VIEWS FROM THE BROADSHEETS

First up the Grauniad

Sir Alex Ferguson has waited almost three years to remind himself what it feels like to win a Champions League tie away from home and it will taste all the sweeter that it should occur at the stadium where Manchester United's last European campaign self-combusted. The manager has unhappy memories of Lisbon but Louis Saha's decisive contribution will have done much to ease them on an evening when the result was considerably better than their performance.

Saha's breakaway goal puts United in such a position of strength in Group F it is now inconceivable that they will fail to qualify for the knockout stages. Whether they can progress significantly further will have to be rated as doubtful on this evidence - seldom, for example, can Wayne Rooney have looked so ordinary - but it will not unduly bother Ferguson that the victory was scarcely deserved. Benfica have a formidable record at home and however difficult they made it for themselves, United are entitled to be invigorated by the manner in which they quelled one of Europe's more boisterous crowds.

Estadio da Luz may be known locally as the Cathedral but on nights like this it is transformed into a shrieking, whistling, fire-cracking pit and there was nothing sacred about the abuse that accompanied Cristiano Ronaldo's every touch. In a Portugal shirt he is a hero on this ground. For United, he might as well have had 666 on his back last night.

The former Sporting Lisbon winger, of course, is well past the stage where he allows himself to be distracted by provocation. This was not his most fluent performance but his willingness to look for the ball was one of the team's more admirable traits and, fittingly, it was the Portuguese who instigated the move for the goal. Saha took Ronaldo's pass, cut inside from the right and unleashed a powerful left-foot drive that took a slight but decisive deflection off Anderson on its way into the net.

That was a moment out of keeping with a performance that suggested Rooney's first prolonged loss of form since joining the club two years ago. He was shifted to the left wing because Ferguson had reverted to the 4-5-1 system that he often favours in Europe and for long spells Rooney was a peripheral figure, struggling to have any kind of impact. His first half was summed up when Gary Neville picked him out with a free-kick and, under no pressure, Rooney miscontrolled and the ball went out for a goal-kick. Then Michael Carrick set him running at the defence and again his touch let him down.

In mitigation, Rooney was not alone in terms of giving the ball away. The frequency with which they conceded possession will have perturbed Ferguson, not least because the culprits were very often those players who usually consider losing the ball to be a sin. Carrick waved an apologetic arm on more than one occasion. The same could be said for Paul Scholes and Rio Ferdinand while Nemanja Vidic inadvertently set up Nuno Gomes for one of Benfica's most inviting chances. A better side than Benfica would not have been so generous with their finishing and Ferguson acknowledged United had been "scratching through the first half, giving the ball away in defensive positions".

Saha's fifth goal of the season changed the game and with Benfica having to commit more players into attack, United thereafter found large expanses of space behind the home defence. The Frenchman wasted a glorious opportunity to add a second and Quim saved three times in succession from Heinze's free-kick and follow-ups from Fletcher and Carrick.

The Times

Having laughed off doubts about Manchester United's European Cup-winning credentials beforehand, Sir Alex Ferguson seemed ready to break into convulsions when talk turned to Wayne Rooney's poor early-season form. He will not welcome the resumption of either debate after his team's first away victory in the Champions League in almost three years, but, until Louis Saha struck a wonderful goal on the hour, it felt as though the United manager was kidding himself about both.

If focusing on Rooney sounds negative on what was a fruitful night for United, consider the number of times that the most talented youngster in British football earned rebukes from his team-mates and his manager.

Several United players were struggling, Gabriel Heinze and Cristiano Ronaldo being notable exceptions, but something seemed to be nagging at Rooney — something perhaps beyond his deployment on the left wing — even though Saha's goal ensured a winning return for United to the scene of their premature exit last season.

At times in the opening period United were as bad as they had been last December, but a second-half improvement changed the outlook. Now they are three points clear at the top of group F — with as many points and more goals from two games than they managed from six in their last campaign — and seem certain to seal their passage to the knock-out stages sooner rather than later.

Ferguson has not been afraid to indulge his youngsters and, in the case of Ronaldo, he is being rewarded.

Despised in this part of the city owing to his past links with Sporting Lisbon, the Portugal winger was jeered throughout, but this time, rather than submit to the abuse, he thrived on it, producing his best away performance in the Champions League in three years at United. In contrast to their last visit, when he played and behaved like a brat, the 21-year-old excelled, taking the fight to his countrymen in a way that suggested he has come of age.

It was just as well that Ronaldo was on his game because others were not during a slipshod first-half display. Gary Neville and Nemanja Vidic each erred twice, almost letting in Simão and Nuno Gomes respectively, while Michael Carrick looked ill at ease as one of two midfield runners in a 4-3-3 formation. Carrick was one of two United players booked in the first ten minutes — the second, more predictably, being Paul Scholes — and, for all that Ferguson and Carlos Queiroz, his assistant, complained that Benfica's players were diving, United were not helping themselves.

It was starting to feel like a one-man crusade for Ronaldo, a perception he heightened by attempting a free kick from 45 yards early in the second half, but finally United began to defend stoutly and to get a foothold in midfield.

Rooney was still struggling, conceding possession three times in as many minutes, but it was he who began the counter-attack that culminated with Ronaldo sending the ball out to Saha, who cut inside from the right wing and struck a curling shot that beat Quim with the aid of a slight deflection off Anderson's leg.

Thereafter, the result was never in doubt as United edged towards an overdue first away victory in the Champions League since November 2003. That ensured a love-in with the supporters at the final whistle but, even as Rooney's team-mates celebrated, one did not have to look too far from the silver lining to see a young man stuck under a grey cloud

The Indie

United could have made last night's scoreline more emphatic, yet both Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick had point-blank shots saved by Quim three minutes from time after the goalkeeper had parried a free-kick by Gabriel Heinze.

For all United's ascendancy in the later stages, Saha's moment of inspiration was out of character with much of an attritional affair. Not that Sir Alex Ferguson will quibble. They now have back-to-back matches with FC Copenhagen, which should take them into the final two games unbeaten, perhaps even with four wins.

The United manager was quick to praise Saha, who had been pressed into service with a tight hamstring and foraged bravely, if often alone. Wayne Rooney put in another strangely muted display which found him at left-back more often than in the faces of the Benfica back-line.

Ferguson tried hard to keep United's success in perspective. "Today is not a killer blow for Benfica as it was for us last year," he said. "Looking at the group, Copenhagen and Benfica need to win games quickly. Benfica will have to play an open game at Old Trafford. They also have to play Celtic twice, and who knows what will happen there."

United's determination to atone for last season's failure was manifested in heavy challenges early on, with Carrick and Paul Scholes cautioned inside 10 minutes. It also saw Ferguson waving everyone bar Saha behind the ball at times, forcing Benfica to shoot from far.

Georgios Karagounis and Nuno Gomes tested Edwin van der Sar during the first half. Ronaldo, inevitably, had United's best effort, forcing Quim into a scrambled save from 25 yards, with Saha thwarted as he tried to turn in the loose ball.

The United strategy up to half-time might politely have been described as one of playing on the break. They showed little inclination to press forward in numbers, while Benfica, in the absence of the injured Rui Costa, lacked the guile to breach a defence in which the centre-backs, Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic, were imperious.

Suddenly, what seemed a tentative, almost anxious approach by United took on the aura of composed resilience as they repeatedly soaked up Benfica's attacks and countered at pace. Van der Sar had become a spectator and even before Quim's late heroics, Saha had come close to making it 2-0 when he swept the ball the wrong side of the near post from Carrick's cross.

By the end, the fire of the Benfica faithful, whipped up by the traditional release of the club eagle to circle high above the ground before kick-off before returning to its trainer, had been all but doused by Saha's opportunism.