On a night when Manchester United's youth took centre stage it was Old Trafford's elder statesman who bore responsibility for their Champions League defeat in La Coruna.

Laurent Blanc's first-team appearances are surely coming to an end after the 37-year-old Frenchman found himself badly outpaced in the build-up to Deportivo's opening goal.

Although the importance of the game could be measured by Sir Alex Ferguson's decision to spend most of the pre-match build-up watching potential quarter-final opponents Real Madrid squeeze into the last eight, the wily Scot must be aware that matching Blanc up with the likes of Raul and Ronaldo would be a suicidal act.

Blanc's ageing legs looked as though they were plodding through quicksand after 31 minutes when Albert Luque sped past him to the by-line where he cut a cross back which Victor tapped home.

Debutant Mark Lynch found himself in the wrong place at the wrong time three minutes after the break when he marred an encouraging performance by turning Victor's cross into his own net to bring United's record of one defeat in 23 Champions League encounters to an end.

A late booking for Phil Neville, which rules him out of the first leg of next month's knock-out tie, cast another black mark on an evening when Ferguson will have learned plenty about his youngsters and given a final realisation that Blanc's illustrious career must be brought to a close.

Ferguson prefers to call the kind of weakened team he selected tonight 'experimental' and not only was he prepared to name four men who had not started more than one game for the club, he also decided to trial a three-man defensive formation.

It only lasted until the interval but until that time, one of the newcomers, Lee Roche, was particularly impressive and John O'Shea looked good as usual, it was just a pity Blanc stood between them.

The veteran Frenchman could easily have been sent off for a blatant tug which prevented Juan Carlos Valeron from breaking into the penalty area.

It was certainly clear enough for the disbelieving Deportivo fans behind the United goal but not for referee Vladimir Hrinak, who waved play on and got his reward with a chorus of derision as he made his way down the tunnel at the interval.

Blanc has been one of the game's most cultured defenders yet his arrival at Old Trafford towards the end of his career has never truly been explained.

His removal from the side this season has resulted in a defensive transformation which now sees United boast the least goals conceded in the Premiership and the way Luque left the 37-year-old for dead to set up Deportivo's opener emphasised his obvious weakness - a desperate lack of pace.

While that setback was not of catastrophic proportions, it did present United with an added problem and though Ryan Giggs - the only member of the starting line-up to begin the Worthington Cup final earlier this month - worked hard, he never really looked like cutting the home defence apart as he did Juventus three weeks ago.

Before the draw with Basle six days ago, Ferguson expressed his fear that a lack of squad depth could cause problems in the run-in yet even with an inexperienced side, the half-time introduction of Michael Stewart brought the international contingent to eight.

The likes of Darren Fletcher and, on tonight's evidence, Lynch are surely destined to join them in the forthcoming years and will no doubt have to overcome plenty of adversity along the way, so this evening's sobering experience will stand them in good stead.

Just as he done on his debut against Basle, Fletcher enthusiastically looked for the ball every time the visitors had possession.

He should have had a goal though when Giggs found room on the right and patiently waited for the young Scot to arrive before teeing him up with an excellent cut-back, only for Cesar to clear the first-time shot off the line.

With his excellent first-touch and extraordinary vision, Fletcher once again impressed and he repaid the compliment to Giggs on United's next attack, finding the Welshman inside the area only for his instant turn and shot to crash back off the base of a post.

It was the closest United came and it was Giggs' last meaningful contribution as Kieran Richardson and Danny Webber were introduced for another valuable lesson in their footballing education.

Teams

D Coruna: Mallo, Manuel Pablo, Andrade (Djorovic 64), Cesar, Capdevila, Victor (Hector 77), Duscher, Acuna, Fran (Scaloni 52), Valeron, Luque.

Subs Not Used: Juanmi, Romero, Tristan, Sergio.

Booked: Acuna.

Goals: Victor 32, Lynch 47 og.

Man Utd: Ricardo, Lynch, Roche (Stewart 46), Blanc, O'Shea, Pugh, Fletcher, Phil Neville, Butt, Forlan (Richardson 72), Giggs (Webber 72).

Subs Not Used: Carroll, May, Davis, Nardiello.

Booked: Phil Neville.

Att: 25,000

Ref: H Vladimir (Slovakia).