Manchester United scrape by error-prone Benfica in Champions League

It took a bizarre goalkeeping error to get the job done, but Manchester United took full control of Champions League Group A with a 1-0 win over Benfica on the strength of Marcus Rashford’s second half goal that was gifted to them by a youthful mistake from Benfica goalkeeper Mile Svilar.

The match started very slowly, with Jose Mourinho and Manchester United content to sit back and let Benfica wear themselves down trying to bring pressure, but with the unfortunate caveat of Benfica not really doing much to push the pace or try to force the issue. There was a grand total of one shot on target during the entire first half, that a tame effort from Nemanja Matic on one of Manchester’s extremely rare forays forward that Mile Svilar saved with ease.

The second half was more of the same until the 65th minute, when Marcus Rashford scored a goal in one of the the unlikeliest ways you’ll see. Rashford decided to shoot for goal on a free kick, and Svilar — an 18-year-old Belgian youth international — made what looked like a good save at first, right up until he couldn’t check his momentum and carried the ball over the line.

It was a shame to see as Svilar had been solid despite not having much to do — that shot was just United’s second on target, but he had done well to prevent better-quality shots with his positioning and had worked well with Luisao to direct the defense in keeping United’s admittedly few attacks mostly stymied. But he’d been playing a bit fast and loose on set pieces, and that finally hurt Svilar and Benfica at an awful time.

In the end, it seems like Benfica’s youthful side wasn’t up to the task of taking points off Manchester United, even during long stretches of the match when United were practically begging the Portuguese club to come and challenge them. The result virtually ends Benfica’s hopes of getting anything out of Europe this season, with zero points through three matches, giving them minimal hopes of even clawing their way into the Europa League knockout rounds.

Manchester United, meanwhile, sit on nine points through three matches, and three points clear of second-place Basel, who won 1-0 in Russia against CSKA Moscow. Another win over Benfica at Old Trafford in two weeks’ time would see Manchester guarantee their return to the Champions League knockout rounds, and even a draw could do the same depending on the result between Basel and CSKA in Switzerland that same day. This result against Benfica may not have been pretty, but it put Mourinho and Manchester United exactly where they wanted to be halfway through the group stage.

Benfica: Mile Svilar; Douglas, Luisao (red 90’+2), Ruben Dias, Alejandro Grimaldo; Pizzi (Andrija Zivkovic 59’), Lubomir Fejsa, Filipe Augusto; Eduardo Salvio (Franco Cervi 83’), Raul Jimenez, Diogo Goncalves (Jonas 69’)

Goals: None

Manchester United: David De Gea; Antonio Valencia, Joel Lindelof, Chris Smalling, Daley Blind; Ander Herrera, Nemanja Matic; Juan Mata (Jesse Lingard 83’), Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Scott McTominay 90’+2), Marcus Rashford (Anthony Martial 76’); Romelu Lukaku

Goals: Rashford (65’)