sunday), he clearly repeated it. But the federation, with all the attention and discretion that was needed, checked after the match in Budapest (an embarrassing 3-1 defeat to Hungary) to see if he was available."
Nesta was quoted in the Monday edition of La Gazzetta dello Sport as saying: "I told them that I will not play any more for the national team, and therefore I won't....I made a decision and I'm sticking to it."
Materazzi was injured in the Hungary match and has been ruled out of the two Group B encounters against France in Rome on September 8 and four days later against Ukraine in Kiev.
Italy coach Roberto Donadoni now finds himself with a problem in deciding who should partner Real Madrid's Fabio Cannavaro in the heart of his defence, with Palermo's Andrea Barzagli the likely choice.
No comments:
Post a Comment