Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson was delighted with Shinji Kagawa's performance in their draw at Champions League opponents Real Madrid.

Many see Kagawa as an important figure in European competition for the Reds and the boss acknowledges he provided a threat early on at the Bernabeu.

"In the first half an hour [in midweek] he was terrific as he kept making these great runs through them, which we thought was going to be one of our biggest assets in the game," Sir Alex explained.

"He was just unlucky that he had a couple of heavy touches on the ball when he made runs past Robin van Persie. He kept opening them up but people don't see that, which is a wee bit unfair, as he did really well for us in the first half."