Sir Alex Ferguson unfazed by lost European record

Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson said he was not too worried by his youthful team's defeat by Besiktas.

The 1-0 loss ended a European run of 23 matches unbeaten at Old Trafford and meant they failed to win Group B.

But Ferguson, who made eight changes to the side who beat Everton on Saturday, said: "I think we were a bit anxious but it's not a bad thing.

"They're young and you expect them to make mistakes. It was a strong showing in terms of the flow of the game."

United lost to a long-range Rodrigo Tello strike which was helped on its way past Ben Foster by a Rafael da Silva deflection.

They had long periods of possession but despite two good efforts from Gabriel Obertan, the hosts only came really close to equalising in stoppage time when they had a penalty shout before veteran Besiktas keeper Rustu made two superb saves.

"We've shown some really good things tonight," added Ferguson. "That's encouraging but at the end of the day we just didn't get the result we needed."

The defeat also represents their first of the season at home but the Scot said he would consider using a similar team against Wolfsburg with United needing a point to top the group.

"We'll see how our programme is going at the time but I'd be confident in these players," Ferguson added.

Substitute Patrice Evra was the man who was brought down in the penalty area late on and Ferguson was certain his team should have been rewarded.

"It's a penalty kick - that's two games in a row they have denied us stonewall penalties but what can you do about it?" he said.

"In the second half they (Besiktas) went very defensive, they stopped the game and played out time. It's difficult for young players to understand that, but it's a good experience for them."

Besiktas coach Mustafa Denizli could not hide his delight at securing a precious victory.

He said: "The whole world knows how big a team United is at Old Trafford, so we are very pleased with this result.

"We came here with only one aim, and that was to win as we want to continue our journey in Europe.

"It is a very good night for Besiktas and Turkish football in general. I believe in this team but we need to win our next game in the group as well."

From BBC