By Kang Seung-woo
Staff Reporter
A late surge powered Manchester United to a 3-2 come-from-behind win over FC Seoul in Seoul, Friday.
In the third match of their Asian Tour, Alex Ferguson's side allowed the K-League outfit to jump out of the gate first and trailed until early in the second half, but back-to-back goals by Federico Macheda and Dimitar Berbatov in the second half saved United from tasting their first loss in the Asian Tour.
The three-time defending English Premier League (EPL) champions defeated Malaysia XI twice in their previous Tour outings.
However, local icon Park Ji-sung ― who was ruled out in the two teams' first meeting in 2007 due to knee surgery and had not trained with the team after his World Cup qualifying commitments ― was not given much playing time in front of a sellout crowd of 65,000, staying on the field for about 20 minutes.
Seoul looked as it if it might avenge Man Utd's 4-0 romp in 2007 until early in the second half, but could not contain United's open attacking offence to the end.
Despite expectations that Manchester would toy with Seoul, United struggled to click into gear against the home side, whose defensive prowess was on full display.
In addition, the league-leading Seoul challenged United midway through the first half and it paid off in the 23rd minute.
Midfielder Kim Seung-yong's perfectly-weighted pass hit Dejan Damjanovic of Montenegro, who poked the ball directly past United goalie Tomasz Kuszczak to put his side ahead.
English striker Wayne Rooney put a damper on Seoul's early winning mood seven minutes later.
Irish defender John O'Shea sent in a cross on the right wing and Rooney was the first to react to it, heading it home inside the box.
In stoppage time, the Montenegrin striker found the target again.
A through-pass by Lee Seung-yeoul came to the striker, who circled to the right, and flicked the ball into the net.
Entering the second half, Manchester found its rhythm.
Thirteen minutes into the second half, Rooney played a ball behind the half line for Macheda, who ran up the middle and evaded the goalie before rifling the ball into the net.
And seven minutes later, Darron Gibson lofted an easy cross that substitute Berbatov, who was standing alone in front of goal, nodded home to put his side in front for good.
United will wrap up its Tour in Hangzhou, China Sunday with a match against Hangzhou Greentown.