Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over Hungarian champion Debrecen in a Champions League qualifier on Tuesday put Malcolm Glazer’s club in a commanding position to reach the main stage of Europe’s number-one club tournament.
The second-leg games are in two weeks’ time with the winners advancing to the group stage of the lucrative event.
In the five other third-round, first-leg games Tuesday it was, Glasgow Rangers 2, Anorthosis 1; Wisla Krakow 3, Panathinaikos 1; Valerenga 1, FC Brugge 0; and Villarreal 2, Everton 1.
In a late game, Monaco played at Spain’s Real Betis.
Wayne Rooney gave United a 1-0 lead after only seven minutes, and then set up Ruud van Nistelrooy with the second goal in the 49th. Again it was Rooney, passing to Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portugal international 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.
On a visit in June shortly after Glazer took control of the club in his $1,47-billion takeover, the three brothers needed a police escort from the stadium.
Bryan Glazer was forced to defend his father when a group of fans broke into a VIP area after a victory over Beijing Hyundai on a recent tour of Asia.
Everton, the second of three British teams playing on Tuesday, trail 2-1 going into the second leg at Spain’s Villarreal on 24 August.
Villarreal, that finished third in Spain last season behind Barcelona and Real Madrid, had first-half goals at Goodison Park from Luciano Figueroa (27th) and Josico Moreno (45th). Everton striker James Beattie pulled one back for the English club in the 42nd.
The third British club, Glasgow Rangers, are in good shape after a 2-1 win at Cypriot side Anorthosis. Nacho Novo (65th) and Fernando Ricksen (70th) scored for Rangers, with Nikos Frousos scoring in the 73rd for the Cypriots.
At Oslo, Norway, Steffen Iversen scored in the 57th to give Valerenga a 1-0 win over FC Brugge. Iversen, who scored twice against Swedish side Djurgarden in the first qualifying round, beat Brugge goalkeeper Tomislav Butina with a near-post shot.
Polish side Wisla Krakow are in good shape going into the second leg in Greece following a 3-1 win over Panathinaikos. Emmanuel Olisadebe gave the Greeks a 1-0 lead after only four minutes, but the Polish side rallied with goals from Pawel Brozek (12th), Kalu Uche (52nd) and Tomasz Frankowski (70th).
Ten matches are set for Wednesday, it is: Anderlecht vs Slavia Prague; Artmedia Bratislava vs Partizan Belgrade; Basel vs Werder Bremen; Brondby vs Ajax; CSKA Sofia vs Liverpool; Rapid Vienna vs Lokomotiv Moscow; Malmo vs FC Thun; Shakhtar Donetsk vs Inter Milan; Steaua Bucharest vs Rosenborg; Sporting Lisbon vs Udinese. – Sapa-AP