Beşiktaş hail Rüştü's revenge act

He may have just scored the winning goal at Manchester United FC, but Rodrigo Tello was quick to share the praise with goalkeeper Rüştü Reçber for the "brilliant" late saves that kept Beşiktaş JK's slender lead intact.

'Great goalkeeper'
Mustafa Denizli's side brought United's 23-match unbeaten home run to an unexpected halt with Tello's solitary 20th-minute strike but Rüştü warranted equal credit for the stoppage-time saves from headers by Federico Macheda and Wes Brown that denied them reward for their late pressure, securing Beşiktaş's first win in Group B. "Rüştü made two brilliant saves and at difficult moments like this you need a great goalkeeper," Tello told uefa.com.

Night to savour
It was a night to savour for the 36-year-old Rüştü, returning to the stadium where he conceded six goals playing for Fenerbahçe SK in 2004. "It was revenge for him," said Tello. Midfielder Fabian Ernst added: "He made two fantastic saves and that was the key to everything. The crowd got going and in the last ten minutes we were just defending but we got lucky. It's a great feeling, not many teams can say they won here."

Selection boost
Rüştü's nemesis back in 2004, Wayne Rooney – scorer of a debut hat-trick in a 6-2 triumph that night – was missing as one of eight changes in the home lineup, and though the section leaders dominated the play, enjoying 63 per cent of possession, they lacked their usual incisiveness. Asked about the absence of so many regulars from the opposition lineup, Ernst said: "Of course it gave us a lift, but it is still Manchester United and they don't want to give a home game away for free."

'Historic goal'
The visitors struck when Tello exploited the failure of the United defence to close him down and beat Ben Foster with a shot from 30 metres that took a slight deflection off Rafael on its way in. "I got the ball under control and felt I had to shoot and fortunately it went in," said the Chilean midfielder. "It is a historic goal, to win here for a team like Beşiktaş away to a great club like United is very satisfying. The whole team played well and did what we had to do. The key was working hard together, we stayed compact and after getting the first goal, we could have scored a second but had to hold out till the end to win and fortunately we managed to do it."

Qualifying hope
It was Beşiktaş's first UEFA Champions League success outside Istanbul since beating Chelsea FC 2-0 in London in 2003. More significantly, it kept alive their hopes of qualifying for the UEFA Europa League. They are three points behind their final opponents PFC CSKA Moskva, whom they face at the Inönü Stadium next month – a victory better than 2-1 will see them through so long as United fail to win at VfL Wolfsburg. "At home we are quite strong and play well and the fans will be behind us especially after this win. We're going to make it difficult for them," added Tello, whose side became the second Turkish team to end a long unbeaten United home run. Fenerbahçe's 1-0 victory in Manchester on 30 November 1996 was the the Reds' first home loss on the European stage in more than 40 years.