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Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, right, is congratulated by teammates Cristiano Ronaldo, centre, and Ruud van Nistelrooy after scoring the opening goal against Debrecen of Hungary during their Champions League third qualifying round first leg soccer match at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England, Tuesday Aug. 9. (AP)
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Manchester United's 3-0 victory over Hungarian champion Debrecen in a Champions League qualifier Tuesday put Malcolm Glazer's club in a commanding position to reach the main stage of Europe's top club tournament.
The second-leg games are in two weeks' time with the winners advancing to the group stage of thelucrativesoccer competition.
In the five other third-round, first-leg games, it was Glasgow Rangers 2, Anorthosis 1; Wisla Krakow 3, Panathinaikos 1; Valerenga 1, FC Brugge 0; and Villarreal 2, Everton 1, and Real Betis 1, Monaco 0.
Wayne Rooney gave United a 1-0 lead after only seven minutes, then set up Ruud van Nistelrooy with the second goal in the 49th. Again it was Rooney, this time passing to Cristiano Ronaldo, who made it 3-0 in the 63rd.
"We played really well, we didn't give anything away," van Nistelrooy said. "We kept it very solid as a team. We attacked as a team and defended as a team. We didn't give them many chances."
The three sons of Malcolm Glazer — Joel, Avi and Bryan — were at Old Trafford for the Reds' first competitive game under the American's ownership.
Several hundred fans demonstrated outside the 67,500-seat stadium. No incidents were reported, but about 16,000 empty seats greeted the new owners.
(Agencies)
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Updated: 2005-08-10 09:05
