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VIEW MATCH REPORT

Wednesday 27 Sep 2006
Benfica 0-1 Man Utd
No jokes about Quim please!

Manchester United weathered a first-half battering in Benfica to emerge from the Stadium of Light with a 1-0 Champions League victory.

Sir Alex Ferguson's men were lucky not to be behind at the interval after looking badly out of sorts - but Louis Saha's clinical breakaway goal on the hour-mark made it six points from their opening two group games.

Edwin van der Sar kept United in the game early on, pulling off superb saves to deny Georgios Karagounis' low drive and Petit's swerving 35-yard piledriver.

But the visitors were dangerous on the break and nearly scored on 13 minutes when Cristiano Ronaldo's fierce 20-yard shot was spilled by home keeper Quim, who saw Saha steer the rebound wide of the target.

Benfica should have gone ahead on 26 minutes, when Nemanja Vidic's slip let in Nuno Gomes who raced in on goal but dragged an 18-yard shot narrowly wide of the upright.

Wayne Rooney, who has not scored a Champions League goal for two years and 10 games, was frustrated in his role on the left of midfield, while Michael Carrick was uncharacteristically wasteful with his passing.

But after Carrick forced a good save out of Quim early in the second half, the deadlock was finally broken on 60 minutes.

There seemed little danger when Ronaldo fed Saha down the left flank, but the Frenchman cut inside a defender and lashed an unstoppable left-footed strike - which took a slight deflection - past Quim.

Saha fired a cross from Carrick narrowly wide on 76 minutes and Quim pulled off a stunning triple save late on to deny Gabriel Heinze, Darren Fletcher and Carrick a second goal for the visitors.