The Guardian Wayne Rooney's promotion to captain could not bring him his first Champions League goal for two years but the Manchester United striker is entitled to cherish the memories nonetheless. He wore the armband like a fashion statement and a routine win over willing but limited opponents makes it almost inconceivable that Sir Alex Ferguson's team will fail to qualify for the knock-out stages.
With a record of three successive victories, United's significant improvement in Europe can be gauged by the fact they could become one of the first teams to reach the next phase when they visit the Parken Stadium in Copenhagen on November 1. The latest triumph in Group F was accomplished courtesy of a splendid goal from Paul Scholes and fortuitous ones from John O'Shea and the substitute Kieran Richardson, though the margin of victory could have been far more handsome had United not been so "gratuitous", to use Ferguson's description.
Behind the scenes, the turmoil associated with the Glazers' takeover is still having repercussions judging by the resignation of two directors yesterday but on the pitch, Ferguson can be satisfied there is comparative tranquillity. FC Copenhagen were robust opponents but United are playing with the style and substance that befits a side who have spent most of season at the top of the league. They signalled their intent when Rooney sent Louis Saha scampering clear inside the opening 30 seconds and that set the tone for an evening of near-unremitting pressure.
Ferguson was particularly entitled to be satisfied given that there was a maze of fun-house mirrors to navigate before a ball had been kicked. The manager had to reconfigure his team on two occasions in quick succession, Ryan Giggs complaining of feeling unwell in the warm-up and asking to be put on the bench, followed by Rio Ferdinand pulling out with a cricked neck. In came Darren Fletcher and Wes Brown, with Rooney made captain a week before his 21st birthday. "Some players, like Paul Scholes, don't want to be captain, so it was an easy choice," said Ferguson. "And Wayne did fantastically, as I expected."
Presumably Ferguson did not consider Michael Carrick, the £18m acquisition from Tottenham whose impact has been anything but immediate. Last night's performance was laced with all the usual nice touches, a clever pass here and there and a good appreciation of the game, but it is time he started to think of himself as a big-game player who can dominate matches, particularly when the team have been deprived of several key figures.
On the night, however, it was only a small criticism. United were so dominant, so totally at ease with their superiority, that it was a night for Ferguson to delve into the pot of superlatives. He described the shot with which Scholes gave them the lead as "sensational", although the same could not be said of the second and third goals.
O'Shea's instinctive reaction was to flick the ball goalward with his right boot after Cristiano Ronaldo's corner flew into his path 38 seconds into the second half. Instead the ball struck his standing foot and ricocheted off his heel into the goal. The Irishman looked faintly embarrassed, as did Richardson when his thoroughly ordinary shot seven minutes from the end somehow squirted past the goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen, hitherto the Danes' best player.
The Times
Not even the unexpected honour of the captain's armband was enough to cure Wayne Rooney of his goalscoring blues at Old Trafford last night, but that is just about the only cloud on his or Manchester United's horizon.
With just about everyone else at the club getting into the scoring groove, the 20-year-old appears content to play the role of provider, and it is their abundance of attacking threat that should see United through to the Champions League knock-out stages with plenty to spare.
Rooney should not grow too attached to the armband; in addition to the absence of Gary Neville, it took the last-minute withdrawals of Rio Ferdinand and Ryan Giggs with a neck injury and illness respectively to bring about Ferguson's pre-match dilemma, and both players are likely to recover in time for Liverpool's visit to Old Trafford on Sunday. But he enjoyed his moment. He said afterwards that he feels he is “ almost back to my best now”, and while he may have betrayed a lingering lack of confidence in front of goal, there was enough to suggest that it does not truly matter whether he scores or not.
Twice in the first half Rooney sent Louis Saha through on goal with slide-rule passes and, while the France forward was another who left his shooting boots at home, Scholes was certainly wearing his.
The goal came at an important moment, just when Copenhagen's confidence was growing after Michael Silberbauer, twice, and Marcus Allbäck had tested Edwin van der Sar, and their second, less than 60 seconds into the second half, was equally timely. A classic, though, it was not, with Cristiano Ronaldo's corner bouncing in off O'Shea's trailing leg.
Nor was the third, when the hitherto impressive Jesper Christiansen failed to get his body behind a speculative long-distance effort from Richardson, but much of United's football caught the eye, with Evra showing up well down the left and Michael Carrick's passing far brisker and more purposeful than of late.
The Torygraph
With three straight victories, United's position in the knockout stages is now secure and overcoming Copenhagen on the pitch was as straightforward as it had appeared on paper. Ferguson remarked afterwards that he had gone into this season's European campaign "wanting no more embarrassments" like they had against Benfica in December. Then, United had finished bottom of their group having scored as many goals in six games as they had in this match, which was notable for the return of Alan Smith to a standing ovation 13 months after the hateful broken leg he sustained at Anfield.
Since that winter night in Lisbon, Scholes had found the net just once more but here he demonstrated just why McClaren had wanted him back in the national fold.
Six minutes before half-time, Scholes settled matters, rifling in a right-footed shot from just beyond the 18-yard line with all his old swagger and assurance. After the interval, he should have won a penalty when Jesper Christiansen appeared to bring him down but it scarcely mattered. As a European night it ran to an entirely predictable pattern until Richardson's speculative shot swerved wickedly and left Christiansen horribly embarrassed.
"I don't care about the third goal," said the Copenhagen manager, Stale Solbakken, whose side have yet to find the net in three matches. "We had lost, Jesper had a brilliant game and our energy was gone. We lack a cutting edge and we have to be honest about that."
Having kept goal for Rangers, Christiansen would know something about surviving intense atmospheres and but for his reflexes United might have crushed his side by the interval. On the only previous occasion United had faced Danish opposition at Old Trafford they put five past Brondby in what Ferguson considered the finest first-half display produced under his management. It was November 1998 and for the first time Ferguson thought he might win the European Cup that season.
