Dog’s Breakfast of Champions League
‘DAVID Beckham’s bottom lip is probably visible from space right now, so prominent is it after Manchester United’s shock loss in Budapest last night.
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| Pout, pout, let it all out |
Beneath the headline ”Incredible Sulks”, poor Becks is doing a great impression of a toddler whose mum has just refused to buy him a bag of sweets. But it wasn’t merely Becks’ own contribution that saw his team go down to the Hungarian minnows Zalaegerszeg – it was a team effort.
Still, notes the Mirror, ”Sir Alex Ferguson blamed everything but his own players last night as Manchester United endured a disastrous start to their Champions League campaign”, which saw them concede a goal in the 90th minute.
”Fergie blamed the referee, the state of the pitch and the swirling wind for his team’s defeat but refused to acknowledge their clear failings against the Hungarian champions,” says the paper.
The game didn’t get off to the best start for the Red Devils, with Wes Brown injured in the second minute. The defender will be out for at least a month, joining Gary Neville and Rio Ferdinand in the casualty tent.
Ferguson may not be willing to look at his players’ performances for clues as to why they lost, but in the Sun, Zalaegerszeg coach Peter Bozsik has a plausible explanation. ”Manchester United are a fantastic side – but they took this match too easily.” Really? It’s not like Fergie’s boys to be complacent.
The Sun’s Neil Custis writes that Fergie is now ”staring at his worst nightmare”. ”After spending £80 million in a year in a bid to win back the European Cup, he may now not even get into the competition’s first stage.”
Newcastle United had better luck in Sarajevo, where Kieron Dyer struck a winner against Zeljeznicar in the 56th minute. Dyer’s first European goal puts Bobby Robson’s team on track to win a place in the group stages.
”I was telling the lads all week I was going to score,” said Dyer. His team-mates are especially pleased that he did it on the pitch. ‘
Posted: 15th, August 2002 | In: Back pages Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
