Manchester United recovered from their recent Premiership embarrassments to emerge comprehensive 3-0 win over Boavista at Old Trafford this evening to keep their Champions League hopes alive going into the Winter break. Ruud van Nistelrooy opened the scoring for the home side after 31 minutes when Phil Neville centred from the right and the £19million striker turned the ball home from around eight yards out.
Despite the relegation of David Beckham to the bench and Ryan Giggs' continuing absence, United looked much comfortable as a unit, and with Gary Neville joining Laurent Blanc at the heart of United's defence and Dwight Yorke starting alongside van Nistelrooy, the Reds were well worth their win. They added the second on 55 minutes when the much-maligned Blanc scored his second goal for the club. Veron, who was taking the corners in Beckham's absence, swung one over from the right and Blanc rose unchallenged to head the ball into the bottom corner.
Alex Ferguson's side made sure of the victory that maintains their unbeaten run in the second phase when they added a third on 62 minutes. Yorke broke from deep and played the ball into van Nistelrooy in the right-hand channel and he slotted it home past Ricardo into the far corner.
Waterford's rising young centre back John O'Shea was introduced for Gary Neville in the final quarter.
In the group’s other game tonight, Bayern Munich join United on four points following their 1-0 victory over Nantes in France. England’s Owen Hargreaves provided the cross from which Paulo Sergio headed the winning goal on 65 minutes to go level on points with United at the top of Group A.
Filed by Shane Murray
