Ruud van Nistelrooy struck twice in six minutes to salvage a 2-2 draw for Manchester United against Olympique Lyon in the Champions League in Lyon on Wednesday and set a 30-goal European scoring record for his club.
The Red Devils were 2-0 down at the interval in the Group D game after Lyon, who dominated for most of the first half, went 2-0 up with goals in by Brazilian defender Cris in the 35th minute and striker Pierre-Alain Frau just before halftime.
The French champions looked poised for a comfortable victory but Van Nistelrooy, who came back from injury at the weekend, had other ideas with goals in the 56th and 61st.
The Dutchman, who began the match equal with Dennis Law on 28 European goals for United, rose superbly above Cris to head Cristiano Ronaldo's cross for his first goal of the season.
Van Nistelrooy struck again when he latched on to a deflected shot from Ronaldo to steer the ball past goalkeeper Gregory Coupet from close range.
"We proved that you can never count us out," said Manchester United defender Gabriel Heinze. "There are outstanding players in this team.
"It's rather a good result for us as Lyon played pretty well throughout the match. They gave us a lot of trouble before the break. But eventually we managed to bounce back.
"Taking one point here, against a very good side, is not bad at all."
Manager Alex Ferguson told Sky Sports: "Goals change games and Van Nistelrooy changed the game for us."
Fenerbahce of Turkey beat Sparta Prague 1-0 at home in Wednesday's other Group D match.
HOWARD BLUNDER
Lyon coach Paul Le Guen opted for a strong attacking side with four strikers to start the match and his strategy proved right from the opening minutes.
Goalkeeper Tim Howard, who Ferguson had considered dropping because of his poor domestic form but then selected, made two good clearances from Florent Malouda and Claudio Cacapa before his blunder in the 35th minute let in Lyon.
Howard spilt a low free kick by Brazilian midfielder Juninho from 30 metres and Cris pounced to stab it home.
Lyon made it 2-0 one minute from halftime when former Arsenal winger Sylvain Wiltord split the defence and striker Pierre-Alain Frau raced through on the right to shoot with the outside of his right foot into the far top corner.
The French champions never really recovered from Van Nistelrooy's double blow even though former England striker Paul Scholes saved United when he blocked a late shot on the line to follow his headed clearance in the first half.
