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    COPENHAGEN, Denmark -- Sweden striker Marcus Allback bundled the ball home to give FC Copenhagen a 1-0 win over an under-strength Manchester United in Champions League Group F on Wednesday. Allback turned in Canadian midfielder Atiba Hutchinson's header after 73 minutes to record the Danish champions's first goal and victory in their debut season in Europe's premier club competition. United stay top of the group with nine points ahead of Celtic on six after their 3-0 defeat away to Benfica, who are level on four points with Copenhagen. United manager Alex Ferguson made several changes for the tie with Ryan Giggs, Louis Saha and Gary Neville not travelling because of injuries. Defender Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Paul Scholes both came off the bench in the second half. A bumpy pitch made for a scrappy game but Wayne Rooney should have scored for United in the 64th when he headed Gabriel Heinze's cross wide. Cristiano Ronaldo netted from close range in stoppage time but was flagged offside. Struggling Portuguese giants Benfica relaunched their Champions League campaign in style with a resounding 3-0 defeat of Scottish champions Celtic. A Gary Caldwell own goal in the 10th minute, coupled with Nuno Gomes' opportunistic effort barely 12 minutes later gave the Lisbon-based side a sniff of their first victory in group F before the interval. At the end of a more dominant second half, a superb first-time strike from Benfica substitute Andrei Karyaka left Celtic, outplayed and out of ideas, beaten in the city where they had historically become the first British club to win the European Cup, in 1967. After two wins and two defeats Celtic will now be hoping they can do enough in upcoming games at home to Manchester United and away to Copenhagen to book their last 16 ticket. Failure to find any kind of attacking rhythm, coupled with a hesitant defence, left Celtic wide open to a Benfica team that was practically gifted both of their first half goals. Celtic had already been lucky when Fabrizio Miccoli's early shot, after he had run across the 18-yard line unchallenged, was blocked. Five minutes later Celtic's defense was again caught napping when the ball trickled aimlessly through the area. Only Nuno Gomes being out of position allowed Celtic to breathe a sigh of relief. To Celtic's credit, Kenny Miller and Shaun Maloney were lively up front chasing loose balls and Miller in particular came into his game late in the first half. However disaster struck for Celtic after just 10 minutes when Celtic defender Caldwell, the goal hero for Scotland in their recent 1-0 victory over France, panicked as he backed off from a cross from the right flank. The ball skimmed off his leg and went past Celtic's Polish 'keeper Artur Boruc. When Benfica's second goal came it was, unfortunately for Celtic, all thanks to Caldwell again. A probing ball sent in deep deflected awkwardly off Caldwell's face as he backed off in hesitation. It fell to Gomes, who made no mistake and beat Boruc easily at his far post with an angled shot from 12 yards. In the 76th minute all hope of Celtic taking points from the match was extinguished by the superb passing which led to second half substitute Karyaka's goal. A great though ball from Petit to Nelson on the right flank allowed the Portuguese midfielder to cross for Karyaka, whose first-timer bulleted past the beaten Boruc from 12 yards. |
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Allback gave Copenhagen their first goal and win in their debut season in Europe's premier
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