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  • Ronaldo (10), Ronaldo (13)
  • Date:2008-01-30
  • Kick-off:20:00
  • Venue:Old Trafford
  • Attendance:75415
  • Referee:Atkinson, M

Live Commentary

90mins

FULL TIME: Manchester United return to the top of the Premiership after this efficient performance at Old Trafford tonight. Cristiano Ronaldo was sublime, and his free-kick on the 12th minute is one of the best you will ever see!

90mins

United are piling the pressure on Portsmouth but the defence are holding steady and blocking everything that is thrown at them.

89mins

Park has a shot parried away by James but the rebound falls kindly for Anderson, who rides three challenges before releasing a delicate shot which bounces inches past the far post.

87mins

Anderson latches onto a long ball but strikes his shot into the stand behind the goal.

85mins

Park hits an ambitious shot at goal and it sails over James' crossbar.

81mins

Nani hits a dangerous looking shot from distance and it swerves in the air before grazing James' crossbar.

80mins

Nani looks for Anderson with a through ball but Campbell cuts out the pass in the nick of time

78mins

Milan Baros makes way for Richard Hughes

75mins

The game has quietened down a little now, but the home side are still enjoying a good spell of possession.

73mins

Wayne Rooney doesn't look like he wants to come off, but leaves the field for Carlos Tevez.

73mins

Ferguson makes it a double substitution, replacing two-goal hero Ronaldo with Owen Hargreaves

73mins

Ronaldo finds Nani who searches out Ferdinand with a cross, but Campbell puts in a vital interception before the United skipper slots the ball home into an empty net.

72mins

Rooney gets a shot away and it comes back off James. The ball falls for Ronaldo who strikes the ball goal-wards and it is blocked again by the Pompey keeper.

71mins

United have players coming in from warm-ups and it seems Alex Ferguson is about to make a few changes.

70mins

United are well on course to return to the top of the Premiership and they do not look like letting this lead slip.

68mins

Anderson's through ball finds Park, but he slips when trying to get a cross away and the ball falls kindly to a Portsmouth defender.

66mins

Rooney hits a pot-shot at goal but it is straight at James.

66mins

Sean Davis picks out Milan Baros in the box and after a strong challenge from Ferdinand, he goes down looking for a penalty. Martin Atkinson waves away the protests.

65mins

Nani cuts inside from the left flank and hits a right-footed shot which does not trouble James

63mins

Rooney's challenge on Pamarot results in the ball falling into the path of Ronaldo who does not make the most of the opportunity, slicing his shot wide of the mark.

62mins

Paul Scholes hasn't shown any indication of being out of the United side since October, but is brought off for Anderson as he presumably is not yet match fit.

60mins

The corner is swung into the mixer but it is a Man United head that reaches the ball first.

60mins

Pamarot wins a corner off Brown and Pompey have a half-chance to pull a goal back.

59mins

A long bouncing ball catches the Portsmouth defence off-guard and Rooney tries to get on the end of it, but James rushes off his line to smother the opportunity.

58mins

Nani delays a chipped through ball to Rooney and the striker, who made an early run, is caught offside.

56mins

Nani bursts into the penalty area and looks for a team-mate but sends his cross into the arms of James

55mins

United go straight up the other end and Rooney, one-on-one with the keeper- tries to lob the ball into an empty net but his shot does not have enough power.

54mins

Diarra hits an ambitious effort which sails straight down the throat of Van der Sar

53mins

Nani is left hobbling after a challenge with Mvuemba, but it looks like he will be OK to continue.

51mins

Nan plants a corner on the head of Rio Ferdinand and James shows quick reflects to parry the ball away

49mins

Benjani twists and turns in the United box but cannot get a shot away thanks to persistent challenges from Vidic.

47mins

Pompey immediately put in some strong challenges in attempts to stop their opponents keeping possession, but the ball keeps ending up at the feet of red shirts.

45mins

Sylvain Distin makes way for Hermann Hreidarsson

45mins

Lauren is replaced by Arnold Mvuemba

45mins

The sides re-appear for the second-half and Harry Redknapp makes two changes.

45mins

HALF TIME: The home side have hardly given their opponents a sniff and very much deserve their lead, though a magnificent first-half performance from Ronaldo has helped significantly

44mins

Fine build up play from Scholes and Nani give Park a decent opportunity, but he tries too much and Noe Pamarot wins the ball back for his side.

43mins

Alex Ferguspn's side are looking dominant at the moment and the possession statistics are looking very one sided.

41mins

Nani cuts in from the right flank and hits a powerful shot which whistles past the far post.

40mins

Diarra tries his luck with a long range free-kick but strikes it straight into the wall.

39mins

Diarra breaks into the United half and goes on a mazy run but loses out to Carrick.

39mins

Nani gets to the byline this time but his cross does not find a team-mate and Pompey hack the ball clear.

38mins

Diarra tries to find a team-mate with a free-kick but puts it straight behind for a goal-kick.

36mins

Nani picks out Evra who reaches to the byline before finding Rooney with a pass, but he cannot direct his shot goal-wards. Lovely football from the home side.

35mins

Portsmouth enjoy a decent spell of possession but in the end gift possession back to United with a poor cross from Glen Johnson.

34mins

Nani takes the corner but it comes to nothing.

33mins

Ronaldo slides a pass through to Rooney and Distin is forced to put the ball behind for a corner.

32mins

Evra gets to the byline but does not get enough on his cross and it is hoofed clear at the front post.

31mins

Ronaldo latches onto a long ball from Scholes but is sandwiched by two Portsmouth defenders who then shield the ball back to their keeper.

29mins

Ronaldo is showboating now and tries to find Park with an intricate pass but James is quick off his line to smother the loose ball.

27mins

Patrice Evra breaks into opposition territory and strikes the ball from 30-yards but he fails to work James on this occasion.

25mins

The home side do not look like they are going to settle for a 2-0 scoreline and are exerting constant pressure on the Portsmouth defence.

23mins

Nani picks out Wes Brown unmarked in the box from the corner, but the defender tries to hit the ball to hard and it sails over the crossbar from 6-yards.

23mins

He hits his shot across James this time and the keeper is forced into a fine save, palming the ball away for Distin who concedes a corner.

22mins

Sean Davis brings down Paul Scholes and the Champions have a free-kick in the exact same place as where Ronaldo scored from before.

20mins

Rooney tries his luck from the left side of the penalty area but his shot is straight at a grateful David James.

19mins

Ronaldo tries to slip a pass through to Park leaving him one-on-one with James, but Sylvain Distin puts in a vital interception.

18mins

The visitors have a free-kick in a decent position but the delivery is poor and United clear their lines.

16mins

Ronaldo is on a hat-trick now and tries to latch onto a through ball which is just too far in front of him.

14mins

The two goals in three minutes have left the visitors stunned, and they fail to make the most of a corner which sails straight into the arms of Edwin Van der Sar

12mins

MANCHESTER UNITED 2 - 0 PORTSMOUTH: RONALDO's sublime free-kick gives James no chance as it thunders into the top corner of his goal.

11mins

United win a free-kick in a dangerous position and Ronaldo is stood over it in his trademark stance.

9mins

MANCHESTER UNITED 1 - 0 PORTSMOUTH: Nani's lobbed pass over the Pompey defence finds RONALDO who slides the ball past a helpless David James.

8mins

Nani tries to find Rooney in the box, but it is not the best cross and it bounces off the striker and behind for a goal kick.

7mins

United pass the ball around on the edge of the area and eventually Cristiano Ronaldo gets a shot away, but Sol Campbell stands firm to block it.

5mins

Vidic hits another long pass and this time finds Ji-Sung Park behind the defence, but he fails to get the ball under control.

4mins

Lassana Diarra wins the ball off Paul Scholes but goes in two-footed, and some may say that he is still lucky to still be on the pitch.

3mins

Nani tries to bring the ball down on the edge of the box but loses out to a strong challenge from a Portsmouth defender.

1mins

Neither side seems able to keep hold of the ball at the moment and so Nemanja Vidic takes the long option, but Wayne Rooney is offside.

0mins

The pitch is not in the best condition, but hopefully that will not alter the football this evening.

0mins

Referee Martin Atkinson gets the game underway and the visitors kick-off.

0mins

PORTSMOUTH STARTING XI: James, Johnson, Campbell, Distin, Pamarot, Lauren, Davis, Diarra, Kranjcar, Baros, Mwaruwari. SUBS: Begovic, Hreidarsson, Mvuemba, Hughes, Pedro Mendes.

0mins

MAN UTD STARTING XI: Van der Sar, Brown, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Nani, Scholes, Carrick, Park, Ronaldo, Rooney. SUBS: Kuszczak, Hargreaves, Anderson, O'Shea, Tevez

0mins

Milan Baros makes his Portsmouth debut and is straight into Harry Redknapp's starting eleven along with Sol Campbell who returns from injury to captain the visitors.

0mins

Paul Scholes passes fit for tonight's game at Old Trafford and makes the starting line-up but Gary Neville and Louis Saha are still out.

Match Preview

Manchester United could be without Nemanja Vidic for Wednesday's Old Trafford clash with away-day specialists Portsmouth.

The Serbian central defender is struggling to recover from the virus that forced him to miss Sunday's FA Cup victory over Tottenham Hotspur.

Wes Brown may once again partner Rio Ferdinand at the heart of the United defence if Vidic fails to recover in time.

United boss Sir Alex Ferguson fears the 26-year-old will miss the game, saying: "The doctor went to see him and he was quite poorly. In fact, his whole family aren't too good at the moment.

"We'll see what he's like during the week but whether he'll be ready for Wednesday, I don't know."

Paul Scholes finally returned to action after spending the last three months on the sidelines when he came on as a substitute in Sunday's 3-1 win so only Mikael Silvestre and Ben Foster are now on the long-term injury list with cruciate knee ligament injuries.

Pompey boss Harry Redknapp may hand a debut to Milan Baros after the former Liverpool and Aston Villa striker completed his loan move from Lyon on Sunday.

Redknapp is pleased with his latest acquisition, saying: "It's a terrific opportunity to have a look at him.

"He's a good player who's been the Golden Boot winner at the European Championship. He's got pace and makes good runs."

Portsmouth will once again be without the injured Jamie Ashdown and Linvoy Primus while Sulley Muntari, Kanu, Papa Bouba Diop and John Utaka remain on Africa Cup of Nations duty.

Since losing 2-0 at Sunderland earlier this month, Pompey have won two games in a row, beating rock-bottom Derby County in the Premier League and reaching the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 2-1 win against Plymouth Argyle.


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Match Report

Cristiano Ronaldo may have missed out on the vote for Europe's Footballer of the Year in 2007, but he sure scares the hell out of opponents in the Premier League.

In the first half of Manchester United's comfortable win against Portsmouth at Old Trafford, the Portuguese winger, who will be 23 next Tuesday, was out of this world.

Portsmouth had no answer to all his tricks and skill as he tore them apart with two goals in the opening 13 minutes.

He was on the end of a glorious move which put United ahead in the tenth minute.

Paul Scholes, making his first start since the end of October, found Ronaldo with one of his trademark passes.

Ronaldo chested the ball down for Nani, who returned the pass to his compatriot on the left side of the Pompey box.

Ronaldo coolly took the ball in his stride before stroking it left footed past Pompey goalkeeper David James and into the net from the corner of the six-yard box.

But if Ronaldo's opening goal was sublime, his second was simply magnificent. Sol Campbell brought him down 25 yards from goal and Ronaldo stepped up to hit a magnificent swerving, dipping free-kick which crashed into the top right-hand corner of the net.

The shot gave James no chance and even the England goalkeeper was left with a rueful smile on his face at Ronaldo's brilliance.

The stage seemed set for United to run up a cricket score, but a combination of their profligacy in front of goal and superb goalkeeping by James kept the score down.

Wes Brown, Ji-Sung Park, Wayne Rooney and Nani all missed chances to extend the lead in the first half.

Six minutes after the interval, James made the first of several fine saves when his reflexes kept out Rio Ferdinand's header from Nani's corner.

Ronaldo fluffed the chance to record his second hat-trick for the club with a weak shot from 15 yards after Rooney's excellent tackle on Campbell had created the chance.

James twice saved Pompey in the 73rd minute. Sean Davis directed a poor header towards Rooney just inside the Pompey half and he worked the ball on to Ronaldo, whose pass set up Park.

But James hurled himself at the South Korean's feet to deny Park and then produced a brilliant stop to keep out Nani's effort from point-blank range.

Seconds later, James clawed away a fierce drive by Carlos Tevez from the right side of the Pompey penalty area and Anderson was inches wide of the far post with his shot after Pompey failed to clear the danger.

Manchester United

Portsmouth

Corners

53

Fouls

911

Goal attempts

253

Shots off target

110

Offsides

30

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