UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE: Manchester Utd 2 Benfica 2:ONE DOES not necessarily expect open and entertaining football in Champions League games in which group qualification is at stake, even when sides of the pedigree of Manchester United and Benfica are involved. So this was a pleasant surprise, though it leaves both sides in limbo.
When Alex Ferguson promised a treat no one actually believed him, because these occasions are so frequently cagey affairs. Even Nani thought Benfica would be cautious, and even Ferguson confessed his side have been playing it safe of late, since that 6-1 mauling by the neighbours.
The question of how far down the pitch United would station Wayne Rooney never arose, because Rooney failed a fitness test. In his place, with Javier Hernandez on the bench, Dimitar Berbatov and Ashley Young demonstrated that even without their best player United still know how to chase a game.
Ferguson admitted the season has been a bumpy ride for United, and that was before he discovered Rooney would not recover quickly enough from his weekend knock to the hip to take his place.
That should not have been an insurmountable problem for United’s attack, given that Rooney has spent the last few weeks operating as a deep-lying midfielder, though when the home defence failed to repel Benfica’s first attack and conceded a goal in the fourth minute, the pressure cranked up on the unusual front pairing of Young and Berbatov to try to repair the damage.
Putting the ball past his goalkeeper so early in a Champions League game could not have done much for Phil Jones’s confidence either, especially as he was playing in his more familiar role of centre-half in place of Nemanja Vidic.
But though nerves possibly got the better of the former Blackburn player in his attempt to cut out Nicolas Gaitan’s cross, the real worry for United was the way two far more experienced players – Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick – were bypassed in midfield as Maxi Pereira surged smoothly forward to set up the chance.
One suspected that had Rooney been available at that moment he would have been pressed into service in attack, not midfield or defence.
The situation in Group C was so fluid at the start of this penultimate game that even as leaders United could not be sure victory would ensure qualification. Defeat would have left them staring at a group stage exit for the first time since losing 2-1 away in Benfica six years ago.
Yet inspiration arrived after half an hour from a player who has failed to register a Champions League goal in almost that long.
First Berbatov, looking suspiciously offside, settled that score, glancing a header from Nani’s cross past Artur from near the penalty spot, then within seconds he played Young in behind Ezequiel Garay for what should have been United’s second.
Uncharacteristically, in plenty of space and with only the goalkeeper to beat, Young hit his shot against Artur’s legs.
It was, as Ferguson had predicted, an open game and a tribute to the attacking traditions of both clubs. But with news arriving that Basel had taken a commanding lead in Romania it was rapidly becoming a game that neither side could afford to lose.
Young and Berbatov linked up again just before the interval, the latter having a shot blocked. With Jones having recovered his poise in defence and Benfica penned back in their half, this was more the sort of game the home crowd would have been expecting.
Jones even got forward to set up United’s next attack, when Artur had to save from Fabio da Silva, and as the hour approached even Carrick and Patrice Evra were joining in.
All that was required was a goal for normal service to be resumed, and Fletcher duly provided it from Evra’s measured cross, only for United to surrender their hard-won advantage immediately.
It was not quite an own goal this time, though Jones could have done better with his back pass and David de Gea with his clearance. Rio Ferdinand had little option but to block Bruno Cesar’s cross on the line, leaving Pablo Aimar an easy opportunity.
Guardian Service
MANCHESTER UTD:De Gea, Fabio Da Silva (Smalling 82), Jones, Ferdinand, Evra, Valencia (Hernandez 80), Carrick, Fletcher, Nani, Young, Berbatov. Subs not used: Lindegaard, Giggs, Park, Rafael Da Silva, Gibson. Booked: Fletcher, Carrick.
BENFICA:Artur Moraes, Maxi Pereira, Luisao (Miguel Vitor 58), Garay, Emerson, Witsel, Javi Garcia, Bruno Cesar, Aimar (Amorim 83), Rodrigo Moreno, Gaitan (Matic 67). Subs not used: Eduardo, Cardozo, Nolito, Nelson Oliveira. Booked: Garay, Artur Moraes, Maxi Pereira.
Referee:Cuneyt Cakir (Turkey).
Attendance: 74,853
