Scholes effort seals winning European start

Paul Scholes completed a rollercoaster few days with the winning goal in United's Champions League date with Besiktas on Tuesday evening. The midfielder steered the ball home with fourteen minutes to go to give United an excellent start to their European campaign.

Despite the electric atmosphere in Turkey, Besiktas were largely ordinary and rarely threatened a goal despite holding United for 77 minutes.

The goal came in the closing stages after Sir Alex Ferguson had pulled off unhappy frontman Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick for the attacking threat of Dimitar Berbatov and Michael Owen.

Rooney had shown his anger at being substituted with a tantrum on the sidelines, but in truth the England striker had enjoyed only a quiet evening as Besiktas piled emphasis on defence.

However, the Turkish outfit had no answer to Scholes' fine header as the game headed into its closing minutes. Goalkeeper Arikan blocked Nani's shot and Scholes met the floating loose ball with a fine header that sent the travelling fans into raptures.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men have now won four games on the bounce ahead of the weekend's massive clash with big-spending City.

Full Time - Besiktas 0-1 Manchester United
Attendance - 32,000