Carlos Tévez's late equaliser boosted Manchester United FC's hopes of reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals as Sir Alex Ferguson's team secured a hard-fought draw at Olympique Lyonnais, who had looked set to claim their first success against an English club for 40 years when Karim Benzema opened the scoring on 54 minutes.
Milestones for veterans
On a night when two veterans reached significant milestones, it was two younger players who stole the headlines with their goalscoring prowess. Ryan Giggs struggled to inspire United on his 100th UEFA Champions League appearance, and when the visitors did succeed in breaking through Lyon's determined defence, they were invariably denied by a commanding Grégory Coupet, playing his 500th match for the club. United never gave up, however, and will now be confident of progressing at Old Trafford in a fortnight, when Lyon will be without the suspended Anthony Réveillère.
Lyon threat
United issued an early warning when Cristiano Ronaldo's shot deflected wide off Jean-Alain Boumsong, yet it was Lyon who settled quicker. Only a last-ditch challenge from Rio Ferdinand prevented Sidney Govou from latching on to Fabio Grosso's low cross, and Benzema narrowly failed to make clean contact with Juninho Pernambucano's corner. With seven home goals conceded in the group stage, Lyon's defensive frailty was a source for concern and Alain Perrin's decision to deploy François Clerc in midfield hinted at a cautious approach. The tactic appeared to working, though, as Govou linked up effectively with Grosso on the left while Clerc made several threatening bursts on the opposite flank. With Lyon firmly in the ascendancy, Ferdinand almost sliced into his own net, then Benzema rifled narrowly over after another clever pull-back from Clerc.
Rooney denied
The English champions carved the clearest opening on 24 minutes, however, Wayne Rooney collecting Ronaldo's pinpoint through-ball and evading Sébastien Squillaci's challenge to race clear only for Grégory Coupet to stop his shot with his leg. Paul Scholes was then denied by Boumsong's timely intervention after being released by Giggs and, with Ronaldo increasingly influential the visitors finished the half in menacing fashion. The Portuguese winger forced Coupet into a two-fisted save from his curling free-kick, then glanced a header wide from the resulting corner.
Benzema breakthrough
Half-time arrived at the right time for the French title-holders, offering them an opportunity to regroup and return with fresh ideas in the second period. One of those ideas might have been to shoot on sight, which is exactly what Benzema did nine minutes in. After collecting Jérémy Toulalan's pass, the France striker turned brilliantly to his left before unleashing a fizzing low shot into the bottom corner from the edge of the area. It was the 20-year-old's fourth European goal this term and his 26th in all competitions.
Tévez delight
Sir Alex reacted by sending on Nani and Tévez and the two-time European champions immediately played with more urgency. Both sides came close from set-pieces late on, Juninho's long-range effort sliding wide before Ronaldo was denied by Coupet. Seconds later, however, there was nothing the French goalkeeper could do when Tévez rifled in from close range after Fred had inadvertently directed Nani's right-wing cross into his path to tip the balance of the tie back towards United.
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