United Bate Liga de Quito na Final do Mundial Clubes

United set the seal on an historic year by becoming the first British side to win the Club World Cup to end 2008 as the best team on the planet.

First-half dominance gave way to second-half nerves as the Reds were forced to play 45 minutes with only 10 men following Nemanja Vidic’ sending off, but player of the tournament Wayne Rooney’s late goal gave United a deserved victory.

Sir Alex had shuffled his pack again, making four changes to the side that beat Gamba Osaka, while Liga de Quito coach Edgardo Bauza – managing the Ecuadorian side for the last time – named the same XI that started against Pachucha on Wednesday’s semi-final. There had been pre-match speculation that the tough-tackling South Americans may target Cristiano Ronaldo, and sure enough, Claudio Bieler was in the book just two minutes into the match for a rough shoulder-check on Ronny. The Uzbek referee Ravshan Irmatov made it clear he was wasn’t going to stand for any nonsense during this game, and the yellow card was duly shown.

But with the eyes of the world on the match, and 80,000 fans packed inside the Yokohama International Stadium, United made it clear they wanted to put on a show and prove they were the best team on the planet. Wayne Rooney had enjoyed a highly eventful 20-minute introduction to the Club World Cup at the end of Thursday’s semi-final, and United’s no.10 looked to begin the final where he had left off. He was involved in a handful of attacks in the first 15 minutes, and let fly with two powerful shots that made keeper Jose Cevallos realise he