Soccer Extreme : Kevin Doyle (pic) crushed Man United's unbeaten record in a sensational comeback win. Wolves fell behind after just Three minutes yet Mick McCarthy's men rallied to stun the league leaders. Had United avoided defeat at Molineux they would have gone to 30 games unbeaten — eclipsing the club record.But Wolves did not read the script and Doyle and George Elokobi shocked the Red Devils after Nani's opener. Incredibly, though, the Molineux men are still bottom — despite beating the table-toppers. United suffered an early blow when Rio Ferdinand was forced to pull out after picking up a knock in the warm-up. Jonny Evans took the England man's place at the back alongside Nemanja Vidic It did not seem to effect the Red Devils at the start though, and Nani bamboozled Elokobi to put United ahead after just three minutes.
The winger jinked into Wolves territory and blasted past Wayne Hennessey with Elokobi's head spinning. After 10 minutes, though, rock-bottom Wolves were level. Matt Jarvis picked up the ball after a corner, sent in a dangerous cross and Elokobi nodded home. United looked to hit back and Ryan Giggs and Berbatov both threatened. At the other end, Evans had to have his wits about him to head away from Doyle.
Nenad Milijas then came close with a free-kick after the Serbian had been fouled by Rafael. Wolves had the bit between their teeth now — and turned the game on its head after 40 minutes. Milijas sent in a free-kick and Doyle forced a header home with Edwin van der Sar stranded.
After the break, United came out of the traps with a rollicking still in their ears yet Wayne Hennessey claimed Nani's cross with ease. Wolves were standing firm and they snuffed out a cute move between Rooney, Giggs and Berbatov. Rafael looked in agony on the hour mark with his finger jarring out at a horror angle. But after a short delay the full-back was strapped up and sent back into battle. Javier Hernandez was then thrown into action for Berbatov as Alex Ferguson looked to shake things up.
Van der Sar had a nervy moment when he came out to head a 74th-minute long ball — only to nearly cock-up. Luckily for the stopper, Vidic was on hand to clear up the mess. It was all hands on deck in the Wolves box now and they survived a penalty-box ding-dong when Scholes nudged wide.
On 85 minutes, United were screaming for a penalty after Evra smacked a cross against Karl Henry's hand. But their shouts were waved away — and with them went their unbeaten record. (thesun)
Preview Match
After all the disappointment from a match which was billed as the final before the final, the soccer world has slowly started accepting the tactics used by Manchester United. Many sections of English press came up with praise to Ferguson's master tactic at Nou Camp; many sections are still openly criticizing him for a chance let gone. Barcelona's attack line up is being constantly ridiculed by the English press citing the fact that they could not conjure up a goal, even though they had more than 65% of possession. From a European Championship's perspective, Ferguson might have pulled out a master stroke. His entire pre match talks of how important the away goal was; served as a camouflage in itself. For Barcelona also the fact that they have not scored in the last two matches is a worrying factor.