Champions League: United leave it late to win

Manchester United 3, Olympiakos 0

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer came off the bench to make the decisive breakthrough, 11 minutes from time, against Olympiakos.

Until that moment, Olympiakos thought they might hold out for an unlikely Champions League point against Manchester United. Ruud van Nistelrooy had missed a penalty and Juan Sebastian Veron had seen a 30-yard free-kick come off the inside of a post.

But then Solskjaer's goal killed off Olympiakos and in stoppage time stand-in skipper Ryan Giggs and van Nistelrooy scored. Lille had only managed to draw 1-1 with Deportivo La Coruna, so United had qualified for the second phase.

United had had to do without skipper Roy Keane and his knee injury handed Nicky Butt his first Champions League start of the season. The Reds had not lost three consecutive home matches since 1962-63 and Ferguson made six changes in a bid to make sure the current side did not match that inglorious achievement.

Ferguson brought back all his big hitters to face Olympiakos who had lost all 15 of their previous away matches in the Champions League.

United nearly scored after just seven minutes when Olympiakos goalkeeper Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos parried van Nistelrooy's header and the covering Christos Kontis thwarted Paul Scholes on the line as he attempted to convert the rebound. David Beckham then picked out Veron with a cross and the Argentinian international deftly lifted the ball over the covering defender before unleashing a volley which was pushed away by Eleftheropoulos.

But then after 24 minutes United's error-prone defence blundered again to present Olympiakos with the best chance of the first half. The Reds backline stopped and appealed for offside against Alexios Alexandris from Stylianos Giannakopoulos's ball over the top, but the Olympiakos skipper had timed his run perfectly. With only Fabien Barthez to beat, Alexandris was just about to pull the trigger when Laurent Blanc got back to make a fantastic challenge.

Olympiakos made a tactical change at half-time and they took off right-back Dimitrios Mavrogenidis and pushed substitute Ilias Poursanidis forward into midfield. The switch almost brought them a goal after 51 minutes when Poursanidis shot just inches past Barthez's right-hand post.

Back came United and the hard-working van Nistelrooy turned Georgios Amanatidis beautifully in the area and hit a shot which Eleftheropoulos saved with his legs at the expense of a corner.

But then in the 64th minute came the moment van Nistelrooy will want to forget. Giggs found Beckham who crossed to van Nistelrooy at the back post. The Dutch international was fouled as he controlled the ball and just to make sure it was a penalty, Kontis handled his shot.

Van Nistelrooy picked himself up and placed the ball on the spot only for Eleftheropoulos to save his penalty, diving to his right.

United increased the pressure and Veron saw a 30-yard free-kick come off the inside of a post.

Then just when it seemed that it was not going to be United's night, Solskjaer latched on to van Nistelrooy's pass to ram the ball into the roof of the net from close range. Olympiakos were finished and Giggs and van Nistelrooy scored in stoppage time, both from Veron passes.