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27 August 2007, by Joao Pedro

Nani’s spectacular start to life at Man Utd just gets better and better

Manchester United 1-0 Tottenham Hotspur

PortuGOAL.net was inundated with queries over the summer from Manchester United fans asking for information about their club’s new signings from Portugal, Nani and Anderson. We replied to each request informing fans that Anderson was an outrageously talented midfielder who is surely destined for greatness, while Nani has plenty of potential but don’t expect another Ronaldo.

Given the incredible start to his Manchester United career, perhaps we should start issuing an apology for misinforming our readers!

Such has been Nani’s impact since arriving at Old Trafford – scoring in three successive friendlies and then putting in several man-of-the-match displays according to the English press – that Ronaldo now has a serious rival as Manchester’s favourite Portuguese.

The thought of the two working in tandem on either wing is a mouth-watering prospect for all fans of attacking football. And perhaps the biggest winner of all in the long run will be the Portugal national team.

Nani chose the perfect time to score his first goal in an official match, as United, lying in penultimate place after a three-match winless start to the defence of their Premiership crown, faced Tottenham Hotspur.

The London team were also desperate for points after a poor start and controversial comments from the chairman that seem to have undermined the future of coach, Martin Jol.

In a closely fought match, Tottenham’s Portuguese defender Ricardo Rocha put in a solid performance, and will even feel he should have scored the game’s opening goal as he lent a hand to the attack and saw an effort go wide shortly after half time.

Wonder strike

But midway through the second half the young former Sporting winger took centre stage, picking up the ball 25 metres from goal and letting fly with a tremendous strike that arrowed into the top corner of the net.

The goal sparked wild celebrations among the vast majority of the crowd that topped 75,000, who were then treated to Nani’s trademark acrobatic goal celebration, incorrectly reported to have been banned by United boss Alex Ferguson.

Should Nani continue to flourish as he has done in his first two months under the tutelage of Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz, the 25 million euro fee will surely prove a snip, and never again will any football have to ask: “So who’s this Nani then?”

Man Utd:
Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Hargreaves, Carrick (Eagles 57), Scholes, Giggs, Tevez (Fletcher 77)
Yellow Cards: Giggs, Brown

Tottenham:
Robinson, Chimbonda, Rocha (Zokora 83), Gardner, Lee (Taarabt 75), Malbranque, Jenas, Huddlestone, Bale, Berbatov, Keane (Defoe 75)
Yellow Cards: Huddlestone, Berbatov, Gardner

Goals:
[1-0] Nani, 68