The "bad" Nani showed up and was sent off for a mindless two footed tackle on Stiliyan Petrov. He got no support from Sir Alex.
"It was a red card. It was a naive tackle. He is not a malicious player but he has gone in with his foot raised off the ground and we cannot complain about it."
Aston Villa dominated the early phase with Fabian Delph and Ashley Young splitting open the game with their pace down the flanks. They drew first blood when Carlos Cuellar scored through a long, looping header over the 6'5" Van Der Saar.
Man Utd drew level when James Collins deflected Ryan Giggs fierce volley past Friedel for an own goal. After Wayne Rooney, 10 own goals are the highest contributor to Man Utd's scoring.
Nani was sent of soon thereafter and for the next hour or so, United played a man down and came closest to scoring again as Villa failed to capitalize on their numerical advantage. It was left to Brad Friedel to come up with some stunning saves particularly against Michael Carrick and Rooney.
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KevNYC
Probably overlooked because Ashley Young's foul took place right at the end with very little chance of it influencing the outcome of the match. This is not to say that Young was not wrong. I also think Nani's reputation precedes him in a negative way at times.
As Trevor Francis pointed out, the Ashley Young non-call on Valencia in the dying minutes was almost as bad and wasn't even a foul. Nani did go in studs up, which should be a straight red I agree, but he did get the ball and Petrov only got minimal contact from Nani's foot