A late strike from Michael Carrick gave Manchester United a narrow but narrowly deserved Champions League Group B win over German title holders Wolfsburg. The visitors’ positive attitude from the start made for a more entertaining and competitive game than many at Old Trafford at this stage of the competition in the past. And after United fell behind to a 56^th minute header from Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko, there was a huge slice of luck about their equaliser three minutes later, when Ryan Giggs’ free-kick took a decisive deflection before finding the net. But Michael Carrick crowned a fine display with an excellent curled effort from 20 yards, 13 minutes from time, to leave Sir Alex Ferguson’s men in charge of the group.

It wasn’t such a good night for Michael Owen, however. In front of the watching England manager Fabio Capello, Owen succumbed to a groin strain after 20 minutes. And his replacement Dimitar Berbatov immediately gave United a more expansive look after a sluggish start, which nearly saw them fall behind on four minutes when Christian Gentner fired a shot at Tomasz Kuszczak. Berbatov set up United’s two best chances of the first half. Antonio Valencia ran on to his deft flick on 24 minutes, only to drag his right-foot shot across the face of goal. And Carrick was denied by Wolfsburg keeper Diego Benaglio five minutes later, after another audacious assist from the Bulgarian.

The German champions took the lead eleven minutes after the restart when Dzeko headed home Makoto Hasebe’s cross from six yards. But their lead lasted just three minutes before Giggs’ dead-ball strike hit Gentner on the shoulder, completely wrong-footing Benaglio and flying past his outstretched right hand. There was nothing lucky about United’s winner, however, Carrick finishing classily after some fine work by Wayne Rooney and Berbatov and a final lay-off by Giggs.