Victory costly for Sir Alex

Sir Alex Ferguson had mixed feelings at full-time in Denmark after seeing his team win but lose three players to injury.

Paul Scholes, Wayne Rooney and young right-back Rafael were all substituted for medical rather than tactical reasons during the 3-0 victory over Aalborg BK. The first change was forced on the United boss after just 15 minutes when Scholes was stretchered off.

"There were a lot of plus points but we lost Paul Scholes who could be out for a few weeks," said Sir Alex. It was later confirmed that the midfielder suffered knee ligament damage and could miss up to two months of action.
"We had one or two other injuries," the boss added. "Young Rafael got injured and Rooney has an ankle problem. He felt a weakness in it when he went to receive a ball and we took him off straightaway.

"So there was maybe a cost to pay for the victory. Nonetheless we have four points now and it's where we want to be."

The three points in Aalborg were made safe by Dimitar Berbatov's first and second goals in a United shirt. Sir Alex was delighted to see the Bulgarian open his account so emphatically in only his fifth appearance.

"He scored two fantastic goals and that will help his confidence," said the manager.

"When you're transferred for that amount of money, you want your first goal quickly and he's got it. The second goal (volley from Ronaldo's cross) was a lovely goal."

Berbatov's second-half brace may have spared the blushes of his team-mates - Sir Alex's other complaint, aside from the injuries, was that "we missed a lot of chances."