It’s the first trophy of many, says Vidic
CHELSEA (1) vs MANCHESTER UTD (3)
CAPTAIN Nemanja Vidic predicts the Community Shield will not be the only piece of silverware to take pride of place in Manchester United’s trophy cabinet this season.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men earned pre-season bragging rights over Premier League rivals Chelsea by claiming a third victory in four years.
A superb opener from Antonio Valencia gave United a first-half lead before a freakish second from the chin of new signing Javier Hernandez put them in control.
Salomon Kalou set up an exciting finish with an 81st minute strike for Chelsea, but Dimitar Berbatov’s cool lob in stoppage time wrapped up an impressive performance from a United side, inspired by a vintage display from veteran Paul Scholes.
“I believe there will be more [trophies] – this is just the beginning,” Vidic said. “I think we have a good squad and showed today we have energy and showed some hunger.”
Ferguson was equally delighted to have registered a first win over is Blues counterpart Carlo Ancelotti, but was more happy to give his first-teamers valuable minutes ahead of next Monday night’s Premier League opener with Newcastle.
“It was a decent display and I’m very happy players such as Wayne Rooney, Michael Owen and Park Ji-sung are nearer match fitness. Some of the football was very good at times. I think we deserved to win it,” added Ferguson, who later remained coy on talk linking him with a move for Germany international Mesut Ozil.
In contrast, Ancelotti’s Chelsea looked sluggish after an unsettled pre-season campaign, but the Italian refused to panic ahead of the season’s start.
“We played too slow in the first half,” he said. “It was not our best day but this is normal, it can happen at the start of the season.
“I think Manchester played better but we have to look forward to the start of the season. The positive is that we have more minutes on the legs of the players.”