CSKA Moscow vs Manchester United; 5 Talking Points

#4. CSKA Moscow fans, and their Captain, deserve better

Akinfeev, and the fans, were the best performers for CSKA

From the first peep of the referee's whistle to the last, the noise level at the VEB Arena had to be heard to be believed. Even though United took the lead in the 4th minute, and then raced to a commanding 3-0 lead within the opening half-an-hour, the CSKA fans never really lost their voice and kept singing, barechested and loud, into the cold Moscow air with a fervour and devotion that most English grounds can only dream of these days.

Their support was rewarded with a late consolation from CSKA youngster Konstantin Kuchaev - a nice little goal, at that - but their support demanded a much better performance than the sloppy, dead-in-the-water kind that their team put on for them tonight. There were far too many errors in there, and Goncharenko's men really need to get their act together before their doubleheader against Basel - the team they will most likely be competing with for second place in Group A.

The same sentiments can be evoked for Igor Akinfeev, who went his 45th game, and 11th year, without a Champions League cleansheet to his name; he may have let in four goals but none of those were his fault and it was his still-agile-as-a-flea reflexes and great goalkeeping expertise that kept the United score to single digits... such was the visiting side's dominance.