Man Utd 'must win next game'

Barthez (left) and Brown rue their costly errors

Sir Alex Ferguson has made it clear that Manchester United must win their next game in the Champions League after losing 3-2 to Deportivo La Coruna.

Two mistakes by United goalkeeper Fabien Barthez in misunderstandings with defender Wes Brown gifted the Spanish league leaders their winning goals at Old Trafford.

And Ferguson now knows that a victory at home to Olympiakos on Tuesday 23 October will be vital for United's hopes of progressing to the second phase.

"The (Barthez) mistake was obvious," Ferguson said. "It gave them a great advantage.

Sometimes even the best players can make bad errors

Sir Alex Ferguson

"But we did create chances towards the end and played some fantastic football against a very good team. It was a fantastic game.

"As normal we make things difficult for ourselves and our next game against Olympiakos has now got to be won."

But Ferguson defended Barthez.

He said: "We had a couple of bad errors and sometimes even the best players can do these things and it's unfortunate. I think he slipped and that was basically it."

Andy Cole missed a golden opportunity to bring United back on level terms in the last five minutes when he headed wide from six yards out.

But a philosophical Ferguson added: "I enjoyed watching it. Players playing at the highest level - that's the test. That's why we're in Europe and we always look forward to a true test.

To come away and score three goals is a great achievement

Javier Irureta
Deportivo coach

"Deportivo are a very experienced side and very economical with their effort in terms of their build-up, they know where to play and pass the ball very well."

Ferguson was full of praise for Ruud van Nistelrooy, who broke his Champions League duck and scored both of United's goals.

"It was a fantastic performance by Ruud and he could have scored a hat-trick at the end and we could easily have scored a few more goals in the match.

"At both ends of the pitch there was some marvellous play and obviously both teams were better attacking than defending.

Deportivo's victory, which completed a double over United, took them to the top of Group G with eight points.

Coach Javier Irureta said: "What I said to the players was congratulations and to come away and score three goals is a great achievement.

'Hard battle'

"What really struck me was the way the two teams have tried to play attacking football and both wanted to win.

"The whole game concentrated itself in midfield. We created great angles for our play and it was a hard battle."

Despite United suffering their second loss in four games, they can still qualify next week if they beat Olympiakos and Deportivo beat Lille.

United are two points behind Deportivo, and two points clear of Olympiakos and Lille.

Olympiakos beat Lille 2-1 in Greece on Wednesday. Manchester United would have slipped to third in the group had that game gone the other way.