SOCCER/Manchester Utd - 2 Benfica - 1: Somehow it felt appropriate, with Benfica as the opposition, that Ruud van Nistelrooy should provide the game's decisive moment on a night when Manchester United's supporters reminded Alex Ferguson how much they cherish his presence.
The Dutchman tapped in after Ryan Giggs's corner was deflected into his path to score his 47th Champions League goal, a record that takes him above the Benfica legend Eusebio to third in the all-time list of European Cup scorers behind Alfredo di Stefano and Raul. More importantly, it spared Ferguson from the possibility of more discontent at the final whistle.
Since Saturday's miserable defeat to Blackburn Rovers, supporters' groups have estimated that Ferguson has only 60 per cent of the fans' backing. A poll in The Guardian today suggests that 77 per cent believe he has "lost it". With statistics like that, one certainty is that Ferguson will have been grateful for the polite applause that accompanied his pre-match walk from the tunnel to the dugout.
He will have been even more enamoured after 16 minutes. "Stand up if you love Fergie," ordered the Stretford End. It was a chant that began in the gut and within seconds had snaked round the stadium. Ferguson remained impassive, but he cannot have failed to be moved by the domino effect of 60,000 people rising to their feet.
The rash of injuries that has undermined United's season has hit their defence particularly hard and Ferguson was not only without Gabriel Heinze and Gary Neville here but also Mikael Silvestre.
It meant a first start for Phil Bardsley, a 20-year-old Mancunian, at right back, with John O'Shea moving alongside Rio Ferdinand in the centre.
It was a partnership that frequently looked vulnerable as Benfica quickly made it clear they intended to ask some searching questions of their hosts.
Ferguson would have been particularly aggrieved that many of these problems were self-inflicted. As early as the seventh minute O'Shea allowed the ball to run under his foot to Fabrizio Miccoli, who tested Edwin van der Sar with a sharp shot. From the resultant corner Van der Sar had to make another adroit save, this time from Ricardo Rocha's header, and before the half-hour Benfica had created another four presentable opportunities.
Van Nistelrooy had struck the crossbar with a wonderfully struck volley but United were beginning to look a little flat before Giggs opened the scoring and in that respect his goal was exquisitely timed.
Giggs's free-kick was struck well enough but it was the deflection off Simao Sabrosa in Benfica's defensive wall that was decisive, the ball wrong-footing Jose Filipe Moreira in the Portuguese goal and looping into the far corner. It was an inch-perfect deflection, scarcely deserved but gratefully received none the less.
The second half began more cagily, but Benfica's pace and movement in attack was still capable of causing United some awkward moments and their equaliser was thoroughly merited - and Simao's free-kick did not require a deflection.
Van der Sar is in such good form that it needs something special to beat him and the diminutive attacker provided it with a beautifully weighted strike into the top right-hand corner of his goal.
United's fans turned up the decibel levels again, as if they wanted to show Ferguson that they shared his belief in the team.
In the end this was a night Ferguson will saviour, his badly depleted team overcoming a lively, imaginative Benfica side, with the added bonus of some raucous backing from the fans who had barracked him at the weekend. The United manager has had a torrid few days but he left last night to a standing ovation.
MANCHESTER UNITED: Van der Sar, Bardsley, Ferdinand, O'Shea, Richardson, Fletcher, Smith, Scholes, Ronaldo, van Nistelrooy, Giggs. Subs Not Used: Howard, Park, Miller, Pique, Ebanks-Blake, Rossi, Martin. Booked: Smith. Goals: Giggs 39, van Nistelrooy 85.
BENFICA: Moreira, Nelson, Luisao, Ricardo Rocha, Leo, Beto (Mantorras 87), Manuel (Geovanni 87), Petit, Simao, Miccoli (Joao Pereira 80), Nuno Gomes. Subs Not Used: Quim, Anderson, Kariaka, Dos Santos. Booked: Luisao, Nuno Gomes. Goals: Simao 59.
Referee: Lubos Michel (Slovakia).
Guardian Service
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