كتب : Amro Hassan
The Red Devils, who already secured qualification to the next round, took advantage of Villareal’s loss at the hands of Celtic to go first in the final group table.
Sir Alex Ferguson’s men took the lead as early as the third minute through Carlos Tevez, who latched onto Ryan Giggs’ perfect through ball to slot past Karim Zaza.
The argentine almost doubled the scoring two minutes later, this time it was Wayne Rooney the provider, but Tevez’ effort went inches wide off Zaza’s right post.
On 31 minutes and against the run of play Aalborg equalized. Anders Due’s free kick was flicked past Tomasz Kuszczack by Michael Jacobsen’s header.
Just right before the half time whistle, Aalborg surprisingly took the lead. Another Due cross was met by a looping header from Jeppe Curth to silence the home crowd.
Rooney got United’s act together with a 52nd minute leveller after capitalizing on Anderson’s assist with a shot underneath Zaza.
However, Aalborg stood their ground firmly until the final whistle, to win a deserved valuable point at Old Trafford.
The draw secures Aalborg a UEFA Cup place, as they finish the group in third place with six points, one ahead of Glasgow Celtic.
In Glasgow, Celtic did well to beat Villareal 2-0 at Celtic Park.
The home side’s first came on 13 minutes, thanks to a Shaun Maloney header from Scott Brown’s early cross.
Gordon Strachan’s team scored their second on 45 minutes after the Villareal defense allowed Aiden McGeady to end his darting run on the counter attack with a brilliant shot from 20 yards out.
Despite the loss, Villareal maintain the group’s second spot with nine points, one less than first-placed United. Celtic finish bottom of the group with five points.