Rooney taps it in to give Utd their winning opener

FT: Man Utd 1 Birmingham 0

Wayne Rooney’s first-half tap-in was enough to allow Manchester United to begin the defence of their Barclays Premier League title with a victory over Birmingham.

With Cristiano Ronaldo now at Real Madrid, Rooney has been restored to his preferred role just behind a main striker.

And the England man proved his well-being by climbing above Franck Queudrue to meet Nani’s cross, then tapping home the rebound after his header had bounced back off a post.

Just as Vignal had done earlier, Berbatov looped a header to the far corner from Valencia’s cross.

This time, Lee Carsley was stationed next to the post and nodded away.

Berbatov might have had a penalty when Carr made a clumsy challenge. It proved to be the Bulgarian’s last involvement before he was replaced by Michael Owen, his first Premier League appearance for United.

It was Birmingham who had the next chance though as substitute Christian Benitez cut inside Wes Brown and seemed destined to fire into the far corner, only for Foster to make a fine save.