Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted to see Anderson hit his first goal for the club in last night's Audi Cup win over Boca Juniors.

"It's the miracle of Munich!" he joked. "But maybe it will spark the boy off, it might give him the incentive to shoot more.

"He's got the talent, so hopefully he can do more."

United defender John O'Shea also said: "We have a handful of players who can take free-kicks but he's definitely staked a claim to take the next one. We've seen him in training and he can score all different types of goals, whether they're form inside or outside the box.

"We've lost a lot of goals from the team with Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez leaving but it's up to the other players to step up and take their chances. Anderson's going to score goals now and so will Valencia. We just need to make sure we keep creating chances."