• Champions League round-up

Young saves United from being burned by Frei

ESPN staff
September 27, 2011
Ashley Young equalises for United in the 90th minute © PA Photos
Enlarge

Champions League - Tuesday gallery

Manchester United went 2-0 up inside the first 25 minutes against FC Basel on Tuesday night at Old Trafford, yet still needed a 90th minute header from Ashley Young to salvage a draw against their less heralded opponents.

Young stole in at the last minute to head home substitute Nani's cross to restore parity after Alexander Frei (twice) and Fabian Frei had more than cancelled out Welbeck's two early finishes.

In a frantic final few seconds United even had opportunities to take all three points, but Sir Alex Ferguson will perhaps be glad just to have escaped without an embarrassing loss.

It was Welbeck and Ryan Giggs who combined for both of United's decisive early goals - the young England striker scuffing a left-footed shot in off the post from 12 yards after Giggs had prodded the ball back to him, before sweeping home first-time with the opposite foot minutes later after the Welsh midfielder had found him with a glorious cross-field sweep.

United continued to dominate but the next goal would, surprisingly, go to Basel - bringing the game back to life. A corner from the away side culminated in a smart save from David de Gea, but the ball fell perfectly for Fabian Frei who was on hand to swing a volley in off the far post.

Barely two minutes later the Swiss side were level - with Alexander Frei this time the man on the scoresheet. The long-time Switzerland international striker planted a powerful header across De Gea into the far corner of the net, after a quite brilliant cross from namesake Fabian gave both 'keeper and defender Phil Jones no chance of getting to the ball.

United had looked defensively suspect prior to those two goals, but even so surely no-one would have predicted what was about to happen. A sloppy clearance from Jones put pressure on Antonio Valencia on the edge of the box, who then saw the ball taken from his feet by Marco Streller. In his scramble to retrieve the ball Valencia brought down his man, leaving the referee with no choice but to award a penalty which Alexander Frei would finish with aplomb.

Sir Alex Ferguson had never seen his Utd side lose after being 2-0 up, but it looked like that could become the case for the first time as the game entered a frantic final few minutes. But, as has so often happened in the past, the Scot saw his team pop up with a crucial late goal - as Young stole in at the far post to head home substitute Nani's pinpoint cross from deep on the right wing.

The drama wasn't done there, however, as both Welbeck and Dimitar Berbatov missed decent last-gasp chances to win the game - in-between an ambitious 65-yard effort from Basel's Aleksandar Dragovic that had De Gea scrambling to cover his post.

Manchester City had similar struggles of their own as they were well beaten by Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena, the game finishing 2-0.

Bayern went ahead thanks to Mario Gomez, who gave the home side what was perhaps a deserved breakthrough just over five minutes before half-time. Shortly after Bastian Schweinsteiger had missed a glorious opportunity to open the scoring, Frank Ribery caused further trouble to the City defence with his cutting run.

The Frenchman lashed a drive that was well-saved by Joe Hart, who also managed to deny Thomas Muller's follow-up. But that shot could only be parried out to the feet of Gomez, who made no mistake to bury it home.

Manchester City were off the pace © PA Photos
Enlarge

The second goal came in similarly frustrating circumstances for Hart - but not Gomez - as the Germany international again prodded home after a smart save. This time it was Daniel van Buyten's flick-on (from Toni Kroos' cross) that caused the issues in the City defence, and Gomez was perfectly placed to take advantage.

Prior to both goals City had been unlucky - with David Silva and Micah Richards both denied what looked to be reasonable penalty shouts - but the second half saw little real onslaught on the Bayern goal. Indeed, perhaps the biggest moment of note came when Roberto Mancini decided to withdraw the threatening Edin Dzeko in favour of Nigel de Jong, a decision that visibly annoyed the former Wolfsburg forward.

Further drama continued to be provided from the City bench - as Carlos Tevez appeared to refuse Roberto Mancini's order for him to warm-up ahead of what would have presumably been a final role of the dice. The Argentine ultimately never appeared.

Bayern continued to enjoy the better of the play as time went on, with Schweinsteiger denied by Hart with a great 25-yard effort.. Substitute Alexander Kolarov forced a good save from Manuel Neuer in the closing stages, but overall City could have few complaints with their fate.

In the other game in City's group, Napoli grabbed their first win of the group stage against Villarreal thanks to goals from Edinson Cavani and Marek Hamsik, while Benfica took advantage of United's draw to relegate the English champions to third in the group, as they beat Otelul Galati 1-0 thanks to Bruno Cesar's goal just before half-time.

Real Madrid made it two wins from two in Champions League Group D with a clinical dismissal of Ajax at the Bernabeu.

After opening with a laboured 1-0 win over Dinamo Zagreb on matchday one, Jose Mourinho's men looked more in the mood tonight and eased to the three points thanks to goals by Cristiano Ronaldo, Kaka and Karim Benzema.

Goals by Bafetimbi Gomis and Bakary Kone guided Lyon to victory as they consolidated second place in the group with a highly-impressive performance against Dinamo Zagreb.

Gomis put the French side ahead midway through the first half with a classy chip before Kone effectively sealed three points with a tap-in two minutes before the break.

Gustavo Colman's 75th-minute penalty maintained Trabzonspor's lead at the top of Champions League Group B, as they drew with Lille.

Moussa Sow had given the Ligue 1 champions a 31st-minute lead with his second goal in as many games - but Colman's 75th-minute spot-kick ensured parity

Earlier in the day, Inter got the better of a five-goal thriller against CSKA Moscow, in Claudio Ranieri's second game in charge. Goals from Lucio and Giampaolo Pazzini had given the visitors a comfortable lead after just 23 minutes, before Alan Dzagoev got CSKA back in the hunt on the stroke of half-time with a well-taken free-kick.

Wagner Love's smart run and finish with 13 minutes had the Luzhniki dreaming about a spectacular comeback, but substitute Mauro Zarate dashed those hopes with a clinical finish from the edge of the box to give the 2010 champions a 3-2 win.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices