A late, late show saw Manchester United come from behind and weather a temporary floodlight failure to defeat Sporting Braga 3-1 and qualify for the Champions League knockout phase.
A late, late show saw Manchester United come from behind and weather a temporary floodlight failure to defeat Sporting Braga 3-1 and qualify for the Champions League knockout phase.
The Portuguese outfit had the better of an insipid first half before taking the lead early in the second after Jonny Evans impeded Custodio inside the box,
with Alan converting the resulting spot kick.
Ten minutes after the opening goal, however, the Estadio Municipal de Braga surrendered to darkness as the stadium’s generator broke down, causing all but a couple of floodlights to stop working.
A 12 minute delay followed but it took the Red Devils until the closing 10 to find the result they needed to confirm their qualification on the night, with substitute Robin van Persie exploiting an error from goalkeeper Beto to equalise.
Wayne Rooney gave the away side the lead from the penalty spot after he was brought down with five minutes to go before Javier Hernandez added an exclamation mark in stoppage time.
Sir Alex Ferguson, now in his 27th year at the helm, assigned the likes of van Persie, Ashley Young, Rio Ferdinand and Michael Carrick to the substitute’s bench in the knowledge that one point from the three remaining group stage fixtures would be enough.
But though the visitors were on top of a dull opening 20 minutes with low-risk play and ‘Route One’ deliveries, Braga capitalised on the opportunity to take control of the game and enjoyed the better chances going forward.
With 22 on the clock, they signalled their intent when former Premier League winger Hugo Viana launched a fine cross from the left which Eder rose to glance onto the near upright.
Former Porto man Ruben Micael caused problems on more than one occasion with his industrious runs into the danger zone from the middle of the park, while Leandro Salino produced more than one decent delivery from the flanks on the overlap, but outside of a pair of shots straight at David De Gea further serious attempts remained sparse.
But though big chances at the United goal were indeed a luxury, the home side continued to look the keener of the two and with four minutes down in the second period, would find the breakthrough from a dead ball.
Midfielder Custodio burst into the penalty area but soon found himself blocked off on his route by Evans, causing German official Felix Brych to award the penalty.
Alan’s strike from 12 yards was struck with superb power and placement, and Braga were finally ahead.
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