“Manchester United were torn to shreds by the striking genius of Mateja Kezman.”
Sir Alex Ferguson made the decision to rest a number of his key players for their third Champions League group-stage outing of the 2000/2001 season and it backfired horribly.
David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ronny Johnsen were all named on the bench as United took on Dutch champions PSV in Eindhoven.
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Fergie, who had watched United concede three goals to Chelsea three days before, elected to bring Wes Brown and Phil Neville into the defence while Jonathan Greening came into midfield but the changes proved disastrous United were ripped apart on the break.
Things started well when Paul Scholes lashed home a penalty after just three minutes but it was 1-1 shortly after when Wilfred Bouma capitalised on a mistake by Neville and tucked home to the far corner.
It got worse when United’s attack broke down inside the PSV area before the break and the hosts raced clear with Kezman brilliantly slotting through for Mark van Bommel to finish past Raimond van der Gouw.
United, with two strikers and a flat midfield, were in big trouble and couldn’t cope with the fluidity and directness of the Dutch side. Kezman should’ve made it 3-1 when he bore down on goal in the second half but his curled finish narrowly missed the bottom corner.
Still, the Serbian international did get his goal just after the hour mark, bursting past Mikael Silvestre in the right channel before driving an unstoppable shot inside van der Gouw’s near post.
United players look dejected after Mateja Kezman scores PSV's third goal in their Champions League clash in September 2000. Matthew Ashton / EMPICS Sport
Matthew Ashton / EMPICS Sport / EMPICS Sport
United were humiliated and would lose to Anderlecht away the following month too. Ferguson subsequently changed his approach to Europe, settling on dominating the midfield and sacrificing an attacker.
The decision led to the signing of Juan Sebastian Veron at the end of the season and the change went some way to having an effect with the Argentine in the side that lost on away goals to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League semi-finals the following year.
Man Utd: Van Der Gouw, Silvestre, Brown, G. Neville, P. Neville, Butt, Keane, Scholes, Greening, Yorke, Solskjaer.
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THE BBC MATCH report said it all:
“Manchester United were torn to shreds by the striking genius of Mateja Kezman.”
Sir Alex Ferguson made the decision to rest a number of his key players for their third Champions League group-stage outing of the 2000/2001 season and it backfired horribly.
David Beckham, Ryan Giggs, Andy Cole, Teddy Sheringham and Ronny Johnsen were all named on the bench as United took on Dutch champions PSV in Eindhoven.
Fergie, who had watched United concede three goals to Chelsea three days before, elected to bring Wes Brown and Phil Neville into the defence while Jonathan Greening came into midfield but the changes proved disastrous United were ripped apart on the break.
Things started well when Paul Scholes lashed home a penalty after just three minutes but it was 1-1 shortly after when Wilfred Bouma capitalised on a mistake by Neville and tucked home to the far corner.
It got worse when United’s attack broke down inside the PSV area before the break and the hosts raced clear with Kezman brilliantly slotting through for Mark van Bommel to finish past Raimond van der Gouw.
United, with two strikers and a flat midfield, were in big trouble and couldn’t cope with the fluidity and directness of the Dutch side. Kezman should’ve made it 3-1 when he bore down on goal in the second half but his curled finish narrowly missed the bottom corner.
Still, the Serbian international did get his goal just after the hour mark, bursting past Mikael Silvestre in the right channel before driving an unstoppable shot inside van der Gouw’s near post.
United were humiliated and would lose to Anderlecht away the following month too. Ferguson subsequently changed his approach to Europe, settling on dominating the midfield and sacrificing an attacker.
The decision led to the signing of Juan Sebastian Veron at the end of the season and the change went some way to having an effect with the Argentine in the side that lost on away goals to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League semi-finals the following year.
Man Utd: Van Der Gouw, Silvestre, Brown, G. Neville, P. Neville, Butt, Keane, Scholes, Greening, Yorke, Solskjaer.
Subs: Bosnich, Johnsen, Wallwork, Giggs, Beckham, Cole, Sheringham.
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