United and Arsenal in cruise control

PARIS: Manchester United and Arsenal are within touching distance of the Champions League knock-out stages after maintaining their perfect starts in the group phase.

United ground out a highly impressive 4-2 victory at Dynamo Kiev while Arsenal turned on the turbo as it blitzed Slavia Prague 7-0.

United was off to a dream start courtesy of England center-back Rio Ferdinand's second goal in successive games and just eight minutes later England striker Wayne Rooney continued his recent purple patch, notching his seventh goal in his last six matches.

United seemed to be in cruise control but it let the hosts back into the match on 34 minutes as Diogo Rincon converted Carlos Correa's corner with a bullet header, although United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar was fuming that the Brazilian striker was left totally unmarked in the penalty box.

Still the hope did not last long for Dynamo as a quick break down the left four minutes from the break saw Ryan Giggs cross for an unmarked Cristiano Ronaldo to head United back into a two-goal lead.

It was more of the same in the second period with Ronaldo notching his second from the penalty spot before Ismael Bangoura's late consolation.

"We are very pleased with the result," said United manager Sir Alex Ferguson.

"It gives us nine points from three wins and puts us in a strong position.

"With the likes of Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs and (Carlos) Terez all back in form and fit, we have plenty of ammunition in attack for the next few games."

Roma beat Sporting 2-1 in the other Group F match, taking the lead through Juan on 15 minutes before Liedson's 18th minute leveller. Mirko Vucinic fired the winner on 69 minutes for the Romans.

It means United needs just four points from its final three games to ensure progress to the second round.

In London Arsenal put in 60 minutes of fantasy football to kill the contest.

Cesc Fabregas curled in a sumptuous strike on five minutes past Martin Vaniak in the Slavia goal.

On 25 minutes Belarus midfielder Alexander Hleb prodded home a scrappy second and just before the break teenager Theo Walcott was gifted a third after a woeful goal-kick from Vaniak left him with an open goal.

Any hopes of a comeback from Slavia were extinguished within 10 minutes of the restart as first Hleb and then Walcott added stunning second goals.

Not to be outdone, Fabregas added his second on 58 minutes after a sweeping move that carried the length of the field and, inevitably, involved Hleb and Walcott, the midfield three simply tearing the visitors apart.

There was still time, though, for Danish forward Nicklas Brendtner to add a magnificent seventh to equal the biggest- ever Champions League victory - Juventus also beat Olympiakos 7-0 in 2003.

"What I liked is we played a good tempo," said Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who turned 58 on Monday. "At 3-0 we could have killed the game but we kept going. It is a joy to watch.

"We were very creative and you could see we enjoy what we do. There is a happiness in the team. They want to play together.

"But I still think there is more to come from this team because they are all very young players. Everybody is still improving."

Sevilla beat Steaua Bucharest 2-1 in the other match to move second in the group, three points behind Arsenal and three ahead of Slavia.

Early goals from Frederic Kanoute and Luis Fabiano put them in the box seat before Ovidiu Petre pulled one back for Steaua after the break.

In Group G, Inter Milan went top of the table after a come-from-behind 2-1 victory at CSKA Moscow.

Brazilian striker Joao gave the hosts the lead on 32 minutes with a lob over Inter's Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar. But seven minutes after the break Argentina forward Hernan Crespo equalized from close range.

His international defensive teammate Walter Samuel snatched the spoils 10 minutes from time, heading home a Luis Figo free kick.

"It was a really difficult match," Inter coach Roberto Mancini said. "CSKA played very well in the first half, while we had certain problems.

"Luckily after the break we managed to increase productivity and changed things for the better."

Fenerbahce and PSV Eindohoven played out a 0-0 draw in Istanbul, leaving the Turks a point behind Inter on five with PSV one more point behind that.

In Group E it was honors even at Ibrox as Rangers and Barcelona played out a 0-0 draw, leaving them both on seven points from three games.

Lyon gave itself a lifeline as it won 2-0 at Stuttgart with goals from Fabio Dos Santos and Karim Benzema, handing them their first Champions League points of the season and hope of catching one of the top two ahead of the knock-out stages.

AFP

(China Daily 10/25/2007 page24)