Wayne Wonder Is Back

MANCHESTER UNITED 4 BAYER LEVERKUSEN 2 - MARTIN SAMUEL AT OLD TRAFFORD: Off and running. The scoreline was emphatic, but so was the performance. David Moyes showed what was needed for him to play open, expansive football at Old Trafford. He just needed to be the manager of Manchester United. Until now Moyes has always been trying to contain the likes of Robin Van Persie and, in a red shirt, Wayne Rooney (pictured above, scoring his 200th United goal). Now they are on his side.

Meet the new boss, same as the old boss. This was the dawn of the David Moyes era in Europe at Manchester United, but somehow it felt just like old times.

A front-loaded team, an early lead, a wobble, two of the misses of the season, one of its most spectacular goals, a quite stunning counter-attack and then a brief outbreak of defensive chaos to conclude the night. Oh, this was Manchester United in Europe all right. It was as if they had never been away.

If it was a little more controlled than the scoreline suggests - United were never behind and actually had the lead for all but 27 minutes of the game - it was unmistakably a Champions League night at Old Trafford, right down to the tension that fills the ground on such occasions before the deadlock is broken. 

Fortunately for Moyes that happened early, after 22 minutes, but when Bayer Leverkusen drew level nine minutes into the second-half, the fear resurfaced that this is a manager with considerably less experience in Europe than his team, and indeed the supporters.

Full story from MailOnline