Dinamo Bucharest 1 Manchester United 2There were times last night when the worry lines on Alex Ferguson's face stood out like contours on a map, but Manchester United's qualification for the Champions League should be a relatively simple affair they emerged unscathed from the Romanian capital from a tie they simply dared not lose.
Trailing to a 10-minute goal, missing nine players and looking worryingly vulnerable in defence, United were indebted to a Ryan Giggs equaliser and a moment of immense fortune, courtesy of Angelo Alistar's own-goal, to set up what should be a night of quiet celebrations in the return leg, not least for the club's accountants.
United are guaranteed a minimum of £15 million for reaching Europe's premier club competition, so the men in suits at Old Trafford will be as happy as anyone at the club.
That money could be critical to Ferguson's hopes of recruiting reinforcements for his depleted squad, with a new forward considered a matter of urgency before the transfer deadline on August 31st.
In the absence of Ruud van Nistelrooy, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Louis Saha, Paul Scholes was shunted forward to partner Alan Smith in attack and Ferguson is clearly intent on using Diego Forlan in only exceptional circumstances.
The theme of experimentation stretched to midfield, where one change that nobody had foreseen was John O'Shea replacing Roy Keane alongside Eric Djemba-Djemba. Perhaps Ferguson was underestimating Dinamo because an intimidating arena such as Bucharest's national stadium was no place to gamble.
Keane looked uncomfortable at times in the centre of the defence and O'Shea would have been better employed at left back, where Quinton Fortune was preferred despite not having played a full match in pre-season.
Fortune has plenty of attributes but positional sense is not one of them and he was partly culpable for Dinamo scoring after 10 minutes.
The home side had broken forward with pace and purpose, but Ferguson is still entitled to question his defenders, first for affording Claudiu Niculescu so much space on the left to advance into the penalty area and lash a low cross-shot towards Tim Howard's goal and again when Fortune allowed Ionel Danciulescu to get in front of him to steer the ball towards the goal, before the South African hooked the ball into the net himself.
A bomb scare earlier in the day had seen Ferguson's men evacuated from the Bucharest Hilton and, if they were groping for excuses at that stage, it could possibly be argued that spending a couple of hours in the car park seemed to have disrupted their preparations.
Taken aback by the fervour with which their opponents had begun the tie, United did not emerge as an attacking force until the latter stages of the first half and Giggs's breakaway goal was the only time in the opening 45 minutes they dissected the Romanians' defence.
The half-time score flattered United but their passing improved afterwards. In quick succession the increasingly effective Scholes fizzed a shot wide, and Smith, having just been booked, struck the upright with a low drive.
Dinamo suddenly looked jaded, even if Howard had to be alert to divert a speculative effort from Ionu Balan, and United squandered several more chances before finally making their superiority count.
With their confidence growing, Ferguson had brought on Liam Miller for his debut and within three minutes his low centre was turned in by Alistar, rendering the second leg a formality and finally silencing the supporters inside this primitive concrete bowl.
DINAMO BUCHAREST (4-4-2): Hayeu; Iordathe; Ciobotariu (Galamaz, 29), Alistar, Balan (Baltoi, 79); Petre, Tames, Margaritescu (Goian, 53) Semeghin; Niculescu, Danciulescu. Subs: Matache, Irimia, Pacurar, Munteanu.
MANCHESTER UNITED (4-4-1-1): Howard; G Neville, Silvestre, Keane, Fortune; Fletcher (Miller, 67), O'Shea, Djemba-Djemba, Giggs (P Neville, 80); Scholes; Smith. Subs: Carroll, Eagles, Richardson, Spector, Forlan. Booked: Smith.
Referee: P Costa (Portugal).
