Manchester United 1-0 Galatasaray: Carrick the difference at Old Trafford

It was a return to the continent's elite which Sir Alex Ferguson had in mind when he spent so prodigiously and ambitiously this summer, though the manner of victory last night provided a reminder that the road to another Wembley final will be a long one, strewn with dangers. This victory will not have rocked the continent to its foundations.

Ferguson had pledged there would be no more of the carelessness which saw United win only one home game in Europe last season, though United's 17th consecutive Champions league campaign was only two minutes old when Nemanja Vidic brought the demons right back. The defender – whose only two Champions League games last season saw him carried off the field in Bucharest and sent off in Basle – stretched for a ball in his own penalty area, blind to the presence of Umut Bulut, whom he clattered to the ground in the penalty area. Referee Wolfgang Stark's oversight did United a major favour.

Old Trafford's European aura will take some time to be restored, it seems, and the way the Turkish side attacked with immediate ambition demonstrated that it has certainly lost a little of its impregnability. Yet something of the new was evident too in United, not least the wonderful spectacle of Shinji Kagawa, a player of such imagination and ideas whose European debut for Ferguson offered no less of the promise than a young David Beckham did on the night here against Galatasaray in which he scored his first United goal, 18 years ago.

Kagawa spirited away the shock of that penalty scare with his industry behind Robin van Persie. The game was seven minutes old when Kagawa's neat return pass to Michael Carrick took Carrick on towards goalkeeper Fernando Muslera, and the midfielder maintained his balance after the advancing keeper clipped him, and dragged a leg into the shot which put United ahead. Muslera could be thankful for small mercies. Had Carrick gone to ground, the goalkeeper would have gone from the field.

Paul Scholes – whose selection for this game suggests that Liverpool can rest easy because he will not start at Anfield on Sunday – graced the first half with passing of his own inimitable class and Carrick's drives forward caught the eye, too. It was the uncharacteristically poor crossing from Antonio Valencia that checked United's progress. There seemed to be a hard stare from Scholes when Valencia put a third cross too close to the goalkeeper in the space of less than half an hour, though Muslera required some athleticism to clip the Ecuadorian's 22nd-minute cross out of the air and take it to safety.

The Turkish side were capable of exploiting United's profligacy in possession, too, during a first half in which they clipped the top of the Stretford End bar and hit the side of David de Gea's left post. It was Rafael da Silva's frequent positional failure that allowed Nordin Amrabat his 20-yard advance up the field to graze the bar. On the opposite flank, Patrice Evra earned a booking for raking his studs down the leg of the dangerous Hamit Altintop, who tested the post when he arrived to meet the ensuing free-kick. He would have scored had he found the target.

There would have been some immediate breathing space, had United not conspired to mess up their third successive penalty kick in as many games, after another first-time ball by Scholes out to Rafael sparked a penetrating run into the box, which Burak Yilmaz brought to an illegal end. After the misses by Van Persie and Javier Hernandez, this time Nani – for some reason the nominated taker despite the presence of Van Persie in last night's starting line-up – was the culprit. It was the dummy, not the dink, for him but the outcome was equally miserable – a pitifully tame low effort which Muslera could comfortably punch away.

When Selcuk Inan found the United woodwork for a third time – getting in ahead of the first defender Jonny Evans from Altintop's cross – it felt like the profligacy could cost United.

Vidic met an Evra corner with a powerful header but was booked for a foul on Vilmaz and as the game reached its last half-hour United lost their energy, Nani aside. Kagawa slipped out of the picture. Van Persie did not really enter it all night.

Nani sent in Evra for a cross-come-shot that flew across the goal but Galatasaray responded almost immediately, capitalising with a rapid counter-attack when a United short corner did not work out. De Gea parried the shot that Johan Elmander, a first-half substitute, sent straight at him, but it was the second save – the Spaniard arcing to touch Amrabat's effort over the bar – which really delivered a message to the manager who has not selected him for the past month.

There was a grandstand welcome for Darren Fletcher, missing from United since 22 November last year, when the bowel condition which he will never entirely be rid of, confined him to a long road to recovery. His last game had been the 2-2 home draw with Benfica in which United had not looked invincible.

The game ended as it had started – with an Evans lunge at Vilmaz in the area and justifiable penalty calls. Not a lot has changed, where Europe is concerned.

Man of the match Carrick.

Match rating 6/10.

Referee P Proenca (Port).

Attendance 74,653.

3

Last night's penalty miss by Nani was Manchester United's third in consecutive matches, following previous failures by Robin van Persie and Javier Hernandez.