Champions League: In the end it was more nail-biting than had once appeared likely, with nerves jangling among those on the Manchester United bench, but revenge will taste sweet this morning.
In the arena where Alex Ferguson's dream of securing passage to his native Glasgow for a European Cup final died an agonising death at the semi-final stage last season, United secured their first win on German soil in 36 years last night thanks to Ruud van Nistelrooy's brace before the break.
Those goals strengthened United's grip on their group, though Bayer Leverkusen's desperate late rally saw Dimitar Berbatov halve that deficit and nod Bernd Schneider's cross against the post. Yet United survived and should now prosper; one demon appears to have been laid to rest.
The stalemate which confirmed elimination in the Rhineland last April still irks at Old Trafford but now, United must have felt decidedly better by the break. Ferguson chose to drop Ole Gunnar Solskjaer to the bench and asked Ryan Giggs to flit behind the lone striker van Nistelrooy.
On one occasion Giggs arced a superb pass for van Nistelrooy. The Dutchman's sharp turn flummoxed Lucio and Babic, but he chose to square where he might have shot and Beckham, leaning back, looped his shot on to the roof of the net.
Van Nistelrooy began last night with only a pair of goals from open play all season but, with Leverkusen frenzied yet wasteful, he was always likely to profit from Giggs' renewed verve. True to form, a scintillating United break soon had the Welsh blur feeding Juan Sebastian Veron, whose immaculate crossfield pass dropped beautifully over a despairing Hanno Balitsch. Van Nistelrooy collected and dispatched a shot from an acute angle through Frank Juric's legs.
That reward was no more than the visitors deserved. Leverkusen, their confidence clearly fragile after last week's 6-2 thumping at Olympiakos and some shoddy recent league form, had little to show for their possession other than Brdaric's blazed effort over the bar in the adrenalin-fuelled opening and Lucio's ambitious free-kick, gathered by Fabien Barthez.
Only when John O'Shea's involuntary header forced Phil Neville to nod away from his own goalline did the Germans seriously threaten, though Rio Ferdinand did well to rob Carsten Ramelow in the mess that ensued as the ball pin-balled around the area. By then the England defender could count himself lucky that the referee Jan Wegereef, on advice from his assistant and the fourth official, deemed his petty cuff on Brdaric worthy of nothing more than a caution.
Spurred on with the goalscorer departed and Giggs lulled, Leverkusen at last found bite, Schneider slipping Berbatov away with the Bulgarian turning inside the substitute Gary Neville to slot a low shot beyond Barthez.
Guardian Service
BAYER LEVERKUSEN: Juric, Zivkovic, Ramelow, Lucio, Balitsch (Franca 81), Babic, Ojigwe (Simak 64), Schneider, Basturk, Brdaric, Neuville (Berbatov 22). Subs Not Used: Butt, Bierofka, Vranjes, Kleine. Booked: Balitsch. Goals: Berbatov 52.
MANCHESTER UNITED: Barthez, O'Shea (Gary Neville 46), Ferdinand, Blanc, Silvestre, Beckham, Veron (Solskjaer 88), Phil Neville, Butt, Giggs, van Nistelrooy (Forlan 46). Subs Not Used: Ricardo, May, Stewart, Pugh. Booked: Butt, Ferdinand. Goals: van Nistelrooy 31, 44.
Referee: Jan Wegereef (Holland).
