United To Sweat It Out In Switzerland

Manchester United 2 - Benfica 2
Scorers
Manchester United: Berbatov (30), Fletcher (60)
Benfica: Jones (og 3), Aimar (61)


Team: De Gea, Rio, Jones, Fabio (Smalling 82), Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Valencia (Hernandez 80), Nani, Young, Berbatov

This is not a good result. A win would have qualified us but the draw leaves us with all to fight for against a feisty Basel team who won today. Even with a victory in Switzerland, we would have to hope that Benfica doesn't wallop the Romanians for a better goal difference. Damn, even if the goal difference somwhow ends up the same, we would qualify as 2nd in the group with a worse off head-to-head after today's result.

It's all not looking very rosy all of a sudden. In two week's time we'd know our fate. A loss would crash us into the Europa league, while a victory doesn't guarantee us avoiding the likes of Barcelona, Real Madrid or Bayern Munich in the next stage of the competition. With Chelsea and Arsenal likely to qualify as winners of their respective groups, the odds look stacked against us. I suppose first thing's first, let's just get cross the hurdle in Switzerland.

The game itself started off in disasterous fashion and I'm glad I missed it. Jones opened his scoring account for United, unfortunately it was at the wrong end. It wasn't the start we wanted.

The first half was frustrating to watch as a football fan. Benfica is possibly one of the dirtiest teams in Europe out there right now. Every little touch from a red jersey resulted in a Benfica player rolling on the ground, while the presence of the medical team springs them back to life the next moment. To add to that, they are the masters of the cynical fouls whenever we looked to gain the upper hand. They weren't making bad or hard fouls, but doing just enough with subtle bodychecks and ankle taps to bring a United player down. As a result the game never got flowing for either team. We had to rely on Valencia, Young and Nani to dribble the ball to get into scoring positions.

Despite the negative play, we did manage to get an equalizer when Nani's cross found Berbatov in the box and he gleefully glanced it past the keeper.

The second half was a complete opposite from the first. United came out firing on all cylinders. We were playing at a ridiculously high level and were giving the Benfica defense fits, literally. Carrick probably had one of the best games he's had in eons. He controlled the tempo and was spraying passes left and right, finding his teammates and putting them in position to cause real damage. This was the Carrick we were hoping for when we prised him from Spurs.

The goal eventually came from Fletcher. He barely stayed onside to deliver Evra's cross for the goal. It was what we deserved from the outstanding play. However the joy was shortlived. Barely a minute after the celebrations died down, Benfica caught us napping, or should I say, caught Fabio and Rio napping, and it resulted in Aimar aka Frodo scoring.

We piled on the pressure but never really produced that level of play in that opening 15 minutes of the half. Still it looked likely that we would come away from this fixture with a much needed win. But try as we may, the Benfica defense stood firm.

They are now in pole position despite the fact that we still top the table. I'm pretty sure that would change unless we somehow ship a boatload in Switzerland.