Manchester United and Benfica resumed their UEFA Champions’ League group stage tie at Old Trafford after ending the first half with the score line at 1-1. Sir http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Alex-c4752 Ferguson didn’t make any changes at the half time break and neither
did Benfica therefore both the teams took to the second half with the same line ups.
Manchester United started the second half brightly and got off to a good start as they increased the tempo of the match and started stretching the Benfica defence. Sir Alex’s team pushed onwards in attack and started creating more
goal scoring opportunities as well. In the 52nd minute United had their first clear goal scoring chance of the second half when Berbatov blitzed past two Benfica defenders but his final pass to Ashley Young lacked the appropriate amount of pace
thus the Englishman’s shot was blocked in the end.
Shortly after United were awarded a free kick right at the edge of the Benfica penalty area but the set piece went to waste as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Artur-c6727.
In the 55th minute, Manchester United had another goal scoring opportunity as Jones played in http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Fabio-c13152 da Silva but the Brazilian full back was unable to get his shot past Artur who rushed off his line to close down the wing back and parried his shot
away.
In the 59th minute, United finally broke the deadlock as http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Darren-Fletcher-c10361 whose late run evaded the offside trap in Benfica’s defence and made it 2-1 in favour of the home
team through his tap in. However it wasn’t long before Benfica themselves got back into the match as they scored in the 61st minute courtesy of http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/David-c10409 De Gea’s misplaced pass inside the Manchester United half of the field.
The Spanish goalkeeper passed the ball straight back to Rodriguez whose pass was easily finished off by Aimar to make it 2-2 at Old Trafford. Following their second goal of the match, Benfica adopted a defensive strategy which
helped them hold on for a draw in the end despite United’s best efforts to score a winning goal near the end. The draw now means that Manchester United might not top the group if Benfica win their last group stage UEFA Champions League match against Otelul
Galati.
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