Lille Add to United Woe

Defeat in Lille
By David Hobbs
November 8 2005

Group D of the Champions League has been thrown wide open following Manchester United's miserable loss to Lille on Wednesday night, capping off a torrid week.

Lille Add to United Woe

Lille 1
Milenko Acimovic 37

Manchester United 0

Group D of the Champions League has been thrown wide open following Manchester United's miserable loss to Lille on Wednesday night, capping off a torrid week.

United have made the headlines for all the wrong reasons all week with claims Roy Keane insulted his team-mates and also United's huge 4-1 loss on the weekend to Middlesbrough.

The Red Devils should continue to dominate the back-pages on Thursday's papers with more reports of yet another poor Manchester United performance.

Lille have continually frustrated United in Europe this term and managed to grab a Champions League point from Old Trafford a few weeks ago.

The French outfit yet again denied United of a goal but went one step further than they did in Manchester and bagged a goal that tonight made all the difference, courtesy of Milenko Acimovic.

Sir Alex Ferguson has good reason to accept defeat due to injuries to key players such as Roy Keane, Gabriel Heinze and Gary Neville on top of the suspension of Paul Scholes.

Wayne Rooney returned to the squad after serving his European ban he picked up against Villarreal. Rio Ferdinand started the match despite reports claiming he'd be axed while Dutchman Ruud van Nistelrooy wore the captain's armband.

Milenko Acimovic's close range goal, assisted by Gregory Tafforeau, came midway through the first-half. The Slovak took advantage of poor defending from Mikael Silvestre and Wes Brown to break the deadlock.

The travelling fans and the United bench urged for a reply but orders lead to no avail. United looked like they missed the suspended Scholes in midfield.

After the break, Edwin van der Sar save his team's blushes after saving Tafforeau's promising free-kick.

Cristiano Ronaldo, who scored on the weekend, almost scored his second goal in 5 days when he and Ruud van Nistelrooy were denied by the crossbar.

Substitute Ji-Sung Park pulled a decent chance wide late on following Ruud van Nistelrooy's pass.

Final Score: Lille 1 - 0 Manchester United
Venue: Stade de France

Lille: Sylva, Chalme, Tavlaridis, Schmitz, Tafforeau, Debuchy, Makoun, Bodmer, Dernis, Moussilou, Acimovic.
Substitutes: Malicki, Cabaye, Gygax, Fauverge, Odemwingie, Plestan, Lichsteiner.

Manchester United: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Brown, Silvestre, Fletcher, Smith, Ronaldo, Rooney, Richardson, van Nistelrooy.
Substitutes: Howard, Park, Miller, Bardsley, Pique, Rossi, Jones.

Refereed By: Markus Merk (Ger)