Manchester United boss Alex Ferguson admitted last night that his side were very lucky to come away from Athens with a point after their 1-1 draw against Panathinaikos in the Champions League. Although Paul Scholes saved United's blushes with an injury-time equaliser after the Greek side had led for most of the game, United played very poorly and the Greeks will feel very hard done by not to have won this tie.
"We were lucky to draw, very lucky to draw," said Ferguson. "Panathinaikos made a lot of chances in the game and should have beaten us by three or four goals. Once they scored we were far too loose and we didn't show much patience about ourselves in that respect. In the second half we gambled a lot with the consequence that we could have had a real spanking, a real beating. You always hope a goal will come and the one quality we have always had is the ability to keep going and never give in. But I think that is the only thing I can take out of this game and a draw was very fortunate for us."
The main reason why United were in a position to take a point from this match at such a late stage was the performance of goalkeeper Fabien Barthez. The Frenchman made a string of fine saves to deny Panathinaikos and this did not go unnoticed by his manager. "I think he proved he's the finest goalkeeper in the world. It was quite amazing the saves he made and he's the reason why we got a point out of it," said Ferguson.
However, United are virtually through to the knock-out stages of the competition for the fifth consecutive year and they can even afford to lose 2-0 to Sturm Graz at Old Trafford next week and still progress although Ferguson will want his side to attempt to win Group A and avoid the likes of Real Madrid in next week's draw for the quarter-finals.
Filed by Amanda Fennelly
