LISBON (Reuters) - French striker Louis Saha scored a spectacular winner to give Manchester United a 1-0 revenge victory over Benfica in Champions League Group F on Tuesday.

Saha settled a scruffy game on the hour when he cut in from the right to drive in a powerful shot.

Victory gave United a maximum six points from two matches and made up for a 2-1 defeat by Benfica at the Luz stadium last season which knocked Sir Alex Ferguson's men out of the competition.

Benfica are third on one point, with Celtic second on three after they beat FC Copenhagen 1-0 in Glasgow.

It was not a classic performance by the visitors but, after failing to win an away game in the competition for almost three years, manager Ferguson was in no mood to complain.

"I think it was a good performance by us. We showed some good pace in our game," he said.

"I thought we improved tremendously in the second half. The goal was obviously the highlight of the match - it was a magnificent strike by Louis."

The first half was a tale of misplaced passes and poor control.

Saha failed to snap up the rebound after a shot by Cristiano Ronaldo was parried by Benfica keeper Quimm while at the other end Benfica striker Nuno Gomes collected a neat pass from Paulo Jorge and with only keeper Edwin van der Sar to beat, saw his shot shave the right post.

United were more organised after the break but, apart from Saha's impressive contribution, rarely threatened.

The nearest they came to a second was four minutes from time when Quimm made an athletic triple save to deny Gabriel Heinze, Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick.

Benfica captain Simao Sabrosa said: "In the second half we could not keep up the same level as the first and got caught on the counter attack."