Filed under: Football
On a night that will have caused Sir Alex Ferguson some concerns, the emergence of Danny Welbeck onto the European stage could well spell more unhappiness for another major Old Trafford figure.Welbeck, on just his third European appearance, scored twice in the opening 17 minutes of Manchester United's entertaining 3-3 draw with FC Basel.
The 20-year-old Mancunian was preferred to Michael Owen and, more significantly, Dimitar Berbatov who started the group game on the bench and, while there may have been an element of the two senior players being rested for the weekend's domestic action, there is no doubt Welbeck's progress continues to impress.
His physical style offers Ferguson an attacking option not provided by his other forwards and, despite poor defending for both Welbeck goals, it should not go unnoticed that Berbatov has not scored in Europe for three years and has a career Champions League record of four goals in 22 appearances - hardly the stuff of Old Trafford legend.
"The first half he was a positive," said Ferguson, still clearly angered by a spectacular second half collapse which allowed the Swiss to take a 3-2 lead before Ashley Young's late equaliser rescued the Reds. "He tired in the second half but it was difficult to take him off because a goal was there, thats why I kept him on.
"If we were in a better situation I would have taken him off."
As fatigue clearly set in, Welbeck missed a couple of very good chances to claim his hat-trick goal but still did enough to suggest that, if it is not already the case, he will soon be putting pressure on Berbatov for the role as first-choice attacking alternative behind Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez.
Of course, such a state of affairs would merely add to the increasing frustration that must be shrouding Berbatov currently. After scoring 22 goals last season, Berbatov has made one league start this season and two substitute appearances, for a grand total of one hour and 45 minutes of league football ... and no goals in any competitions.
And while there has been no hint of a serious attempt to sell the Bulgarian - and no sense that Berbatov is inclined to "do a Tevez" and create strife at the club - it will surely make for an interesting January transfer window.
Meanwhile, if the attacking picture at United could hardly be brighter, Ferguson will have serious concerns about the manner in which his team has defended this season.
A back four against Basel may have featured the out-of-form Fabio but it also had Phil Jones, Rio Ferdinand and Patrice Evra in front of first-choice keeper David de Gea - hardly a makeshift line-up.
Admittedly, Ferguson opting for a very attacking selection, that sometimes took on a 4-2-4 formation, did not always offer protection to that defence but Jones and Ferdinand were hardly outstanding in the weekend draw at Stoke, either.
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