Understrength United humbled

Maccabi Haifa 3 Manchester United 0

Yaniv Katan put the home side in front with a bullet strike before the interval and, after Diego Forlan had struck the crossbar, Raimondas Zutauttas repeated the feat after 56 minutes. United battled hard but Yakubu Ayegbeni completed their misery when he tucked home a penalty after Ricardo had brought down Zutauttas.

The vastly understrength visitors had produced an encouraging display, with Paul Scholes going close before Katan took advantage of Maccabi Haifa’s best spell of the half, lashing home from 25 yards four minutes before the interval.