Audi Cup Review - United finish runners-up

Manchester United were beaten on penalties in the final of the Audi Cup on Thursday evening. The Red Devils beat Boca Juniors 2-1 in the final of the competition but couldn’t beast hosts Bayern on spot-kicks following a goalless draw at the Allianz Arena.

United were invited to participate in this pre-season competition alongside Bayern Munich, Boca and AC Milan. The competition was organised by Audi AG to celebrate the company's 100th year of trading.

Unlike so many Mickey Mouse friendly events, this tournament was on a knock-out basis rather than the increasingly common four-team but two-match round robin system.

The Reds were paired alongside Boca in the semi-finals, with AC Milan and Bayern doing battle in the other game. Those Wednesday fixtures were followed by the third/fourth place play-off and the final the following day.

United and 2007 Copa Libertadores winners Boca kicked-off the competition on Wednesday evening. The Red Devils booked their place in the final thanks to a 2-1 hard-fought victory.

Anderson is still waiting his first senior goal for the club - but, to the delight of the travelling Red masses, broke the deadlock with a tremendous free-kick on 23 minutes.

Sir Alex's men dominated the opening period and doubled their advantage before half-time. Antonio Valencia, the summer signing from Lancashire neighbours Wigan, doubled the advantage. His relatively tame shot proved too much for Boca 'keeper Pato Abbondanzieri and United were well on their way.

The Argentineans looked off the pace in the opening half but staged an impressive fightback after the break. Federico Insua's volley reduced the arrears on 55 minutes and United were hanging on at the death with defender Craig Cathcart hitting his own crossbar and Juan Roman Riquleme also threatening an equaliser as Tomasz Kuszczack was kept busy.

The other game saw the hosts Bayern delight their fans with a superb late-show against Italian giants Milan. Thomas Muller gave Bayern the lead on twelve minutes and Bastian Schweinsteiger looked to have sealed it with ten minutes to go.

However, Italian international Andrea Pirlo kept Milan in contention with a quick response before late, late efforts from Saër Sène and Muller sealed the victory for FCB.

Boca left Germany with some pride and gave South American club football a boost with a penalty-kicks win over a disappointing Milan outfit.

Thiago Emiliano da Silva's first-half effort put Milan ahead; but Argentinean frontman Luca Viatri restored parity with just three minutes left to take the game into penalties. Boca won 4-3 from there.

Pre-season tournaments don't mean much in the grand scheme of things - but it's always nice to claim as much silverware as possible. It was thus bitterly disappointing to see United miss out on penalties after the final ended in a goalless stalemate.

United, sporting their black jerseys with lightning blue rugby league-style V-stripe, looked tired following the tour of Asia and the ninety minutes proved relatively low-key in front of a reported 69,000 supporters.

Dimitar Berbatov and Wayne Rooney both missed excellent chances during the game - but United were left to rue missed penalties from Patrice Evra and Jonny Evans as the spot-kicks went to sudden death.

United were handed a trophy for finishing second. It's unlikely, however, to take pride of place in the club's trophy room. Nobody at Old Trafford likes finishing second.