England midfielder Michael Carrick glad to net Champions League winner.

England midfielder Michael Carrick proved to be Manchester United's match-winner on Wednesday night, as his early goal settled their Champions League clash with Galatasaray at Old Trafford.

The 31-year-old hasn't been renowned for his goalscoring over the years, but his composure on this occasion was akin to some of his more prolific team-mates as he rode a challenge from the Turkish side's goalkeeper Fernando Muslera before netting the opener.

"It's hard, you know, I don't get many so when the chance is there, obviously you can go down and stay down and there's a chance maybe of him getting sent off, but we've missed three penalties now so maybe taking the chance was the right one," chuckled the former West Ham and Spurs man after the game.

"It's vital we got off to a winning start after last year, really. It was vital we won at home, especially against a good team - and they really are a very decent team - they kept possession very well."

Carrick, who is the only player to have featured in every minute of action for Sir Alex Ferguson's side so far this season, admits that the Reds haven't quite hit full form just yet but knows how important it is for the momentum to be built on victories like this.

"At times I thought we defended well, especially in the second half when we limited them to possession without really hurting us. That was a good sign for us," he added.

"They counter-attacked on us quite well and were a bit of a threat, but we nullified that in the second half and overall we can be happy; we've played some good stuff and we've won the game."

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