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Manchester United 3 - 1 Benfica
Wednesday 7th December 2006
Old Trafford, Manchester
A year ago to the day, Benfica were facing manchester United again, in similar circumstances, needing a win to qualify, whilst United just needed a draw. Benfica prevailed, but that wasn't how the game ended up this time (thankfully!)
It could so easily have been the same again, however, with United's full strength side falling behind to a speculative long-shot effort from Nelson! United had been playing defensively with Rooney on the right-wing instead of upfront, and with a five-man-midfield that was meant to stifle Benfica and help United get the draw they needed.
A poo game plan at best. But that all changed on benfica's goal. Forced to head off in search of a goal, Rooney was pushed up, Ronaldo started seeing more of the ball, and United finally had some style and fluency about their play.
Five minutes prior to the goal Louis Saha had been played in, only for the Frenchman to play the ball out wide to gary Neville, whose cross was less than worthy!
With Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes running the central midfield zone, the Reds looked threatening, and had a spell of sustained pressure for the last ten minutes of the first-half.
Cristiano Ronaldo was the main instigator, creating chances and winning free-kicks whilst his portuguese counterparts ripped chunks out of his legs! His free-kick from the 'Beckham Distance' resulted in a corner. Giggs whipped the corner in and it was met by Nemanja Vidic,who had a more than impressive performance as usual. Vidic made sure with his header, and United ran down the tunnel on even terms.
In the second half, despite the pressure put on them, the United back-four never looked like conceding. Neville was joined by Gabriel Heinze, in his forays down the flanks, and this soon started to pay off. In the end it was Cristiano Ronaldo who ran down the pitch, past two men on the way, and crossed delightfully for Ryan Giggs to smash home the goal with his Welsh bonce.
The game was sealed on 79 minutes when Louis Saha crashed home another cross, and United were through to the next round.
Man Utd: Van der Sar, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra (Heinze 67), Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes (Solskjaer 78), Giggs (Fletcher 73), Saha, Rooney.
Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Brown, O'Shea, Silvestre.
Booked: Rooney, Fletcher.
Goals: Vidic 45, Giggs 61, Saha 75.
Benfica: Quim, Nelson, Luisao, Ricardo Rocha, Leo, Katsouranis, Petit, Simao, Nuno Assis (Karagounis 73), Miccoli (Paulo Jorge 63), Nuno Gomes.
Subs Not Used: Moretto, Anderson, Mantorras, Miguelito, Beto.
Booked: Ricardo Rocha.
Goals: Nelson 27.
Att: 74,955
Ref: Herbert Fandel (Germany).
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