Manchester United 0-1 Besiktas: Turkish Side Stuns Old Trafford

Manchester United v Besiktas: Line-up & stats
Champions League results/standings

Manchester United are not guaranteed first place in their group as they went down 1-0 to Besiktas, with a Rodrigo Tello goal ending their streak of not losing a group stage game at Old Trafford for eight years.

Sir Alex Ferguson sent out an inexperienced team with Danny Welbeck, Gabriel Obertan, Darren Gibson and Federico Macheda given starts, and they were given a boost even before kick-off as Wolfsburg's defeat in Moscow meant only a draw would be enough to send them through to the knock-out phase as group winners.

United started with purpose and both Obertan and Ji-Sung Park had efforts on goal within the first six minutes, while their opposition also had sight of goal as Michael Fink and Bobo shot efforts wide of Ben Foster's goal in an entertaining opening ten.

A golden opportunity was wasted by United after 12 minutes. Gibson had a shot deflected over for a corner, and from the resulting kick Nemanja Vidic missed a free header from around ten yards out when he really should have hit the target.

United were dominating with Gibson and Obertan both having attempts flashing wide as Besiktas were struggling to get out of their own half.

Then on 19 minutes the visitors went ahead through a wonder goal from Rodrigo Tello. The Chilean international cut inside and blasted a shot from 30 yards, which took a little deflection of Rafael Da Silva and flew into the far corner of Foster's goal.

Stunned by the goal, United then began turning the screw on the visitors, playing nice football across the park but with little end product.

Macheda, Wellbeck and Obertan were looking dangerous as Besiktas got mass numbers behind the ball and were quick to throw themselves in front of any United shots. The best chance saw Wellbeck slide in Obertan, but Rustu Recber blocked the shot from a tight angle.

Besiktas almost stole a second goal against the run of play as Fink had an excellent chance after being given space in the United box, but he managed to hit the post when he had time to pick his spot.

As half time came Sir Alex must have been happy with the pressure being applied as his United side looked dangerous without really threatening the Besiktas goal but concerns could rest as the Turkish visitors looked dangerous on the break.

Besiktas came out stronger at the beginning of the second half, they kept the ball well and Bobo fired a warning shot just wide on 51 minutes.

Obertan then attempted to breathe some life into Old Trafford as a thrusting, mazy run culminated in a shot well saved by Recber, then the Frenchman saw a header from a dinked Macheda cross drop just over the bar.

United struggled to penetrate a rigid Besiktas defence and Ferguson decided on 67 minutes it was time to introduce Michael Owen, who was closely followed into action by first team regulars Patrice Evra and Paul Scholes.

The Old Trafford crowd went very quiet and uninspired as United huffed and puffed but failed to create any real opportunities, with Recber only being stretched from a very long-range effort from Evra on 82 minutes.

Besiktas were standing firm against the wave of attacks that United threw at them, while United were furious the referee did not award a penalty when Kas appeared to obstruct Evra as he charged into the box.

United piled pressure on the Besiktas box, sensed hope when the referee's assistant showed five minutes of injury time and Macheda forced a great save out of Recber with a header from six yards.

From the resulting corner, Foster went up and Wes Brown met it, with the strong arms of Recber again preventing United grabbing the equaliser. Carrick managed a last-second shot on target but Besiktas managed to hold on for the victory.