SOCCER UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE Manchester Utd 3 CSKA Moscow 3:MANCHESTER UNITED'S proud record of having not lost a Champions League group game on their ground for eight years is intact, rescued by another one of those feats of escapology in which Alex Ferguson's team specialise.
Paul Scholes’s 84th-minute header and a stoppage-time own goal rescued them from a 3-1 deficit in a stunning finish to a game that laid bare United’s frailties.
There have not been many occasions when United have looked so poor defensively. They were 2-1 down at half-time and, after conceding again two minutes after the interval, it felt like their 22-match unbeaten run of European games in this stadium was being snapped apart like a dried twig.
But no team is more adept at late rescue acts than the Premier League champions. Antonio Valencia’s shot was helped by a deflection but, ultimately, it was probably deserved for the valour United showed in the final stages.
The upshot is that United have qualified with two games still to play.
Nonetheless, this was a poor night for United defensively and a shock for everyone who thought this would be the night Ferguson recorded his 100th European win as United’s manager.
The Russians were facing an experimental side, Ferguson not playing his entire first-choice defence or, indeed, the usual strike partnership. Federico Macheda got a Champions League debut alongside Michael Owen because Dimitar Berbatov had a knee injury, and Wayne Rooney was on the bench after travelling to the game from hospital following the birth of his son.
United were given a rude awakening in a first half when their defence was exposed with a frequency that will have deeply concerned Ferguson, particularly bearing in mind they have to go to Stamford Bridge to face Chelsea on Sunday.
Ferguson had said after the 2-0 defeat of Blackburn on Saturday that, behind the usual pairing of Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, there is not a better central defensive partnership in the Premier League than Wes Brown and Jonny Evans. It did not look that way in the 25th minute, however, when Alan Dzagoev eluded them both to race on to Tomas Necid’s chest-down and lash a spectacular left-foot shot beyond Edwin van der Sar.
The lead lasted only four minutes when Owen seized on the loose ball after Nani, with a clever flick, had turned on one of Valencia’s inviting right-wing crosses and, at that stage, the Old Trafford crowd could have been forgiven for thinking the home team would take control of the match.
Instead, CSKA carved open another hole in United’s defence, this time on its left side, where Fabio da Silva was deputising for Patrice Evra. Necid played the through ball for Milos Krasnic, who had run clear of Darren Fletcher and went around Van der Sar before turning to fire into the exposed goal. The defending was poor in the extreme.
Their shortcomings in defence encouraged their opponents and, if the natural assumption was to believe Ferguson’s men would start the second half strongly, it could not have been more different.
CSKA’s third goal originated from nothing more basic than a free-kick from the left, swung in by Dzagoev and drifting over Fabio for Vasili Berezutski to steal in at the far post and head home.
In fairness to United, they might have found it easier to get back into the game had the Portuguese referee, Olegario Benquerenca, not ruled that Darren Fletcher had dived when he had actually been tripped by Aleksei Berezutski inside the penalty area. Fletcher was booked, which was unjust to say the least.
It was not until the final quarter of an hour that United started to lay siege to the Russian goal. Macheda had headed against a post before Scholes headed in Gary Neville’s free-kick and in the late, unremitting drama Valencia’s 25-yard shot struck a defender to wrong-foot the goalkeeper Igor Akinfeev. The CSKA defender Deivedas Semberas was then sent off for his second booking but not even United would conjure up a winner.
Guardian Service
MANCHESTER UTD: Van der Sar, Neville, Brown, Fabio Da Silva (Evra 59), Evans, Nani (Rooney 58), Scholes, Fletcher, Valencia, Owen Macheda (Obertan 82). Booked: Fletchjer, Macheda, Obertan. Subs not used: Kuszczak, O'Shea, Anderson, Gibson.
CSKA MOSCOW: Akinfeev, Ignashevich, Berezutsky, Berezutsky, Shchennikov, Semberas, Dzagoev (Daniel Carvalho 72), Mamaev (Rahimic 70), Krasic, Aldonin, Necid (Piliev 85). Red card: Semberas. Booked: Semberas, Carvalho, Aldonin, Necid. Subs not used: Pomazan, Odiah, Grigoriev, Maazou.
Referee: Olegário Benquerenca(Portugal)
