MACCABI HAIFA 3, MAN UTD 0: Alex Ferguson's decision to leave Manchester United's Champions League ambitions to look after themselves while his top players concentrated on minding the Premiership shop rebounded on him with one of the most humiliating defeats of his Old Trafford career, which could yet have long-term ramifications.
With his team already through to the second stage, this result probably will not matter to United when the final points in Group F are totted up.
But it will matter greatly to Bayer Leverkusen and Olympiakos, who will be furious that Ferguson's decision has given Maccabi a lifeline to qualification.
One of the players Ferguson was desperate to hand Champions League experience to was goalkeeper Ricardo. But it was an embarrassing experience for the Spaniard, who suffered a David Seaman moment for the first goal and gave away a penalty for the third.
As expected, Ferguson, who left nine first-team players at home, gave a first start to 18-year-old Kieran Richardson. And whereas the manager normally packs his bench with multi-millionaires, on this occasion he filled it with so many unfamiliar faces one wondered whether the hoaxer who once infiltrated their team for a pre-match photo had slipped in unnoticed again, with a few pals.
Maccabi were encouraged to believe they could overcome such a pale imitation of a United side, Giovani Rosso wriggling into the box to deliver a shot which Ricardo cleared with his foot.
Richardson offered a passable imitation of Ryan Giggs, whom he replaced on the left wing, with a dribble into the box and was later denied a goal only by a deflection from Avishay Zano. But this was a night for United's big name players to nurse the inexperienced ones through a match that, though lacking real significance for them, was not short of passion.
Rio Ferdinand, a player who needs more games, not fewer, also took it upon himself to tidy up the mess some of his fellow defenders created as Mikael Silvestre and John O'Shea were booked in the opening half hour. But he could do nothing about the dipping 25-yard shot from which Yaniv Katan gave Maccabi the lead in the 40th minute, though Ricardo perhaps should have done.
United went looking for a swift response in the second half but Diego Forlan, who thought his luck had changed with his first Premiership goal against Aston Villa last Saturday, was once more left wondering about how many black cats he has run over when his left-foot shot bounced off the crossbar.
Maccabi seemed either unwilling, or unable, to venture too far forward. Yet to the delight of their supporters, they were 2-0 ahead in the 56th minute when another long-range special, this time from Raimondas Zutauttas, found the corner of the net.
United, who had begun the evening with the seemingly simple target of setting a club record of 17 games without defeat in the Champions League, needed someone like Giggs or David Beckham to step off the bench to alter the pattern and pace of the game.
Ricardo's disastrous evening got worse when he collected a yellow card for bringing down Zutauttus and Yakuba Ayegbeni scored from the spot.
MACCABI HAIFA: Awat, Zautatas (Zandberg 81), Harazi, Benado, Badir, Keisi, Ayegbini (Almoshnino 84), Rosso, Zano, Katan, Pralija. Subs Not Used: Al Madon, Sevilia, Cohen, Israilevich, Gabrin. Goals: Katan 40, Zautatas 56, Ayegbini 77 pen.
MAN UTD: Ricardo, Gary Neville, Silvestre, Ferdinand, O'Shea, Phil Neville, Scholes, Fortune, Richardson (Nardiello 62), Solskjaer, Forlan (Timms 79). Subs Not Used: Carroll, May, Pugh, Roche, Lynch. Booked: O'Shea, Silvestre, Ricardo.
Referee: A Nieto (Malaga).
