UEFA Champions League - OLYMPIAKOS 2 MAN U 3: The arrogance of Manchester United's manager Alex Ferguson almost caused one of the most embarrassing defeats of his time at the club in a match where the three points appeared safe with his side leading 2-0 after 59 minutes.
But Ferguson opened the door for Olympiakos by taking off Ryan Giggs and David Beckham four minutes later and the home side happily poured through to level the match, until Paul Scholes rescued him with an 83rd minute strike from the edge of the box.
Perhaps Ferguson just wanted to give the supporters something to watch since up until then this had been a stroll for United, which seemed certain to deliver their 100th win in Europe and continue their 100 per cent record in the competition this season.
As it was, Ferguson ended relieved that his team confirmed their safe passage from the opening group stage for the seventh successive season, knowing that only a freak sequence of results can prevent them finishing as Group F winners, which can be termed a group of death only in the sense that United have squeezed every bit of interesting life out of it.
United rarely engaged second gear, let alone cruising speed, as they took their two-goal lead.
Laurent Blanc's first-half header was followed by a second from Juan Sebastian Veron just before the hour, a fine strike following a neat exchange of passes with Giggs.
Ferguson will certainly think seriously of resting some of his best players for another long journey to Cyprus next week to play Maccabi Haifa, having been refused permission to cancel Saturday's match against Aston Villa so that his team could travel directly from here. But after seeing his side fall apart last night, maybe he will have second thoughts.
It seemed that he might have been too quick with his substitutions when Lambros Choutos pulled one back in the 64th minute, 60 seconds after Giggs and Beckham had walked off. And, in the 73rd minute, Predrag Djordjevic equalised to set off the firecrackers.
The Greek fans had greeted their team's arrival with a ticker-tape welcome not seen in British football since the days when Ossie Ardiles played for Spurs.
And kick-off was delayed for a minute or two while Fabien Barthez cleared his area of streamers, though on this occasion no one could accuse him of time wasting.
Ferguson arrived here with only two recognised strikers and was down to one when Ole Gunnar Solskjaer suffered a knock in training.
That meant a rare start for Diego Forlan, still trying to prove that he befits the description of goalscorer.
Scholes certainly does and attempted an outrageous effort from 40 yards in the opening minutes which almost slipped from the hands of the home goalkeeper Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos, who looked gun shy after the four goals he conceded at Old Trafford.
With his defenders failing to cut out the simplest of crosses, he had every reason to be.
And it was almost a belated lead for United when Laurent Blanc headed in from Giggs' corner in the 21st minute.
So dominant were United, that the fans' chants of hatred had already turned to resigned whistles.
Giggs found himself in so much space that he attempted to set up Forlan when he might have gone for goal himself before dribbling into the box and being deprived of a goal by an outstretched boot as he tried to shuffle the ball on to his left foot.
Even Veron, who announced before the game that he had parted company with his agent Gustavo Mascardi and whose sublime goal was the highlight of the first meeting between these sides, was allowed the luxury of a run into the penalty area when he tired of stroking the ball around the unguarded midfield acres.
Olympiakos created only one worthwhile chance of their own from a cross by Stylianos Patsatzoglou which Predrag Djordjevic completely miscued. Forlan could not have done better, so to speak.
OLYMPIAKOS: Eleftheropoulos, Anatolakis, Antzas, Venetidis, Patsatzoglou, Giannakopoulos (Mavrogenidis 87), Zetterberg (Ofori Quaye 71), Karembeu, Djordjevic, Giovanni (Choutos 46), Dracena. Booked: Anatolakis, Venetidis. Goals: Choutos 70, Djordjevic 74.
MANCHESTER UNITED: Barthez, Gary Neville, Blanc, O'Shea, Silvestre, Beckham (Chadwick 63), Phil Neville, Veron (Richardson 87), Giggs (Fortune 63), Scholes, Forlan. Subs Not Used: Ricardo, May, Solskjaer, Roche. Booked: Gary Neville. Goals: Blanc 21, Veron 59, Scholes 84.
Referee: P Collina (Italy).
