Manchester United were forced to work hard at Old Trafford as Wolfsburg battled resiliently from start to finish in their Champions League encounter.
Manchester United were forced to work hard at Old Trafford as Wolfsburg battled resiliently from start to finish in their Champions League encounter.
The German side took a surprise lead early in the second half through Edin Dzeko's headed goal, only to see their advantage cancelled out from Ryan Giggs' deflected free kick.
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Teammates congratulate Ryan Giggs after he scored Manchester United's first goal against Wolfsburg during their 2-1 win in the Champions League yesterday. PIC/ |
This was Giggs' 150th goal for the Red Devils. It was still far from comfortable for United until Michael Carrick's clinical strike sealed a hard-fought victory for the home side.
Wolfsburg continued to enjoy the better of the early exchanges, with a succession of forays into Manchester United territory putting the home side under unfamiliar pressure.
Fortunately for United, the German attacks lacked any real bite, though there could have been few complaints had they conceded a goal, such was the apparent nervousness of their play.
United's first real chance came in the nineteenth minute, with Wayne Rooney's free kick swerving just wide of the left hand upright. It was followed almost immediately by another early exit for Michael Owen a minor injury forcing his substitution and replacement by Dimitar Berbatov.
Berbatov continued to unsettle the German defence as United began to look much more composed and gradually took control of the play, and as half time approached it was the Germans who would have felt most fortunate to see the score still standing at 0-0.
But with just ten minutes gone in the second half, it was the towering figure of Edin Dzeko who finally opened the scoring as Wolfsburg took a shock lead.
The Bosnian striker easily rose above his marker to meet Makoto Hasebe's cross and place a bullet header beyond the reach of Tomasz Kusczak.
That lead had lasted barely three minutes when a Ryan Giggs free kick from the edge of the area took a wicked deflection from the Wolfsburg defensive wall and ended up nestled in the back of the net.
Giggs found the net a second time in the seventieth minute, only to see his goal disallowed for offside.
