|
 |
| Left: Manchester United's Ruud van Nistelrooy
celebrates scoring against Olympique Lyon. Right: Sir Alex Ferguson salutes
the crowd after beating Olympique Lyon in their Champions League
Group D soccer match at Old Trafford, November 23, 2004.
[Reuters] |
Manchester
United and Bayern Munich advanced to the first knockout round
of the Champions League while Raul scored an historic goal for
Real Madrid to save his side from a home defeat on Tuesday.
Manchester United beat Olympique Lyon 2-1 at Old Trafford to give
manager Alex Ferguson a winning night to remember in his 1,000th match in
charge of the club.
Both teams have qualified from Group D with Fenerbahce's 1-0 win at
Sparta Prague in the same group sealing their consolation spot in the UEFA
Cup.
United went ahead after 19 minutes at Old Trafford when defender Gary
Neville ended a scramble in the Lyon goalmouth with a crashing drive into the
net.
Lyon replied when Mahamadou Diarra's long-range shot was fumbled by keeper Roy Carroll five minutes
before the break.
But Ferguson's side sealed the win after 53 minutes when Ruud van
Nistelrooy headed home his 36th Champions League goal for United. In all
the Dutchman has now scored 45 Champions League goals -- nine for PSV
Eindhoven earlier in his career -- taking him just one behind third-placed
Eusebio (46 goals in 65 matches for Benfica) in the all-time list of
scorers.
 In Madrid, Raul pulled level with Real legend Alfredo Di Stefano
in first place in the all-time list when he equalised in the 70th minute
of their Group B match against Bayer Leverkusen.
It has taken Raul 94 games to achieve his total - Di Stefano did it in
58 games between 1955 and 1964 -- and the current Real favourite could
well have more than one match to break the record this season after
Tuesday's draw.
With Dynamo Kiev beating AS Roma 2-0 at home in wintry Kiev in the same group, they have
moved on to 10 points from five games. Real and Leverkusen have eight
points with AS Roma eliminated from Europe this season on one.
The outcome of the group all depends on the last round of games in
which Leverkusen host Dynamo on December 8, the same night Real travel to
Rome. If Real win they will go through on 11 points because either Kiev or
Leverkusen are certain to finish with fewer points.
 Bayern Munich have no need take UEFA's course in mathematical
theory to know they have advanced already. Their 5-1 win over Maccabi Tel
Aviv means they are through to the last 16 as Group C runners-up behind
Juventus.
Juve chalked up their fifth successive 1-0 win in the group over Ajax
Amsterdam in front of just 6,865 fans in Turin leaving Ajax and Maccabi,
who are both on three points, scrambling for the UEFA Cup spot.
Ajax are at home to Bayern in their last match, while Maccabi host
Juventus. If they both finish with the same number of points Ajax will go
into the UEFA Cup as they have a better head-to-head record against
Maccabi.
(Agencies) | 
Updated: 2004-11-24 09:38