Ruud and Ole see Reds home

13 April 2012

Sir Alex Ferguson last night hailed Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the two strikers clinched Manchester United's place in the second phase of the Champions League.

Van Nistelrooy recovered from a penalty miss against Olympiakos to supply substitute Solskjaer with his first European goal of the season. Then, three minutes after Ryan Giggs had made it 2-0, £19million Van Nistelrooy scored a brilliant third in injury time.

Ferguson said: 'Ruud has got to be the best centre forward in Europe. He deserved his goal. He will keep getting better all the time.'

In almost the same breath, Ferguson added: 'When Ole gets a chance, there is no person in this world who you would prefer the ball to land to.'

Although all the goals came in the last 11 minutes, Ferguson was not complaining. With Lille drawing 1-1 at Deportivo La Coruna, United and the Spaniards are sure of places in the next phase. Ferguson said: 'The first thing is to qualify - and we're very pleased to have done that now. It takes away that nervous trip to Lille next week and they are a formidable side. It was a strong performance, not a brilliant performance, but a strong one.'

He reserved his greatest praise for Van Nistelrooy, who has scored three times in United's Champions League campaign.

Ferguson said: 'He is a real centre forward - a little bit old fashioned with a swashbuckling style. He has a determined nature and he is a real handful because his body strength is good and you have a job handling him. It was a fantastic second-half performance from him.

'One of the reasons I didn't play Ole from the start was because he played a whole game on Saturday for the first time in a while and I wondered how he would cope with the pace at this level.

'It is a weakness when you have a big squad that maybe they don't get enough games.'

Olympiakos coach Takis Lemonis was philosophical about Alexios Alexandris's missed chance in the first half when the game was goalless.

He said: 'I believe we had chances to score in both matches, but it just didn't happen. I don't think there's a problem with my attack and you can't take all your chances.

'Obviously I'm sad about the result, but the effort of my team was very good and I think it shows we have the ability to carry on in the future.'

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David Jones (Footballer)

Ruud and Ole see Reds home

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