Dimitar Berbatov has been told he will feature for Manchester United at some point after being left on the bench for the 1-1 draw at Benfica.
United manager Sir Alex Ferguson has promised record signing Berbatov he will get games this season. Berbatov has made just one appearance this season, coming on as a second-half substitute in United's opening Premier League match at West Brom.
Wednesday's Champions League encounter at the Estadio da Luz seemed like the perfect opportunity for Berbatov to return, especially as Anders Lindegaard, Antonio Valencia and Darren Fletcher all made their first appearances of the season. Instead, the £30.75million Bulgarian, " Ferguson said. "Michael Owen is there, Federico Macheda, Mame Biram Diouf. Danny Welbeck won't be back next week but probably the week after. It is not easy. "Dimitar has been training terrific. His attitude is spot on. He will get his game time as the season wears on. There is no question about that."
After all the talk of youngsters at Old Trafford in recent weeks, United needed an intervention from old stager Ryan Giggs to grab a point. Trailing to Oscar Cardozo's impressive strike and outplayed for long periods, United were thankful for Giggs' 27th Champions League goal, 17 years to the day since his first.The Welshman has now scored in 16 seasons of the competition, another record. "It was a great goal," Ferguson said of Giggs' equaliser. "I felt in the early parts of the match he sat too deep in midfield."Once he got behind their central midfield he was a real threat. His goal came because of that. It was terrific."
Ferguson was also thankful for a fine display from Lindegaard, even if regular goalkeeper David de Gea is already assured of his spot for Sunday's showdown with Chelsea. "We have two great goalkeepers," Ferguson said. "We were always going to share it and David will play on Sunday against Chelsea and possibly Anders will play at Leeds next Tuesday, depending upon how we see the situation with Ben Amos, who needs some game time also. Ferguson is clearly sensitive to criticism of De Gea though, judging by the way he attacked ITV post-match interviewer Kelly Cates when she asked whether Lindegaard had given him a selection dilemma. "I don't know why you ask these questions, you're just looking for stupid little things," Ferguson snapped. With Swiss contenders FC Basle opening their campaign with a win, United are now playing catch-up.
Not that anyone expects that to last long, including Benfica coach Jorge Jesus, who proclaimed himself happy with the point. "It was a great game. Manchester United are one of the best teams in the world but we played well," he said. "It would have been great to win but it is important to get a point from this match. I know the result in the other game but that is not important at this stage. The important thing tonight was to focus on this game."
