Live Match Blog: Manchester United vs. Valencia (UEFA Champions League)

After a disappointing start to their Champions League campaign, Manchester United went to Valencia and scored a rare win in Spain to get back on track. If United can pull off the sweep tonight at Old Trafford, they’ll round out another successful Champions League group stage run by clinching top spot – and perhaps more along with it.

With a 1-0 win over Rangers in Glasgow two weeks ago, United made up for September’s home draw against the Scottish champions and recorded a fourth straight Champions League win. The victory put United on 13 points and secured a place in the round of 16 for the fifth straight season.

However, Valencia kept alive their hopes of claiming top spot by routing hapless Bursaspor 6-1, and if they can come into Old Trafford and snatch all three points, they’ll also snatch top spot as well.

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A quiet chill has descended over Old Trafford much like the rest of Britain with not much to report following the postponement of Saturday’s fixture with Blackpool. But with the snow unrelenting a few rays of semi-sunshine emanated from the manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

The boss has confirmed that Owen Hargeaves is in Munich having treatment on the hamstring injury he sustained during his comeback match against Wolves at the beginning of November.

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Following last weekends demolition of Blackburn Rovers, one man came away with a ton of praise and rightfully so. Dimitar Berbatov scored five goals, or a glut of goals if you prefer, but was it the beginning of a new dawn for the Bulgarian striker or will he flatter to deceive as has been the case so far in his Old Trafford career.

It must be said scoring five goals in any match is an achievement, a very good achievement that propels Berbatov into an elite group containing former United striker Andy Cole, Alan Shearer and Jermain Defoe.

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Just taking a look at how the Premier League table has changed from the end of October to the end of November easily illustrates how successful a month it was for Manchester United.

We exited October having found some measure of consistency in our results, even if it was still missing from our performances, and we were able to build off of that in November. Our winning streak may have stopped at six, and our unbeaten streak may have fallen one short of 30, but we are now in a better position than we’ve been in all season. Tuesday’s Carling Cup rout at the hands of West Ham certainly wasn’t the way that anyone would have liked to see the month end, but it’s worth remembering that our unbeaten streak could have been ended at least a few times before it hit 29.

But thanks to our ever-present resilience, the defeat at Upton Park, disappointing as it is to lose out on the chance at a Carling Cup three-peat, was the only real blemish in the month. With how rocky the first few months of the season had been, we were due for a smoother month, and though November wasn’t silky smooth by any means, it was filled with a lot less bumps than we encountered from August through much of October.

And finally we saw Manchester United play like well, Manchester United. Man, that feels good to say.

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Yes folks… as unbelievable as it may seem Manchester United were beaten by West Ham United in the Carling Cup quarter-final last night. But not just beaten, thrashed 4-0 by the team stuck at the foot of the Premier League… only Real Madrid can claim to have had a worse week.

Thanks to goals from former United player Jonathan Spector and the former Liverpool target Carlton Cole put paid to the defence of the Carling Cup and also ended United’s 29-game unbeaten run in all competitions.

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