Manchester United so nearly made small beer of Bayern Munich in the Olympic Stadium here last night. But just when they appeared to be heading for a significant victory, an elementary and uncharacteristic goalkeeping mistake by Peter Schmeichel allowed the German team to force a draw.
The match was approaching stoppage time when Bixente Lizarazu, Bayern's French leftwing-back, took a throw-in and hurled the ball towards a crowded goalmouth. Schmeichel stretched above a clutch of players to meet it but missed the ball completely, allowing the Brazilian Giovane Elber to score his second goal of the game with a simple header.
It was a denouement United had neither expected nor deserved. After Elber had given Bayern an early lead Alex Ferguson's players recovered impressively, showing increasingly good tactical discipline as they exploited a number of weaknesses in their opponents' game, not least some untypically timid German tackling.
Dwight Yorke's header brought the scores level just before the half-hour and, after Paul Scholes had given United the lead with a quite exceptional goal at the start of the second half, Bayern looked set for only their second home defeat by an English team in European competitions, Norwich City having won here in the UEFA Cup in the 1993-94 season.
Two points from two games does not represent a disastrous start for United but Barcelona, who beat Brondby 2-0 at home last night having forced a 3-3 draw at Old Trafford two weeks ago, are now favourites to win Group D.
Bayern have lost Lothar Matthaus for the visit of Barcelona on October 21st. The former Germany captain, already on one yellow card in the present tournament, was shown another in the first half for bringing down Jesper Blomqvist, who had taken the injured Ryan Giggs's place.
Sadly for United, David Beckham will miss the trip to Brondby for a similar reason. With Beckham it was the familiar tale: he was playing well and had no reason for fouling Stefan Effenberg near the halfway line. Beckham's second card was as inevitable as his first had been after a rash tackle in Lodz five weeks ago.
This moment apart, United achieved a substantially more consistent performance over 90 minutes than they had done against Barcelona. Scholes, as well as scoring, was instrumental in curbing the influence of Effenberg, Teddy Sheringham and Yorke achieved a sound understanding, and after a shaky start the defence steadily improved.
Overall Bayern were a disappointment yet they scored after only 10 minutes. A 40-yard pass from Effenberg found Elber in space on the left with plenty of defenders barring the way to goal. But as the ball was fed in to Hasan Salihamidzic United froze, allowing the Bosnian to touch a pass to the towering Carsten Jancker who then turned to give Elber the simplest of chances.
A goal for United, however, was not long delayed. After 29 minutes Beckham's head intercepted a clearance from Matthaus and directed the ball to Sheringham. One of Sheringham's cleverly-angled cushioned passes then found Beckham clear and onside and from his centre, with the Bayern defence completely exposed, the unmarked Yorke headed the scores level.
Scholes's goal in the 48th minute took Bayern totally by surprise. Gathering a header from Yorke, the United man virtually brushed aside Matthaus and Markus Babbel and although Oliver Kahn made two attempts to stop him Scholes still managed to force his way past the goalkeeper and tap the ball in.
Alex Ferguson's decision to recall Sheringham as an attacking partner for Yorke was partly motivated by a desire for flexibility up front, but was also prompted by an awareness of Bayern's strength in the air at free-kicks and corners. Sheringham was an extra counter to the threat of Effenberg and Jancker.
Ferguson refused to blame Peter Schmeichel over his blunder. "It was just an error of judgment," said Ferguson. "Peter decided to come for a ball and unfortunately he has missed it but that's one of these things that happens in football.
"His performance did not justify it and I don't think he deserves that."
Bayern Munich: Khan, Matthaus, Babbel, Linke, Strunz, Jeremies (Fink 81), Effenberg, Jancker (Goktan 63), Lizarazu, Salihamidzic (Daei 63), Elber. Subs Not Used: Scheuer, Kuffour, Tarnat, Lakis. Booked: Matthaus. Goals: Elber 11, 90.
Man Utd: Schmeichel, Irwin, P Neville, G Neville, Stam, Keane, Scholes, Beckham, Blomqvist (Cruyff 68), Sheringham, Yorke. Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Berg, May, Brown, Solskjaer, Cole. Booked: Beckham, Cruyff. Goals: Yorke 29, Scholes 48.
Referee: M Batta (France)
Manchester United were forced to spend an extra night in Germany because of problems with air traffic control at Munich airport. Their charter flight was delayed leaving Luton and German air traffic controllers would not let it leave England and land at Munich airport because of noise pollution.
