Who said 2-0 was the most dangerous lead in football? Having held onto their one goal lead for almost 70 minutes after Teddy Sheringham scooped in his 12th goal of the season, Manchester United last night suffered a Ukrainian panic attack as they protected the most slender of advantages in the thrilling final five minutes of a match in which hitherto they had been in complete control.
Comfortable rather than complacent in defending Sheringham's strike against a Dynamo Kiev side that for 85 minutes almost merited the description shy, when the Ukrainians at last showed the undoubted attacking ability within their gift, the diminutive substitute George Demetradze somehow contrived to miss an open goal from eight yards out with United's defenders static as statues and Fabien Barthez glaring on in disbelief.
Barthez had not had to make a single worthwhile save all night and yet when Laszlo Bodnar skipped inside Denis Irwin to accept Vladimir Kuzmichev's pass with five minutes left, United were suddenly staring at a place in the UEFA Cup. Demetradze met the ball first time and in space; all he had to do was steer it goalward. Incredibly he steered it wide.
As so often with United, all the drama had come at the end and Alex Ferguson, a mixture of anxiety and relief, said afterwards: "There would probably have been a few heart attacks had that gone in. It would have been disappointing because they never looked like they would get the chance."
The incident sparked a wave of eyeballs-out fear around Old Trafford, some of which reached the players, but the final whistle brought a huge roar and a bigger collective sigh of relief. The job had been done - just. United finished second in the group and in tomorrow's draw they cannot meet Arsenal or Leeds, but they can face AC Milan, Galatasaray or Real Madrid - after last season the latter would be a worrying scenario.
The one facing United last night was simple - win or lose out. A rather large small fortune was at stake if they did not.
From the evidence of the opening 15 minutes, when Kiev pressed 10 men behind the ball, their tactics seemed clear: frustrate United for as long as possible and then try and strike on the break in the second half. How close they came to realising that.
Dynamo had to win to secure a lucrative UEFA Cup spot. To that end, having stifled United for the opening quarter hour, Kiev made their first foray forward in numbers led by Maksim Shatskikh. Shatskikh turned Philip Neville with some ease on the United byline, but then lost out. With Kiev committed to attack, United were able to counter.
Sheringham collected the ball and found Andrew Cole with a 40-yard pass across field. But when Cole ran at the isolated individual marking him, he got the ball tangled in between his feet. Fortunately the partner Cole does not speak to off the pitch, Sheringham, rescued him, first with a pass to Roy Keane that he volleyed at Alexander Shovkovski and then with a follow-up to Shovkovski's parry. Sheringham's lunge spooned up over the 'keeper and in.
With Ryan Giggs causing his usual kind of European disturbance down the left, 10 minutes later Sheringham again supplied Keane with a volley opportunity after a cross from Irwin. The ball bounced into the turf and then into the arms of Shovkovski.
Soon after, though, Giggs departed with an injury to be replaced by Quinton Fortune and United were never the same again. "Giggs was the one they couldn't handle," said Ferguson.
Yet Barthez had not been involved by the time he had his interval Bovril. Andrii Nesmachnyi's determined charge and shot into the side-netting from the re-start didn't trouble him either, but the surprising adventure of that attempt served as a reminder to United of the fragility of their lead and group position.
Within five minutes David Beckham delivered a couple of post-its of his own, forcing Shovkovski into a fine sprawling save with a rasping drive from 30 yards and then leaving the same man rooted to his line with a curler from slightly closer range. Shovkovski's inertia offered the home crowd hope of a second, but the ball drifted wide of the far post.
Beckham, who had hit two tame freekicks straight at Shovkovski in the first half, then worried the Kiev 'keeper with a more threatening one that flew by the woodwork, but the game fell flat after that. Perhaps sensing that or, more likely, with one eye on Saturday's Premiership game with Middlesbrough, Ferguson withdrew Sheringham and replaced him with Dwight Yorke.
Sheringham looked less than pleased but that was as nothing when compared to Barthez's demeanour when Demetradze ran on to Bodnar's centre and hit the advertising hoarding instead of the back of the net. So furious was Barthez, Keane had to tell the Frenchman to calm down. Pot, kettle and black?
They were one kick from going out. But United were through.
Man Utd: Barthez, P Neville, Irwin, G Neville, Brown, Beckham, Butt, Keane, Giggs (Fortune 34), Cole, Sheringham (Yorke 74), Fortune (Silvestre 88). Subs Not Used: Van Der Gouw, Solskjaer, Wallwork, Greening. Goals: Sheringham 18.
Dynamo Kiev: Shovkovskyi, Khatskevitch, Kaladze, Vaschuk, Holovko (Fedorov 76), Nesmachnyi, Gerasimenko (Kuzmichev 62), Bialkevich, Bodnar, Shatskikh (Demetradze 67), Lysytskyy. Subs Not Used: Kernozenko, Yashkin, Kardash, Serebrennikov. Att: 66,776.
Referee: Claude Colombo (France).
