on 3 december, benfica travelled to barreiros to play marítimo. under pressure from the run of poor results, koeman asked his players to give it all to beat maritímo. benfica fended off marítimo attacks, responding with a goal through mantorras in the 86th minute and winning for the first time since 26 october. four days later, benfica hosted manchester united for the last match of the group stage. united's paul scholes scored first but ten minutes later, geovanni equalized 1–1 and in the 34th minute, beto fired a shot from outside the box to make it 2–1. the result was unchanged and benfica qualified in second for the knockout stages for the first time since 1994–95. on 11 december, benfica played boavista at home. anderson scored for benfica off a corner-kick from petit; the only goal of the game. koeman was happy with the win, saying, "we played well, as did the fans, who supported us. like this, it is very difficult to beat us." on 17 december, benfica continued their winning run, beating nacional 1–0 with a goal from nuno gomes. the goal was controversial because of an alleged infraction of luisão over diego benaglio prior to the goal. koeman said, "i agree that it should have been signalled, like it should have been in many other instances". benfica ended 2005 with an away visit to the estádio do bonfim. they struggled to beat vitória de setúbal's goalkeeper marcelo moretto throughout the game, only securing the win in the 90th minute through nuno gomes. the win was benfica's fifth in december; enough to place them third in the league table just before the christmas break.