Manchester United manager José Mourinho has insisted that there is "no drama" surrounding United's penalty debacle, as Romelu Lukaku, Ander Herrera and Daley Blind battled over The Red Devils' second penalty of the night with a 2-0 win over Benfica.
Players respected my decision
United headed into the clash knowing that three points could possibly send them into the knockout stages of the Europe's elite competition, but were handed a golden opportunity with an early penalty which Anthony Martial missed.
They were handed a golden opportunity once again in the second period when Marcus Rashford went down, it was Lukaku who initially had the ball before having it taken off him by Herrera but it was Blind who eventually had the ball on the spot.
The Dutchman managed to put away the penalty to secure the 2-0 victory, the decision seems confusing as Lukaku now sits on a six-game goalless streak but the manager stated that it was his decision and there is "no drama" behind the situation.
"I don't understand why everyone asks me the same," Mourinho told his post-match press conference. "I'm paid to take decisions, good or bad. In the first half the decision was bad, because the player that I chose to take the penalty missed."
"In the second half I made another decision," the coach stated. "And I don't see the drama, because there is no drama."
"The penalty taker for this match was Martial," the 54-year-old proclaimed. "He took in the first half and missed, he was not even on the pitch for the second penalty, and then I have to make a decision."
"Romelu wants to take, has the personality to take the responsibility," the Portugal national said. "Herrera the same, but my decision, based on what we did in training in the past couple of days, was Blind."
"The players respected my decision," Mourinho added. "And that's it, end of story."
Want to win maximum points
It certainly wasn't another stellar performance from The Red Devils following their narrow win in Portugal, but the own goal from Mile Svilar and Blind's spot kick which put them on the brink of the last 16.
CSKA Moscow's narrow 2-1 win away in Switzerland meant that United will have to wait another matchday to secure their passage, but Mourinho stated that they want to "win the maximum possible points".
"Sometimes a team finishes first and gets an extremely difficult draw against the second team," he said. "And sometimes you finish second and are so lucky to get a team nobody expected to finish first."
"So I really don't know," the manager proclaimed. "What I know is that we want to win the maximum possible points."
"I think it would be nice, the last time Manchester United was in the Champions League," Mourinho concluded. "They finished third and went out of the Champions League, so the year we return it will be nice to do 18 points, so we are going to try."