City’s neighbours United laboured for long periods despite near total domination against CSKA at Old Trafford before a late Wayne Rooney header snatched a 1-0 win that puts the Red Devils in control of Group B.
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PSV Eindhoven’s 2-0 win at home to Wolfsburg means United lead those two by a point but a victory over the Dutch outfit at Old Trafford in three weeks time will book the three-time winners’ place in the last 16.
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United came into the game on the back of three successive 0-0 draws with manager Louis van Gaal’s tactics increasingly coming in for criticism.
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Urged on by their fans to “attack, attack, attack”, United buzzed around their opponents from the off and enjoyed 70 percent possession but were often let down by their final ball or a poor finish.
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Just before Rooney scored, goalkeeper David De Gea, a virtual spectator throughout, had to come to his side’s rescue after Ahmed Musa’s perfectly weighted ball sent Seydou Doumbia racing clear.
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De Gea made a brilliant one-handed save to deny the Ivory Coast forward before the back-tracking Chris Smalling slid in to crucially clear the follow-up off the line.
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Almost immediately, United went up the other end, carved CSKA open and Rooney headed in Jesse Lingard’s cross unmarked from seven yards.
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