Ji-sung Park says he was delighted to be back out on the pitch as United and Villarreal played out a 0-0 draw on Wednesday night.

Park started his first game for the Reds since undergoing a knee operation over the summer, drew praise from Sir Alex for his energetic performance on the right side of midfield.

The Korean's performance was clearly noted, he lead the voting in ManUtd.com's Man of the Match poll with 38 per cent of the votes. It's a big boost to his confidence that he beat United's other top performers on the night, Patrice Evra and Carlos Tevez, who were tied for second place with 17 per cent of fans' votes each.

“It’s been a long time since I last played for United, so it was good to get out there again,” Park told reporters after the match. “I’m quite satisfied with my performance, but there’s still room for improvement.”

And although Villarreal kept the Reds scoreless, the South Korean international says his team-mates aren’t overly concerned by the result.

“The performance was okay,” he insisted. “We just couldn’t score. But it’s only the first game in this season’s Champions League, so we’re not worried too much. We’ll keep going, our confidence will grow and hopefully the goals will come.

“I think we’re good enough to defend the trophy this season – our squad is strong and we have a lot of experience from last season.”