Glory, Glory, Man Utd!

A few weeks ago, during the weekend of 17-19 July, I made a trip to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, to support my fave Red Devils. Their first stop on the Asian Tour. I’ve been looking forward to this trip for over a month, even though Cristiano Ronaldo departed the club to Real Madrid.

Photos below…

Hotel Concorde, Shah Alam, KL

In both the Hotel lobby & breakfast place, we found a fitting welcome for Man Utd fans.

I left Singapore at about 9:30a.m. through the Tuas Checkpoint, arriving at Hotel Concorde at about 2:45p.m. We had a briefing in the Hotel Lobby, after which we were released to our various rooms to settle in, before meeting again at 4p.m. We were off to the Red Devils’ Training session!

Bukit Jalil Stadium

During the training session, which lasted for an hour, they did light jogs. The goalkeepers trained in their own corner, together with the goalkeeping coach. The others split up into groups to train – something like the “Monkey” game we always play. Then they combined into two teams, training how to keep possession while passing the ball around.

All the big-name players were around – Giggs, Scholes, Ferdinand, Neville etc – but my favourite player, Vidic, didn’t come along for the pre-season tour. There were the newer players as well, like Macheda & Fabio.

Me & Wenfu – he’s a Chelsea fan! Haha.

That night, after the session, we met with my uncle & aunt (who live in KL) for supper. Hawker fare like black hokkien mee, mussels, stingray, char kway teow & prawn noodles. Yummy!

The next day, we left the hotel at 12p.m.! Even though the match started at 5p.m., the tour guides anticipated a huge jam and so we got there early. Took a few photos with Wenfu & the people from our coach bus.

Thank God we had VIP seats, so we didn’t have to queue up early for the free-seating areas.

From the stadium, we managed to take the LRT to KL Central where we indulged in a delicious Thai meal before making our way back to the stadium. The LRT was crowded! The stadium area was crowded! 

Just look at the crowds – 1 hour before the game began!

The teams lining up before the game started.

Manchester United starting line-up – Van de Sar, Evra, Ferdinand, Anderson, Berbatov, Rooney, Nani, Scholes, O’Shea, Evans, Gibson. Substitutes – Neville, Brown, Owen, Giggs, Foster, Tosic, Fabio.

The match in progress… And Malaysia gave it their all!

Rooney scored… 0-1!

Nani scored… 0-2!

Then Malaysia struck back just before half-time…

… and Van de Sar cut a desolate figure on the field after being beaten.

As the game resumed… excitement mounted.

Watch Ryan Giggs (11)!

Nani runs to the corner flag…

… and takes his kick!

After half-time, Malaysia scored again to make it 2-2! But 6 minutes from time, Man Utd scored their 3rd & final goal to seal the game at 2-3.

The Red Devils make one final round to say “Thank You”!

And the trip was a Victory for both the Red Devils and me!

They stayed on in KL to play another game on Monday, 20 July. But I was happy to be able to catch my heroes in action. As the new season starts, I’ll be rooting for them again.

Glory, Glory, Man Utd!

Hope to catch the team live in Old Trafford someday!