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For eight years, Paul Scholes has lived with the memory of missing Manchester United’s Champions League triumph because he was suspended.
He can live with himself a little easier now.
The 33-year-old midfielder assured his trip to Moscow this time, scoring a sensational winner in United’s 1-0 semi-final victory over Barcelona today.
The 25-metre strike in the 14th minute was the only goal between the two sides in two legs, making up for Cristiano Ronaldo’s missed penalty at the Nou Camp a week ago.
Scholes shunned reporters and exited Old Trafford by a side entrance, leaving his teammates to lavish praise.
“It was a moment of quality from a fantastic player,” defender Rio Ferdinand said. “What a goal and a great time to get one.”
Midfielder Michael Carrick has seen him produce similar deadly goals in training.
“It was an awesome strike,” he said. “I think that has to be up there with one of his best, especially in a game of this magnitude. To cap off a night like this with a goal of that quality was brilliant.”
As soon as the final whistle blew, United manager Alex Ferguson immediately marked Scholes for his starting lineup on May 21.
“Absolutely,” Ferguson said. “He’s one of the great players to come through the ranks here.”
Scholes was part of Manchester United’s vaunted youth side featuring David Beckham and Gary and Phil Neville, which formed the spine of “Fergie’s Fledglings” of the mid-1990s.
In his league debut against Ipswich in 1994, Scholes scored twice.
Today’s decisive strike was just the second goal of the season for Scholes, and first since August 15 in the Premier League against Portsmouth.
He missed much of the season with a knee injury, but re-established his credentials during his 101st Champions League appearance.
“It was a fantastic goal,” Ferguson said. “I don’t think we can expect Paul Scholes to score 10-15 goals a season like he used to do when he was younger.
“But he certainly delivered one tonight for us. It makes up for the all the goals that he can’t score because of his age now. It was a marvellous moment for him.”
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