First blood goes the way of United

ALEX FERGUSON held the Community Shield aloft with such enthusiasm following his team’s 3-1 victory over Chelsea that he looked more like an eight-year-old on a Wembley stadium tour than battle-hardened manager about to undergo his 24th season in football’s toughest league.

And that, in a nutshell, is precisely why no-one should rule Manchester United out of the race to be crowned champions in 2011.

Ferguson’s often stern and frequently fiery features were transformed by a wide smile and glinting eyes as he stood last in line beneath Wembley’s Royal Box to receive the trophy he has already held eight times before.

He had a right to be excited, too. Not necessarily because of the scoreline – the Community Shield rarely has a major impact on the forthcoming season and Chelsea can rightly say they dominated much of the game, despite losing – but excited because of so many encouraging signs that talk of United’s demise is once again proving foolish.

The match not only saw the rehabilitation of an ‘old’ hero in the shape of Wayne Rooney, who fell so spectacularly from grace at the World Cup but who produced a classic 45-minute performance here to answer his critics; but it also heralded the arrival of a ‘new’ hero in the shape of new signing Javier Hernandez who scored, admittedly in bizarre fashion, when brought on in the second half to add to Antonio Valencia’s opener.

Chelsea, who despite the scoreline made it a competitive afternoon, replied through Salomon Kalou but knew it wasn’t to be their day when Dimitar Berbatov rounded off a heady day for Ferguson’s side with an exquisite chip over goalkeeper Henrique Hilario that summed up everything that Manchester United should be about.

All the talk this summer has been of the money Manchester City have spent in attempt to catch their neighbours and all the changes made at Anfield in a bid to catapult Liverpool back into the top four.

But no-one has noticed that in Hernandez Ferguson may already have made one of the signings of the transfer window; and should Ferguson add Germany’s Mesut Ozil in the near future, you sense this is a United squad that can challenge on all fronts this season.

The Old Trafford manager was coy about Ozil, of course, despite being spotted at Fulham watching the midfielder play for Werder Bremen in a pre-season friendly on Saturday. But experienced United-watchers say his interest is genuine.

“I think a lot of clubs would be interested in Ozil,” said Ferguson dryly. “At the moment, I think we’ve got a great squad. I don’t need to add to it – that’s my opinion. I trust them. But, as I said, there are a lot of clubs interested in him.’’

With or without Ozil, United look strong. Paul Scholes, for instance, produced some outstanding long passes in the first half yesterday, including a dipping, cross-field effort to Rooney, who showed remarkable technique to feed Valencia to score the opener after 17 minutes.

Scholes, in fact, was named man of the match for his overall performance, prompting Ferguson to reveal he had to talk the midfielder out of plans to retire. “This time last season, he’s saying to himself, ‘This is my last season’ – and a lot of people thought that,’’ Ferguson said.

“But he keeps coming back; it’s not easy to do that. It’s a phenomenon that he goes out there, becomes man of the match, approaching his 36th birthday. He’s just an incredible footballer.’’

Rooney, whose fall from grace at the World Cup this summer was so painful, began his own road to recovery with an eye-catching 45 minutes while Edwin van der Sar kept Chelsea at bay in the second period, which saw Valencia cross for the impressively confident Hernandez to slide in a second for United, the ball cannoning off the striker’s foot and onto his head as he pounced to finish another pinpoint move.

“He’ll not try it again – it was a quite peculiar goal,” said Ferguson. “But he’s quick to get in the box – he’s a really good finisher.’’

Chelsea eventually replied when Kalou shot home after van der Sar had saved yet another effort from Daniel Sturridge six minutes from time.

But Dimitar Berbatov’s exquisite last-minute chip underlined why this was United’s day, a fact Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti accepted.

He said: “It was a better day for them; they played better than us. They deserved to win.’’

It’s far too early to answer if it will also prove to be United’s season – you cannot dismiss Chelsea on this performance and other clubs are fighting hard to join the fray. But don’t rule out a smiling Scotsman come next May, however many glares and glowers there are along the way.

Subs for Chelsea: Drogba for Mikel 60, Sturridge for Anelka 60, Benayoun for Malouda 72, Bruma for Ferreira 79, Zhirkov for Cole 79,

Subs for United: Hernandez for Owen 46, Nani for Park 46, Smalling for Fabio Da Silva 71, Giggs for Carrick 79, Flethcher for Scholes 80.

Man of the match: He may be a veteran these days but Paul Scholes has lost none of his vision in midfield – some of his passing was outstanding.

Match rating: ****

It would be hard to describe this as a pre-season friendly. It was played at a high tempo and was full of entertaining and enterprising football.

Referee: Andre Marriner 8 – Kept to the spirit of a pre-season friendly by keeping his cards in his pocket and allowing the game to flow.