United settle it early

Champions League: Glasgow Rangers 0 - Manchester Utd 1First the match was decided and then it was contested. That reversal of custom wronged Rangers, who fell behind to a Phil Neville finish almost immediately and then packed the night with the passion and verve that merited an equaliser.

It is Manchester United, all the same, who have righted themselves in Group E after going under in Stuttgart. The importance of the trip to Glasgow was not lost on them.

When Alex Ferguson brought his Aberdeen team to Ibrox in the 1980s he would tell his players to take quick free-kicks as a sign of the conviction they would dictate the match. The same sort of attitude produced fast fouls last night, with an immediate booking for John O'Shea and a rough challenge by Roy Keane, but there was also a goal.

In the fifth minute a run by Ruud van Nistelrooy opened up a channel on the right through which Phil Neville dodged to send a low shot past Stefan Klos and in off the post. The suggestion that the visitors were to be masterful was, however, proved deceitful by the remainder of the first half.

To United's puzzlement and discomfort, Rangers declined to conduct themselves with the tentative caution of a side playing far grander opponents. Rangers manager Alex McLeish had contrived to add a dash of the unexpected to a contest that was perceived beforehand to be characterised by the familiarity of a long-standing relationship.

This was the evening when the United manager encountered an old friend who had turned into a new adversary. A shared adventure with Aberdeen brought a lasting affinity between Ferguson and his then centre-half McLeish, but they have little in common in their current working lives. The former Rangers manager Walter Smith had drawn the distinction with particular firmness.

"One certainty," he said, "is that Fergie will make his decisions by thinking about his own team, whereas McLeish is still in the position of having to make his decisions by looking at the opposition."

That wisdom was confirmed, but not in the fashion that had been supposed. Paolo Vanoli, an irregular member of the first team had, for instance, displaced the more established Emerson.

McLeish envisaged disconcerting United by having the Italian attack on the left flank. He will have judged that a strategy of sheer resistance was doomed and he might also have noted Ferguson's team have been beaten in their past three away games in the Champions League.

The policy functioned to a certain extent before the interval. There was, all the same, no precision in the goalmouth. Vanoli sliced an effort wide from a corner and soon after, in the 34th minute, dragged another shot behind after Michael Mols had ruffled the United back four.

Despite the bulwark of three defensively-inclined midfielders United had to work, without much style, to keep Rangers at bay as Mikel Arteta made eager passes in the midfield. When Shota Arveladze, the deep-lying attacker, had a 30-yarder tipped over the bar by Tim Howard, the possibility increased that the visitors would suffer serious harm.

United, then, would have found it hard to purge the recollection of defeat in Stuttgart. Nonetheless, Rangers had an inkling of the threat they faced and Ryan Giggs, with a surer and earlier pass, would have sent van Nistelrooy clear. Two minutes from half time, the Welshman did find a team mate from a corner, but Mikael Silvestre's header was blocked on the line by Arteta.

Modest improvement has never sufficed for Ferguson and his declamation at the interval saw his side restart with purpose. The midfield had been tweaked so that the line was flatter and United were in the mood - and shape - to push harder at Rangers.

The effect was to produce an open game and McLeish's men were not nullified. Indeed the opportunities that came to them were even more blatant. United were bizarrely ineffectual at corners and Craig Moore and Peter Lovenkrands had free headers. The first was knocked away by Phil Neville and the next flew into Howard's arms.

Between those attempts Mols released Lovenkrands, only for the vigilant and outstanding Rio Ferdinand to put the ball behind with a sharp tackle. He had also impressed in the win at Leeds last Saturday, but there was more drama and anxiety about his circumstances at Ibrox.

Lovenkrands, showing stamina and speed, was barely contained and United never dictated the terms of the contest.

It was an edgy, slightly unkempt match and Paul Scholes received a yellow card for barging into Klos as the goalkeeper tried to hold a ball he had blocked at the feet of van Nistelrooy. United had cause to be ill at ease, with Lovenkrands beating Gary Neville and Roy Keane before ripping a shot just wide in the 81st minute.

Victory for Ferguson's side was to be hard won rather than majestic.

Rangers: Klos, Khizanishvili (Ross 86), Berg, Moore, Ball, Ricksen, Arteta, Vanoli (Nerlinger 67), Lovenkrands, Arveladze, Mols. Subs Not Used: McGregor, Emerson, Ostenstad, Capucho, Hughes.

Man Utd: Howard, Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, O'Shea, Phil Neville (Butt 85), Keane, Scholes, Fortune (Djemba-Djemba 90), van Nistelrooy, Giggs. Subs Not Used: Carroll, Ronaldo, Bellion, Forlan, Fletcher. Booked: O'Shea, Scholes. Goal: Phil Neville 5.

Referee: Anders Frisk (Sweden).