Out of favour Javier Hernandez's rescued Manchester United in the hands of FC Braga.It is saying something when even the title of comeback kings barely does justice to Manchester United’s astonishing powers of recovery.
Yet the forced smile on the face of their manager Sir Alex Ferguson at the end of another pulsating night of lost causes rescued, suggested he is growing tired of the need to produce these remarkable feats.
Two second half goals and a quite brilliant display after the interval gave them the victory over Braga that, according to Fergie, already almost assures qualification for the knock out stage of the Champions’ League.
Yet their third straight win in the group came only after they had gifted two criminally sloppy early goals to the talented Portuguese team - amazingly, the eighth time in 12 games this season when they have conceded a lead.
It is not good enough for a team of this pedigree, but at least the Old Trafford faithful can be consoled by the quality that allowed them to recover from the two goals presented to Braga’s talented striker Alan.
Chelsea on the other hand could not contain Alex Teixeira and Fernandinho as they fell to their goals to concede a major defeat this season.
Conceding early in the Donbass Arena against a side in the middle of an implausibly long unbeaten run and understandably brimming with confidence was always going to make it a hard night and that was proven as the Blues struggled to get a foothold in the game. The team seemed to be caught between two stools: unsure whether to pour forward in the manner of the pair of victories in North London or whether to sit back and punish Shakhtar on the break.
Tonight two other English teams would be on duty,Manchester City would travel away to Ajax Amsterdam while Arsenal would be home to welcome Schalke 04
City have made another disappointing start in the competition having collected just one point from their opening two matches in Group D.
Alarmingly, according to UEFA statistics, they have allowed 50 attempts on their own goal during their opening loss at Real Madrid and in their draw against Borussia Dortmund last time out.
It leaves them heading into the first of their back-to-back games against Ajax in the Amsterdam Arena anxious for a result.
Arsenal would look to get the disappointment at Norwich over the weekend out of their system when there face the German side and possibly get the maximum points that would see them qualify to the knockout stages of the Champions League.
The Gunners slipped 10 points behind Barclays Premier League leaders Chelsea when they went down 1-0 at Carrow Road following a lacklustre display on their return from the international break.
Best of look to all teams closer to qualification to the knock stages tonight
