European Cup · Phase 01 - Group F - Matchday 06
Manchester United v Benfica
3–1
Manchester United beat Benfica 3–1 at Old Trafford on Wednesday 6th December 2006 in the European Cup. Nemanja Vidic (45'+1'), Ryan Giggs (61') and Louis Saha (75') scored for United.
Timeline
Running score
- Kick Off
- 27' Nelson 0–1
- 34' Ricardo Rocha
- 42' Wayne Rooney
- 45+1' Nemanja Vidic 1–1
- Half Time
- 61' Ryan Giggs 2–1
- 67' Gabriel Heinze for Evra
- 73' Darren Fletcher for Giggs
- 75' Louis Saha 3–1
- 78' Darren Fletcher
- 78' Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer for Scholes
- Full Time 3–1
Match Facts
Starting XI
Substitutes
Gabriel Heinze
67' for Evra
Darren Fletcher
73' for Giggs
Ole-Gunnar Solskjaer
78' for Scholes
Benfica Lineup
Starting XI
4 Luisão D
5 Léo D
6 Petit M
8 Kostas Katsouranis M
12 Quim G
20 Simão M
21 Nuno Gomes F
22 Nélson D ⚽
25 Nuno Assis M
30 Fabrizio Miccoli F
33 Ricardo Rocha D
Substitutes
3 Anderson
9 Pedro Manuel Torres Mantorras
11 José Aguiar
15 Paulo Jorge Alves on
16 Gilberto Galdino Beto
26 Georgios Karagounis on
31 Moretto
Opposition lineup via ESPN. Opposition players do not have profile pages on this site.
Managers
MUFC
Alex Ferguson
Manchester United
OPP
Fernando Santos
Benfica
Match Information
United vs Benfica History
Meeting 7 of 11
11
Played
8
Won
2
Drawn
1
Lost
25
Goals For
11
Goals Against
All-time record, from the first meeting on Wednesday 2nd February 1966. After this match United had played Benfica 7 times: 6W 0D 1L.
27 Sep 2005 W 2–1 EC 7 Dec 2005 L 1–2 EC 26 Sep 2006 W 1–0 EC
6 Dec 2006 W 3–1 This match
14 Sep 2011 D 1–1 EC 22 Nov 2011 D 2–2 EC 18 Oct 2017 W 1–0 EC | All-time | P | W | D | L | F | A | Win% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Home | 5 | 4 | 1 | 0 | 12 | 6 | 80.0 |
| Away | 5 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 60.0 |
| Neutral | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 1 | 100.0 |
Match results, lineups and goalscorers compiled from mufcinfo.com; advanced match statistics (xG, shots, possession) via ESPN where available. Last updated 29 September 2026. How we compile this data →