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21 August 2006, by Sean Gillen

Ronaldo and Rooney delight record Old Trafford crowd

Manchester United 5-1 Fulham

Manchester United opened their new Premiership campaign by hammering Luis Boa Morte’s Fulham at Old Trafford, with Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney putting on fine individual displays.

Ronaldo was given a huge welcome by the home fans, and his name was chanted throughout an extremely impressive team performance by the Red Devils, in front of a Premiership record crowd of 75,115. Particularly satisfying for the Old Trafford faithful was seeing Rooney and Ronaldo’s understanding and link-up on the pitch, which was, at times, simply breathtaking.

Four-goal blitz

United blitzed the visitors with four goals in the first 18 minutes, with the attacking trio of Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Louis Saha combining to devastating effect. It was Saha who gave United the lead after just seven minutes, heading in a Ryan Giggs cross from close range.

Ronaldo flashed a free-kick across the penalty box before United doubled their advantage on 15 minutes through an Ian Pearce own goal. Ronaldo found Saha on the left of the penalty area, and the Frenchman hit a low driven cross towards Rooney, only for Pearce’s attempted interception to end up in his own net.

It was three-nil just one minute later when United took a quick free-kick and Gary Neville’s superb cross was met by Saha, who forced a save from Niemi, only for Rooney to sidefoot in the rebound.

Ronaldo strikes

Ronaldo’s moment came shortly before the 20-minute mark, and it was the best goal of the day. Rooney received the ball wide of the penalty area before finding the Portuguese at the back post with a beautifully weighted ball, and the onrushing Ronaldo sidefooted a half-volley into the roof of the net, past Niemi.

Saha missed two good chances and Paul Scholes hit the post as United dominated Fulham, for whom Boa Morte struggled to make an impression. The Fulham captain was used on the left side of a 5-man midfield, but was rarely provided with the ball in attacking positions.

The visitors did pull a goal back five minutes before half-time. Heidar Helguson’s shot from outside the area deflected off Rio Ferdinand and looped over the head of United goalkeeper Edwin van Der Sar.

Ronaldo was involved in the fifth; playing Wes Brown through down the right flank, and Brown’s cutback was swept in by Rooney on 64 minutes. The former Sporting man should have got his second shortly before the 70-minute mark when put clean through on goal, again by Rooney, but dragged his finish wide.

The match drew to a close with United in total control, and Ronaldo putting on a full display of tricks and flicks for the Old Trafford crowd. The result, although against one of the Premiership’s weaker sides, is the perfect start for United, who will be hoping to provide a much stronger title challenge to Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea in the season ahead.

Manchester United:
van Der Sar, Neville (Silvestre, 45), Evra, Brown, Ferdinand, O’Shea, Scholes, Giggs (Park, 60), Ronaldo, Rooney, Saha (Solskjaer, 60)
Yellow Cards: Giggs (51)

Fulham:
Niemi, Rosenior, Queudreu, Pearce, Christanval, Diop, Bullard, Brown (Radzinski, 61), Boa Morte, Helguson, John (McBride, 64)
Yellow Cards: Brown (50)

Goals:
[1-0] Saha, 7
[2-0] Pearce, 15 (o.g.)
[3-0] Rooney, 16
[4-0] Ronaldo, 19
[4-1] Ferdinand, 40 (o.g.)
[5-1] Rooney, 64