THAT’S HANDY!
Teen keeper’s gaffe is a gift for Rashford
ONE by one they hugged Mile Svilar, who looked close to tears at the end. Players in both red and black embraced benfica’s teenage No 1 and offered words of comfort.
The youngest goalkeeper in the history of the Champions League knew his European debut will be remembered for gifting Manchester United victory.
It was one that has put Jose Mourinho’s side within touching distance of the knockout phase and maintained their 100 per cent record in Group A, while almost certainly killing off benfica’s hopes of progressing.
Another win when these teams meet at Old Trafford at the end of the month could confirm it.
Svilar, conspicuous among the two sets of players in his all-white kit and red headband, held up his gloved hands to acknowledge the error.
It occurred in the 64th minute of a poor spectacle on a windswept night in Lisbon.
Marcus Rashford swung over a free-kick from midway inside the benfica half but could not have known that Svilar had got his bearings wrong. The teenager, who at 18 years and 52 days was younger than Iker Casillas when he made his debut in this competition, had ventured just a yard too far off his line.
It was enough to land him in trouble as the ball soared towards goal. He backpedalled and plucked the ball out of the air, but his momentum took him over the line.
‘ He’s a phenomenon,’ said Mourinho, joining in the goodwill towards Svilar. ‘Only great keepers suffer goals like this because they risk things ahead of them. He has huge potential.’
The reality is that it dug United out of a hole on a night when they were strong on organisation but short of inspiration. Four days after parking the bus at Anfield, they struggled to get out of first gear in Lisbon.
That will not worry Mourinho too much. He insisted that the art of defending is underrated after another stubborn rearguard effort secured the result he wanted. David de Gea did not have to make a save of note.
‘I feel that sometimes defending properly is seen as a crime but it’s not,’ he said. ‘That’s why we controlled the game. The goal was not against the current.
‘but 12 matches, 10 victories, two draws, nine clean sheets. We’re not bad.’
Mourinho had tried to convince his players that benfica were better than CSKA Moscow and basle, but even he probably did not believe that. They are not the benfica of old.
United took half an hour to settle but were strong enough to withstand a lively start from benfica in which Eduardo Silva swept a shot just wide from Alex Grimaldo’s cross.
They were wasteful in possession on the greasy surface and lacked any fluency.
Even when United did finally make some inroads, there was precious little to excite their travelling fans.
Rashford headed over from Daley blind’s outswinging cross in the 32nd minute and Romelu Lukaku’s searching pass to the edge of the six-yard box was brilliantly hooked away from Rashford by Ruben Dias moments later.
Nemanja Matic had United’s best chance of the half, surging into the box past three defenders, but Svilar blocked the former benfica man’s fierce low drive with his body.
If Mourinho had some words with his players at half-time, it seemed to bring a reaction from Rashford.
The England striker began running at the benfica back-line more directly and tested Svilar with a dipping volley before launching the free-kick that led to the goal.
Rashford was then forced off with a knee injury that could add to Mourinho’s problems. ‘There is another situation maybe I’m guilty of,’ he said. ‘I never cry about injuries. Ibrahimovic, Pogba, Fellaini, Marcos Rojo. Other managers cry and cry. I can cry but I don’t, so we do it with what we have.’
United were forced to defend a series of set- pieces from the Portuguese champions in the half hour that remained after the goal. It was not as comfortable as Mourinho suggested.
but job done, move on. The knockout stages beckon.