Flying Dutchman the key

Gross praise
Two goals in a minute won the Dutchman praise not only from his own manager, but also from Basel coach Christian Gross. "Van Nistelrooij decided the game today," Gross admitted. United manager Sir Alex Ferguson agreed, saying: "He is capable of that, I think he has won the match for us tonight. You cannot dispute his finishing."

Perfect start
Basel were the team celebrating just 31 seconds in, as Christian Giménez scored the sixth-fastest goal in Champions League history to mark the arrival of the first Swiss side to reach this stage of the competition.

Van Nistelrooij strikes
However, Van Nistelrooij headed in from Ole Gunnar Solskjær's cross on 62 minutes, and seconds later the Dutchman grabbed his sixth goal in four Champions League games from a narrow angle. The top scorer in last season's competition then sent through Solskjær to make it 3-1 in the 68th minute. Of United's second-half comeback, Ferguson said: "We were stronger and we were better, I think our first goal killed them a bit."

Ferguson optimism
United were missing David Beckham, Roy Keane, Nicky Butt, Gary Neville, Laurent Blanc and Rio Ferdinand through injury, but Ferguson warned their future opponents: "We know that by Christmas our injured players will be back. It gives us a full squad, where we will have fresh players in the second half of the season."

First home defeat
Gross, meanwhile, thought his team played well and created chances, but could not "overperform" on the night as they suffered their first home defeat of the campaign. "We had a great start, we had the lead, and we were confident - we could even have scored the second goal," Gross said. "They had more possession, but created few chances in the first half. But in football the goals count, not chances.

Test of character
"In moments like these, you see how strong the character of the players is - we did perform well tonight, but, unfortunately, we could not overperform."

'A fantastic side'
Indeed, Gross believes United, who host RC Deportivo La Coruña on Matchday 8, could go all the way in the Champions League this term: "When their injured players come back, they will be even stronger," he said. "I think they can make the final. They have a lot of class, they are a fantastic side."

No blame
And after losing to such a side, Gross was not about to criticise his own team as they prepare to travel to Juventus FC in two weeks. "I am not going to blame any of my players for tonight," he said. Nor should he - his side fought hard but were ultimately outclassed by a player who cannot stop scoring in the Champions League.