Manchester United overcame a host of absentees, a bomb scare and an early own goal to beat Dynamo Bucharest 2-1 in Bucharest on Wednesday to make themselves the firm favourites to reach the Champions League group stages.
An own goal by Angelo Alistar in the second half proved the winner after Ryan Giggs had levelled following Quinton Fortune’s early own goal to put the Romanians ahead.
United, the 1999 champions, were up against it from the start.
Ferguson’s side, who suffered a bomb scare at their hotel on the morning of the game, had a whole host of absentees.
Ruud van Nistelrooy and Louis Saha were out injured and Cristiano Ronaldo and Gabriel Heinz were at the Olympic Games. Rio Ferdinand of course was still suspended, fellow defender Wes Brown was out injured and Ole Gunnar Solksjaer looks to be out for the season with a serious knee injury.
Dynamo, meanwhile, were without two suspended players in goalkeeper Cristian Munteanu and Ionut Badea.
It was a stressful night on unfamiliar territory for United who were playing for a spot in the group stages, estimated at being worth more than $25-million.
The match started evenly with both sides lively in midfield.
United were under pressure from a free kick but goalkeeper Tim Howard was able to parry the danger to safety.
But after just 10 minutes United were behind. Dynamo’s Claudiu Niculescu fired across a low, cross-cum-shot that was blocked by Howard but the ball then made contact with South Africa’s Fortune on the goal line before finding the net.
By midway through the half, United had generally put in a good performance in trying circumstances, though the goal was a serious setback. Their defence was looking distinctly shaky and they missed the quality of Ferdinand and Brown.
Constantin Semeghin then raced into United’s area and Keane, chasing hard, appeared to make contact from behind but Portuguese referee Paulo Costa waved away penalty appeals.
In the 38th minute, United were back in the game. Giggs, one-on-one with the ‘keeper after an error by Alistar, knocked the ball into the net for the equaliser.
Though Keane had been playing well, Scholes was not as effective as usual and generally little service had been provided up front for debutant Alan Smith.
Though the match had been even early on in the second period, United managed to get what proved to be the winner in the 71st minute. United’s Liam Miller got to the by-line and hit a dangerous ball across goal that made contact with Alistar on its way to the roof of the net to leave United players celebrating.
United had not played brilliantly but solid — if not great — performances from Keane, Scholes and Smith were enough to make United the firm favourites to go through after the return match at Old Trafford in two weeks’ time, where Bucharest must score at least twice. — Sapa-AFP