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Tuesday was a pleasant day for our first visit to Transylvania, though the temperature had fallen by the evening and the ghostly galleon of a huge full moon hung becalmed over the ground. The Stadionul Dr Constantin R?dulescuis named after a former player and coach. It was built in 1973 but had to be significantly upgraded when CFR first qualified for the Champions League in 2004. With its open terracing and 24,000 capacity, apartments overlooking the pitch, this was a match between clubs worlds apart.

Yet we have a common railway ancestry; Kolozsvári Vasutas Sport Club (Cluj-Napoca Railway Sports Club) was founded in 1907 when Cluj-Napoca was a part of Austria-Hungary. They were the inaugural champions of Transylvania in 1911 when United first brought the Football League Championship to Old Trafford. After the First World War Transylvania became a part of Romania and the club was renamed C?ile Ferate Române after the Romanian national railway. Other than a brief spell in the seventies CFR spent eighty five years in the lower divisions until their fortunes changed with the financial backing of businessman Árpád Pászkány in 2002. By 2004 they were in the top flight, by 2008 they had become Romanian champions, and they have since collected two more Liga 1 titles, three Romanian Cups and two Romanian Supercups.

Our teamsheet on Tuesday was always going to be news because of the way recent matches have gone. Sir Alex Ferguson brought back David de Gea in goal but played the back four which had performed so disjointedly for the first forty five minutes on Saturday. In the midfield he asked those who had done well in the Capital One Cup to step up and we played two strikers, Robin van Persie and Javier Hernández, supported by Wayne Rooney and no wingers. It is the first time that Rooney and van Persie have started together.

Ferguson stressed on television that losing an early goal might be disastrous because of CFR’s strength in counter attack but within two minutes Rio Ferdinand had to concede a corner kick after giving the ball away outside his own area. From it Modou Sougou missed the header. The same man featured several times in a fifteen man move which suddenly developed dangerously when Rafael Bastos’ long diagonal ball found him by the right corner flag. Patrice Evra hesitated between covering and tackling and ended up doing neither, leaving Sougou with time and space. Pantelis Kapetanos was the only CFR player in our area but abandoned by both our centre halves he calmly sidefooted Sougou’s cross into the far corner. It was business as usual, then, despite Ferguson’s warnings; 14 minutes 0-1.

CFR remained content to allow us possession and territory and to pack their defence. We moved the ball around and despite fielding no specialist wingers threw in a succession of crosses and corners without looking deeply penetrative. Our best moves came through the crowded middle, Rooney’s drive from Darren Fletcher’s ball. Hernández set up Anderson, whose shot was not far off target. Cleverley put a pass through which van Persie shot wide.

CFR stuck to their plan. Their counter-attacking strategy had already undone Basel and Braga this season, both teams having dominated play and been expertly stilettoed and they and the carping English commentators were clear that they were doing the same to us. Evra in particular was struggling against Matías Aguirregaray’s trickery and Sougou’s speed. Sougou, however, showed an astonishingly low pain threshold even for a footballer and having made the worst of an accidental collision between his ear and Evra’s boot, limped off the field apparently with a hamstring injury.

Cadú was perhaps unlucky to be penalised for a foul on Hernández. Rooney took the kick from outside the left hand corner of the box and lofted it into the goalmouth where only half the defensive line moved forward, leaving van Persie and Hernández onside, just, as they rose. The ball cleared Hernández and lobbed gently into the net off van Persie’s shoulder; 29 minutes 1-1.

Our control of the game tightened; 70% possession, a figure which hardly changed through the night. Goalkeeper Mário Felguerias saved well a shot from Hernández and knew little about van Persie’s, which hit him after the Dutchman had been released by a Hernández pass. CFR enacted an agricultural tackling policy and there was an old fashioned physicality with refreshingly little play acting. After being scythed down Rooney tried to repeat the free kick but this time no-one got a touch and it went harmlessly through to the goalkeeper.

The pattern continued after the break. Rooney had a shot himself then took a ball from Anderson, looked up and floated a thirty yard ball up the inside right channel. The defence seemed astonished by van Persie’s movement as he accelerated into the six yard box, Felgueiras’ hesitation was fatal as the Dutchman lifted a foot to steer it across him with a delicate volley; 49 minutes 2-1.

Rooney repeated the service for Hernández, who is looking better by the week but has a little further to go before he can strike again with such subtlety. He and van Persie each got within a whisker of increasing the lead but the home side began to show greater urgency. David de Gea, who had had little to do since he fished the ball out of the net, showed his class tipping over the bar a header from Cadú. Scott Wootton came on for a limping Evans with ten minutes to go. Danny Welbeck for Hernández. De Gea showed how hard he has worked since he joined us by holding on to a lofted ball from Camora as securely as Jack Crompton would have done, ignoring the foul.

We had not looked in difficulty since equalising but added time reminded us how quickly things can change in this competition as CFR with alarming suddenness all but plucked bright honour from the pale faced Transylvanian moon. They broke up the right, Ivo Pinto crossed and de Gea had to be at his most athletic to palm aside Rafael Bastos’ dramatic header at the near post. Our own Rafael, voted player of last month, had to charge down Ionu? Rada’s drive.

All that remained to complete a typical Champions League group night was the television pundits dressed in fifthrate ideas wearing a round jeer for a hat. Andy Townsend and Gareth Southgate may not have played in top club European games themselves but they have watched enough to know that long trips to Romania are rarely the stuff of football legend. Chelsea only drew at this ground. In lastseason’s trip to Galati to play O?elul we won only through two Rooney penalties and had Nemanja Vidi? sent off. In the 2004 qualifier against Dinamo Bucharest we defended like amateurs to concede a goal early on but recovered through a fine goal by Ryan Giggs. Lee Dixon, who has been and done it, was more measured in his assessment.

Another journeyman player writing in The Times, Tony Cascarino, was keen to write us off; the injury to Evans is ominous, we are mediocre and in terminal decline, leaking early goals, we have abandoned wing play and pursued the narrow way.

Some of this might be true but in Treble year we regularly conceded early goals; it made things more exciting. On Tuesday we went top of the group with a brilliant van Persie trick worth two and while we don’t need another injury we have talent aplenty at centre half in Scott Wootton and Michael Keane. 68% possession, more than three times as many completed passes as our opponents away in the Champions league; best wait until we get a beating to write us off. Mind you, last time we won both our opening matches we won the third as well and still jeopardized qualification through sloppy performances at home with weakened teams.

Paul Andrew James