Phil the unlikely hero

Rangers 0 Man Utd 1

The younger Neville brother scored the kind of individual goal normally associated with his more extravagantly-gifted team-mates and then reverted to type with a goal-line clearance to prevent a Rangers equaliser.

Neville’s goal came early enough for Rangers to have plenty of opportunity to recover but a combination of poor finishing and stalwart defending made it a night of frustration for Alex McLeish’s side.

Instead, Alex Ferguson enjoyed his homecoming to the full; the atmosphere generated by the sea of blue making for a memorable Champions League night.

Rangers at least avoided the ‘gubbing’ many fans had feared but the waywardness of their shooting, with Peter Lovenkrands the biggest culprit, left their supporters wondering what might have been.

It may have been billed as the Battle of Britain but there were no Scots in Rangers’ starting line-up and only three Englishmen in United’s. There was plenty of passion however, and John O’Shea was booked seconds into the match for scything down Lovenkrands.

A bright opening by Rangers may have given some hope to their fans but that lasted less than five minutes as Phil Neville played a one-two with Ruud van Nistelrooy and, as four Rangers players stood off, twisted into the penalty area before placing the ball low into the corner.

Ryan Giggs, playing in an advanced role, picked up an inside pass from van Nistelrooy, raced to within 25 yards and struck a powerful drive that Stefan Klos was grateful to see sail wide.

Paolo Vanoli went down under Quinton Fortune’s challenge but referee Anders Frisk appeared correct in waving the penalty appeals away. Rangers fans had to wait 25 minutes for their first effort on target, Lovenkrands cutting in from the right and firing in low but Tim Howard was not stretched.

Rangers finally began to come into the game but were guilty of wastefulness; Lovenkrands sliced into touch, then Vanoli scuffed wide after United’s defence made a hash of clearing the ball.

A Henning Berg block kept out Paul Scholes, then Vanoli was once again off-target when presented with an excellent shooting chance.

A buoyant Rangers pushed forward and Shota Arveladze produced a screamer from 30 yards, only for Howard to tip it over.

With half-time approaching the home side were grateful to Arteta for keeping them in the game with a clearance off the line from Mikael Silvestre’s flicked header.

United put on the squeeze from the start of the second half with a series of attacks.

On 52 minutes van Nistelrooy wriggled onto Scholes’ pass but for once the Dutchman’s aim was awry.

Fortune then set up Roy Keane who could not finish off a storming run, Klos reacting to parry away.

Rangers needed to ease the pressure and did so.

First Phil Neville cleared off the line to keep out Moore’s header, then Ferdinand stretched out a long leg to deny Lovenkrands a certain goal. Lovenkrands then met Arveladze’s corner with a strong header but this time Howard saved.

United once more began to establish their superiority with van Nistelrooy twice having openings.

With time ticking away Lovenkrands’ pace earned him another opportunity, but again he fired wide and when Mols’ header was saved by Howard in injury time United were home and dry and could even have been awarded a penalty for an injury-time trip by Berg on Scholes which referee Anders Frisk did not penalise.

RANGERS: Klos, Khizanishvili (Ross 86), Berg, Moore, Ball, Ricksen, Arteta, Vanoli (Nerlinger 67), Lovenkrands, Arveladze, Mols.

MAN UTD: Howard, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O’Shea, Phil Neville (Butt 85), Keane, Scholes, Fortune (Djemba-Djemba 90), van Nistelrooy, Giggs.

Referee: A. Frisk (Sweden).