We were well-beaten, admits Ferguson

United manager disappointed after 2-1 defeat in Europa League.

PARIS:

Sir Alex Ferguson was left stunned as his Manchester United side slumped to a 3-2 defeat to Athletic Bilbao in the Europa League last-16 first-leg encounter.

United took a 22nd-minute lead through Wayne Rooney but Bilbao roared back with goals from Fernando Llorente, Oscar de Marcos and Iker Muniain.

Rooney reduced the damage ahead of next week’s second-leg with an injury-time penalty to keep alive United’s hopes of making the quarter-finals.

“We were well-beaten. Bilbao were the better side,” admitted Ferguson. “Our defence wasn’t very good and we were on the back foot because of it. But we can win the second-leg next week because we showed that we can create chances against them.”

The loss extended United’s home record in Europe this season to one win in five matches. While Ferguson conceded Bilbao were by far the better side, he did have complaints over their second goal – scored by de Marcos – which he claimed was offside and the third from Muniain which came from a Bilbao free-kick awarded after United defender Patrice Evra kicked a ball bare-foot, having lost his boot.

“The second goal was offside,” said Ferguson. “For the third, the referee said to the players that you can’t play without a boot but the real rule is you can but when the play stops, you have to go off the field.

“But at the end of the day Bilbao were the better team. Our goal-keeper [David de Gea] made four or five terrific saves in the game so really it was not the worst result for us.”

Bilbao coach Marcelo Bielsa warned his side against complacency ahead of the second-leg.

“We cannot forget that there is one game to go. All the positives and success we have achieved tonight will be wasted if we don’t take care next Thursday.”

City crash to 1-0 defeat

Meanwhile, Manchester City, who had crushed Portuguese league leaders Porto 6-1 on aggregate in the previous round, suffered a 1-0 loss to Sporting Lisbon in Portugal.

Brazilian centre-back Xandao claimed the game’s only goal with a clever back-heel in the 51st minute to give Ricardo Sa Pinto’s side a narrow advantage ahead of the second-leg at the City of Manchester Stadium next week.

Victory extended Sporting’s unbeaten European home record to 10 games, while City coach Roberto Mancini was left to rue an injury to captain Vincent Kompany that forced the Belgian centre-back to leave the fray early in the game.

“I don’t think Sporting had a lot of chances to score,” said Mancini. “We played slow sometimes because we found 10 players behind the ball. We had more chances to score than Sporting, though we did not underestimate them.

“We have another game and we have more chances to win the next game and I think we will progress in this competition.”

Published in The Express Tribune, March 10^th, 2012.