Aug 8, 2011

Nani salutes Manchester United spirit

Manchester United match-winner Nani insists his team-mates never lost belief as they came from 2-0 down to beat city rivals Manchester City 3-2 and lift the Community Shield on Sunday.

The Portugal international broke clear from the halfway line in the fourth minute of time added on to follow up his magnificent equaliser earlier in the second half.

City had capitalised on David de Gea's hesitancy to go ahead through defender Joleon Lescott and striker Edin Dzeko but Chris Smalling halved the deficit after the restart.

Nani told Sky Sports 1: "This is United, we all believe until the last minute and the attitude of the lads in the second half was that everyone believed we could score.

"It is good to play against Man City and win like that. I think our fans today will be so proud of us, it is a beautiful day to enjoy."

Asked about his winner, Nani said: "I tried to chip it but the keeper stayed on his feet, so at the last second I changed my mind."

United striker Wayne Rooney admitted the win was sweeter because of the opposition.

"Of course," he said. "Obviously they are going to try to fight us for that (Premier League) title. They scored two goals from nowhere but we showed character to win the game."

United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was unwilling to criticise De Gea for the second City goal.

He said: "Well it was bending a little bit...it's difficult to say."

The Scot added: "I certainly thought our performance throughout was very good in terms of the football. I couldn't believe we were 2-0 down at half-time after it looked to me like we were controlling the game.

"But credit to the players, they kept their heads, played football and got the result we deserved."



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