Ryan Giggs scored and dished out an assist to help Manchester United come from behind and earn a 3-1 home win over Benfica on Wednesday to book a place in the UEFA Champions League knockout phase. Augusto Nelson grabbed a shocking lead for Benfica in the first-half but Serbian defender Nemanja Vidic leveled the score just before the break. Welsh winger Giggs put United ahead in the 61st minute and French striker Louis Saha registerd the third goal 14 minutes later. The Red Devils finished on top of Group F with 12 points, three ahead of second-placed Celtic, who suffered a 3-1 defeat to FC Copenhagen. Benfica had to settle for a UEFA Cup spot after finishing third with 7 points, leading Copenhagen on the head to head system. Nelson stunned the home crowd in the 27th minute when he received Simao's back pass on the edge of the area with an unstoppable right-footed drive into the top corner of the net. United pushed forward in a bid to prevent another elimination at the hands of the Portuguese giants and created several threats. In the 30th minute, United winger Cristiano Ronaldo fired a powerful free-kick that was tipped over the bar by Benfica keeper Quim. Moments later, the Premiership leaders were denied a clear penalty when Nelson appeared to have handled the ball inside the area.
Copenhagen stunned Celtic Saha connected with a corner-kick at the far post to head the ball towards the net but Quim managed to block it after the ball struck Nelson's arm. One minute before the break, Quim brilliantly palmed away another powerful shot from the bothering Ronaldo. Vidic finally grabbed the equalizer in the first-half stoppage time when he cut ahead of Quim to head home Giggs free-kick from the left flank. Giggs turned scorer one minute past the hour when he was picked out unmarked by Ronaldo's inch-perfect cross. The 33-year-old made no mistake in heading past Quim to give United the lead. Saha put the icing on the cake in the 75th minute as he escaped his marker to head home a right-sided corner. Elsewhere, Copenhagen missed the UEFA Cup spot despite their victory over Scotland's Glasgow Celtic. Atiba Hutchinson opened the score line as early as the second minute and Jesper Gronkjaer doubled Copenhagen's lead in the 27th minute. Marcus Allback added the third in the 57th minute before Jiri Jarosik pulled one back for the visitors in the 75th minute.
