van Nistelrooy and Forlan Brace Seals Win
By David Hobbs
December 6 2003
Manchester United capitalized on Arsenal's draw with Leicester and Chelsea's draw with Leeds to put them just two points off the top spot. Two first half goals from Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy put the Champions 2-0 and two second half goals from substitute Diego Forlan wrapped the game up for Utd
| Manchester United 4 - Aston Villa 0 - Report |
Manchester United capitalized on Arsenal's draw with Leicester and Chelsea's draw with Leeds to put them just two points off the top spot. Despite Sir Alex's heart scare earlier this week, the Scotsman must be a bit more relaxed with the out come of today's 4-0 victory over Premiership strugglers Aston Villa. Two first half goals from Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy put the Champions 2-0 and two second half goals from substitute Diego Forlan wrapped the game up for United. The first chance of the game went to skipper Roy Keane, making his 550th league appearance for United, when Giggs flicked on Ronaldo's corner and it fell to the Irishman, but Mark Delaney blocked his shot off the line. United then broke the dead-lock after 16 minutes when van Nistelrooy linked up with the impressive Kleberson to put United 1-0 up. The Champs enjoyed most of the position in the first half and that paid off just before the interval when van Nistelrooy made it 2-0 to the home side.
Half Time - Manchester United 2 - Aston Villa 0
Just after the break, a nearly full Old Trafford welcomed a nearly fit Paul Scholes. He replaced Welsh-wizard Ryan Giggs. Lee Hendrie nearly got Villa back in the game just before the hour mark after American Tim Howard had to direct his powerful shot onto the crossbar. Dutch masterclass Ruud van Nistelrooy got subbed by Diego Forlan just after the 70th minute and what a substitution it was! Forlan made it 3-0 on the 89th minute when he curled home a fantastic pass from the wing. He then made it 4-0 a minute later after great link up play with Kleberson and Ronaldo.
Full Time - Manchester United 4 - Aston Villa 0 |
||||||||||||||||||||||
| The Line-Ups |
|
Man Utd: Howard, Gary Neville,
Ferdinand, Silvestre, Fortune, Ronaldo, Phil Neville (Bellion 59), Keane,
Kleberson, Giggs (Scholes 59), van Nistelrooy (Forlan 72).
Aston Villa: Sorensen, Delaney, Mellberg, Dublin, Samuel, McCann, Hendrie, Barry, Whittingham (Hitzlsperger 72), Angel (Allback 64), Vassell. |
| ManUtdWeb Man of the Match - Kleberson |
| The World Cup
winner has been absolutely fantastic in has previous games an continued
his fine form once again today.
The heel flick to set up Forlan was was the cherry on the cake for the Brazillian. I was tempted to give it to Forlan for his 2 incredible goals. |
