Monitoring Desk
LONDON, England
(TheSportsNEXT) November 8, 2012: Manchester United became the first
British side through to this season's UEFA Champions League knockout stage
after coming from behind to beat rivals Braga 3-1, the official FIFA website
reported.
Needing just a point to assure their qualification to the
last 16, United fell behind to a penalty from Alan just after half-time, but
strikes from Robin van Persie, Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez ensured the
Red Devils maintained their perfect record in this year's competition.
United lead the group on 12 points after four matches, while
defeat for Braga leaves them bottom on three points, one behind both
Galatasaray and Cluj following the Turkish champions 3-1 win in Romania.
"I think we were all disappointed (we didn't progress
from the group stage last year)," said Manchester United veteran Ryan
Giggs. "It was not good enough and we knew we had to do something about it
and we have. Long may it continue."
Alex Ferguson elected to make six changes to the side that
defeated Arsenal at the weekend, with Chris Smalling making his first start of
the campaign after recovering from a metatarsal injury suffered during
pre-season, while Robin van Persie was only named among the substitutes.
Jonny Evans was one of five holdovers from Saturday's
victory over the Gunners, but his misjudgement of Douglao's over-hit pass
allowed Eder an early chance, the striker sneaking in behind the defence only
to see his low effort flash across the face of goal.
More hesitant defending, this time from Smalling, then
enabled Ruben Micael to run at United's backline and fire just wide from the
edge of the box. With the English giants very much on the back foot, Braga were
unfortunate not to take the lead midway through the first half as Eder's diving
header cannoned back off the foot of the post.
Alan, who scored twice against United in a 3-2 defeat at Old
Trafford a fortnight ago, then forced a smart low save from David de Gea.
However, United's resistance was broken four minutes after half-time as Braga
were awarded a penalty after Evans blocked off Custodio just inside the box.
Alan stepped up and duly converted for his fourth goal of
the group phase. But the game was interrupted only a few minutes later as a
generator broke down, leaving the stadium shrouded in darkness and the players
ordered back to the changing rooms.
With power restored roughly ten minutes later, play resumed
and only a sprawling save from De Gea kept out Nuno Andre Coelho's free-kick.
Braga, winners of their past four ties against English
opposition on home soil without conceding a goal in that time, had been
relatively untroubled for most of the evening but the introduction of Van Persie
for Danny Welbeck proved to be a tactical masterstroke by Ferguson.
The Dutchman capitalised on a rash decision from Beto as he
rushed off his line only to be left stranded as Van Persie clipped the ball
over the Braga goalkeeper to draw United level with ten minutes remaining.
The visitors then went ahead after Rooney slotted home from
the spot after the England striker was felled by Coelho. A late third from
Hernandez completed United's turnaround, extending their unbeaten run in
Portugal to five matches, leaving Braga to rue their late collapse.
No comments:
Post a Comment