Manchester United defender excited to be playing in Champions League and not watching on the telly

Manchester United defender Chris Smalling admitted he was delighted to make his Champions League debut, rather than watching the big games from his living room.Smalling, who officially joined Manchester United from Fulham in the summer, impressed alongside Rio Ferdinand in the disappointing 0-0 draw against Rangers.'It's one of the biggest competitions a player can play in and I thoroughly enjoyed it,' he said. Heads up: Chris Smalling jumps high during United's clash with Rangers'I've watched so many of these games on television so to be part of one at a club like United is fantastic.'Case for the defence: Chris SmallingSmalling added on MUTV: 'Unfortunately, we just couldn't break them down and everyone is disappointed with the result.'The next game against Valencia is going to be very important now. Hopefully we can move on quickly from this result, take the positives from it and score a few more goals in our next few games.'United great Ryan Giggs also voiced United's frustration after the game, as the 2008 European Cup winners failed to find a way past the Scottish champions.'It was a frustrating night,' Giggs said. 'Rangers got everyone behind the ball and it was up to us to break them down, but we didn't manage to do that.'We couldn't get our rhythm going in the first half and we were giving the ball away. It's tough when teams get ten men behind the ball - we've usually found a way past in the end, but tonight we just didn't have that bit of quality in the final third.' Antonio Valencia will recover from horrific ankle injury, insist Manchester United Manchester United 0 Rangers 0: Fergie's flops hit the wall as Reds are held in Champions League opener MANCHESTER UNITED FC

Source: Daily_Mail