United and Bayern on course

Old Trafford was the place to be for UEFA Champions League goals as Manchester United FC thumped FC Nantes Atlantique 5-1 to open up a clear lead at the top of Group A with FC Bayern München after they accounted for Boavista FC in Germany.

Unenviable task
Ruud van Nistelrooij's last-gasp penalty last week left Nantes with the unenviable task of wanting a win in Manchester on Tuesday to keep their Group A hopes alive. The French champions looked on course to do so when Frédéric da Rocha tucked home a Pierre-Yves André cross after 17 minutes.

Beckham free-kick
From the restart, however, United launched an attack and won a free-kick 20 metres from goal. David Beckham stepped up and elegantly curled the ball into the top right-hand corner of Mickaël Landreau's net. The goal sparked the Group A leaders into life and Ole Gunnar Solskjær, who also scored the fifth goal in the 78th minute, put United 2-1 ahead with a goal on his 29th birthday.

Bullet header
Sir Alex Ferguson's side looked well on course to secure maximum points after Mickaël Silvestre's close-range header rocketed high into the Nantes net in the 38th minute to send United in leading 3-1 at the break. The 1999 European champions eased off after the break but made it 4-1 in the 64th minute when Van Nistelrooij was felled in the area and got up to smash the resulting penalty into the Nantes net.

Santa Cruz winner
United and Bayern now appear certain to reach the last eight after the European champions defeated Boavista 1-0 at the Olympiastadion. Both sides created chances in the first half, with Martelinho causing the Bayern defence numerous problems. The German side dominated the second period though, and got their reward with a little less than ten minutes remaining when Roque Santa Cruz headed home a fine Bixente Lizarazu centre.

United top
United top Group A with eight points from four matches, the same as Bayern but with a superior goal difference. Boavista are third with four points but, like bottom club Nantes, look to be playing only for pride in the remaining two matches.
 
Splendid Roma victory
AS Roma blew Group B wide open with a splendid 3-0 defeat of previous leaders FC Barcelona at the Olimpico stadium. Fabio Capello's side moved to the top of the section, a point clear of Barça, after three second-half goals gave them their first win of the second group stage after draws in their three previous games.

Element of fortune
There was an element of fortune about the opening goal in the 61st minute. Emerson da Rosa did not know too much about it when Vincent Candela's strike hit him and flew into the Barcelona net. If the opening goal was fortunate, the clincher certainly owed nothing to luck. Vinenzo Montella collected the ball in the 74th minute, spun brilliantly and flashed the ball past José Reina in the visitors' net. Substitute Damiano Tomassi put the icing on an outstanding win with a third in added time.

Istanbul draw
Galatasaray SK and Liverpool FC remain third and fourth, with four and three points respectively, after a 1-1 draw in the Ali Sami Yen stadium. The Turkish league leaders opened the scoring on 71 minutes through Romanian striker Radu Niculescu but the English side, four-time European Champions Clubs' Cup winners, drew level eight minutes later. Emile Heskey silenced the partisan crowd when expertly firing home a pass from second-half substitute Jari Litmanen to maintain Liverpool's hopes of progressing to the quarter-finals.