IT DIDN’T GO according to script.
Manchester United had already been humbled by Dutch side PSV in the group stage of the 2000/2001 edition of the Uefa Champions League, suffering a 3-1 away defeat and struggling to combat the home side’s counter-attacking style.
A month later, Sir Alex Ferguson’s side headed to Belgium for a return clash with Anderlecht, a side they had thumped 5-1 in their opening assignment with Andy Cole grabbing a hat-trick.
But in Brussels, United were stunned by a brace from Tomasz Radzinski, who put himself in the shop window during a superb stint in Belgium and earned himself a move to Everton at the end of the season.
Despite Denis Irwin’s penalty, United failed to find a leveller and lost 2-1.
United’s naivety was again clinically punished on the road – Ferguson’s stubbornness to play a front-two saw Anderlecht cut through with ease, helped in no small part by Mikael Silvestre’s performance at left-back.
Here was the United team that night:
And the substitutes’ bench mixed the fondly-remembered with the long-forgotten:
Van der Gouw (GK), Phil Neville, Solskjaer, Wallwork, Fortune, Brown, Greening.”
The Belgians finished top of the group with United as runners-up.
Anderlecht’s good form didn’t last too long though and they failed to get past the next group-stage while Sir Alex Ferguson’s side were eliminated in the quarter-finals by Bayern Munich.
