Manchester United holds to Berbatov

A goal from Bulgarian Dimitar Berbatov on 69 minutes gave Manchester United victory over Middlesbrough and kept the team from Alex Ferguson's race for the title. It is seven points of the leader, Liverpool, but unless you play two games in his field of Old Trafford before the Fulham and Wigan.

The United needed a victory to not move away from Liverpool and, above all, to get closer to Chelsea. It achieved its second consecutive 1-0 and ranked seventeenth to the suffering, which had lost its last two outings.

However, years of experience and qualifications that separate Alex Ferguson, which will hold its sixty-seventh birthday on Wednesday, Gareth Southgate (38 years and coach for 18 months) took more than an hour to be reflected on the field.

Southgate, who has already crossed with Alex Ferguson and controversy, especially with Cristiano Ronaldo, closed its area with a lot of players and ordered the hard Emmanuel Pogatetz, the Austrian tosco defense, the task of desquiciar the Portuguese star.

Off the hook throughout the first half and much of the second, when the rush of United were unsuccessful, but had no answer when the 69 minutes, Berbatov found a ball in the area and therefore became the only party .

The win puts Manchester in third place with seven and four points less than Liverpool and Chelsea respectively, but with two games per contest than their top rivals.

The twenty-day closed meeting on Tuesday to play with the Hull and Aston Villa. The league will stop until January 10 as the weekend played in the playoffs' FA Cup '.

Berbatov eludes marking Wheater. (Photo: AFP)