7 December 2006, by Sean Gillen

Manchester United 3-1 Benfica

United match reaction

Alex Ferguson:

“We played slowly and didn’t cope with their system well, we were just too slow that’s the only thing I can say. Once we lost the goal, we did start to play, no question about that. We got good penetration, we put Wayne (Rooney) back in his normal position and it made a difference.”

“I think we have got too many young players to play with patience and a nice, measured build-up. When they play the cut-throat way, they are a good team. Once we lost the goal tonight we proved we can play at a high level winning the right way and that’s always very important at this club.”

“The only difference is you play your opponents in the next stage at home in the second leg. When you look at the second group teams, like Barcelona and Real Madrid, you know there is a lot of quality. The important thing is we appreciate being there and we can look forward to it at the end of February.”

Cristiano Ronaldo:

“Yeah, it’s true we don’t do it the easy way. Against Celtic we needed a win, but we didn’t. I think we played very well tonight. We controlled the whole game, and the team played very well. It’s good for us to pass into the next phase.”

“I think the team is more mature, more consistent, more experienced, and we are playing well.”

“We’re playing fantastic in the league, in the Champions League as well. We’re creating lots of chances every game and I think in the next round we’ll do even better and you never know – I hope to win the Champions League.”

“Of course it meant more to me to play against a Portuguese team. I love playing against my friends. It was amazing, a fantastic game”

Louis Saha:

“Today we worked hard. I think this brilliant goal surprised us. We showed great mental strength and had to dig in, and we’ve done that.

“In some ways, we tried to avoid the first goal, but it happened for them and we reacted very well. After half-time we showed a bit more composure, so we scored two good goals.”

Manchester United 3-1 Benfica - Match Report