United reignite to crush QPR

Sport
New-look Manchester United rediscovered their spark as they crushed hapless Queens Park Rangers 4-0 at Old Trafford.

LONDON – New-look Manchester United rediscovered their spark as they crushed hapless Queens Park Rangers 4-0 at Old Trafford.

Ángel di MarÍa, at his creative best, opened the scoring on his home debut, with another summer signing, Ander Herrera, club captain Wayne Rooney and Juan Mata also getting in on the act.

Louis van Gaal has spent big in an effort to turn United’s fortunes around and, with Marcos Rojo and Danny Blind thrown in from the start and Radamel Falcao introduced off the bench, the Dutchman got the response he was looking for as the hosts dominated against a visiting side which included former favourite Rio Ferdinand.

It took 24 minutes of patient probing for the deadlock to be broken, with Di MarÍa swinging over a curling free-kick from the right which dipped over the heads of those inside the box and nestled into the back of the net.

Herrera doubled the advantage on 36 minutes, with the Spaniard drilling low into the bottom corner after being picked out by Rooney.

The England captain then added his name to score sheet on the stroke of half-time, reversing a shot inside the near post, before Mata wrapped things up just before the hour mark as he gathered a driven cross-shot from Di MarÍa and calmly lifted the ball over an onrushing Robert Green.

Despite the public excitement surrounding the arrival of Falcao, Ferdinand received the biggest reception from the home fans before kick-off.

The former United centre-half, who complained he was not given a proper send off in the summer, received a huge ovation as well as a present from Sir Bobby Charlton just before kick-off. — SkySports