It was the kind of goal that must have made Manchester United's supporters wish
Nani could always be so beguiling. The shot was speared into the
bottom left-hand corner of Petr Cech's goal but there was so much
more to admire - the balance, the drive, the star quality as he
took down Darren Fletcher's long ball and set off on that jinking,
diagonal run inside Branislav Ivanovic and Michael Essien to
manoeuvre himself into a shooting position. It was a goal that was
classy in its creation and clinical in its execution.
When Nani is capable of producing moments of such distinction it
can be tempting sometimes to forgive him for all those other times
when distinctly less flattering adjectives – "bewildering",
"erratic", "frustrating" to name but three – have been applied to a
man who was accused of staying too young too long when football, at
times, needs to be played with an adult intelligence.
His misfortune was that he should land so heavily after John
Terry's challenge just over an hour into a match in which he had
gone a long way to demonstrate why Sir Alex Ferguson had chosen
against selling him during the summer. A dislocated shoulder meant
Nani would leave the pitch with his left arm in a sling when, until
that point, his had been a performance to make United supporters
wonder whether this might be the season when this raw but talented
player shows he can play a significant role in helping the club to
get over the grieving process after Cristiano Ronaldo's transfer to
Real Madrid.
Even ignoring, for one moment, the wonderfully taken 10th-minute
goal, he had been a constant menace for Ivanovic, a centre-half
playing at right-back and lacking the mobility to be comfortable
against a player of such nimble feet and turn of pace. One
challenge, in the 14th minute, was late and cynical enough to
warrant a yellow card, but Ivanovic was not the only Chelsea player to find Nani a
difficult opponent. Three more defenders were bypassed when the
winger set off again in the 34th minute and, shortly afterwards,
when he went over to take a corner it was noticeable how the United
supporters at that end of the pitch stood to acclaim him – as if
they, too, recognised his potential value to the club this
season.
They have been here before with Nani – the odd flash of
excellence, a moment when he does something that is beyond the
average player – and it is not the first time they have wanted to
believe the Portugal international is finally going to flourish
into a more accomplished package. The evidence of the past two
seasons suggests they should refrain from snap judgments. But maybe
this is, indeed, the season when he ditches that image of the
playground show-off. Maybe, now he is no longer in the shadow of
Ronaldo, he can fulfil the potential that persuaded United to spend
£17m to sign him from Sporting Lisbon, at the age of 20, two years
ago.
Nani's performance was certainly one of the more gratifying
aspects for Ferguson on a day when his finger-jabbing at the
referee Chris Foy summed up United's frustrations about the events
leading up to Chelsea's second goal.
Last season you could sum up Nani's startling lack of
development by the fact he started only seven games in the Premier League. He had become a
Carling Cup player, appearing in all six of the club's ties –
which, at Old Trafford, is not something to be proud of. He was
dangerously close to becoming the player the fans liked the least.
He was said to be disillusioned and stories started to appear in
the Portuguese press that he would leave in the summer with Italy
his destination of choice.
Instead, Ferguson has told Nani that he still has a big part to
play at Old Trafford but that it is time he started to turn
potential into something of greater currency. Ferguson believes we
might see that twisting somersault goal celebration at least 10
times this season. Fletcher, too, wanted to express his confidence
in his team-mate as he caught him up after the goal and, in front
of the United end, started pointing at the back of Nani's shirt
where his name was emblazoned. It was a kind of "he's the man"
moment – and now it is up to Luís Carlos Almeida da Cunha to show
it was not just a one-off.
