EPL, Premiership, English Premier League

Line-up:

Villarreal: Diego Lopez, Angel, Rodriguez, Godin, Capdevila, Cani, Eguren, Edmilson, Pires, Fernandez, Franco.
Subs: Viera, Santi Cazorla, Ibagaza, Llorente, Javi Venta, Senna, Fuentes.
Booked: Franco, Ibagaza, Diego Lopez.
Referee: Wolfgang Stark

Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Evans, Evra, Nani, Hargreaves, Fletcher, Park, Rooney, Tevez.
Subs: Foster, Brown, Ronaldo, Anderson, Giggs, Vidic, O’Shea.
Booked: Tevez.

Villarreal have had few opportunities so far with United producing almost all of the offense.

In the 60th minute Villarreal winger had the ball on United’s right flank with United defenders lagging about 15 yards behind. He crossed the ball low and hard into the middle of the box and Franco did a backwards flick which bounced off the back post. Villarreal seemed to be gaining some offense for the first time in the game. Only minutes later, Cristiano Ronaldo was substituted in for JS Park and made his first appearance of the season; Anderson came on for But United were determined to score with Tevez and Rooney putting in plenty of effort creating multiple chances. Tevez created multiple opportunities for the United offense as he dashed forward into the Villareal box it was obvious that Villa’s defense were unable to stop him.

In the 72nd minute Ronaldo gave Rooney a great through ball which he ran on (few players can compete with Rooney’s speed). He beat the defender of course but passed the ball through a defenders legs directly to the right of him to Tevez; however, the ball was slightly out of Tevez’s pass and when he kicked it at goal a Villa defender cleared it from the line.

Tevez has described Ronaldo’s reappearance akin to having ”an extra player” on the field. “Cristiano is a massive player for us and it is great to have him on our side. It is like having an extra player when he is there because he is such a danger to our opponents. It will be a big boost to have him back.”

Tevez was recently offered a €30 million deal to keep Tevez at United. “From the first moment I came here I would have loved to sign a long-term contract. Last year was a very happy season and it would be wonderful if the chairman put a long-term contract in front of me. If he did that I would sign it without a doubt.”

Ferguson recently stated that United’s performance against Liverpool demonstrated defense that was not worthy to be seen in the EPL. Tevez described what enabled Manchester United to win the League Title last season. “Whenever we lost a game last season we came back and showed ourselves to be stronger. That was the reason we won two titles last year. I am sure we will see a reaction from the players tonight.”