United in control at old Trafford

Manchester Utd 2 Sparta Prague 0

Ruud van Nistelrooy added another brace to his incredible European goals collection as Manchester United put their Premiership woes behind them at Old Trafford.

Having scored just 11 times in the league this season, United’s ailing strikeforce was badly in need of a boost and Jiri Homola provided it after 13 minutes when he played a backpass straight to Van Nistelrooy on the edge of the area.

The prolific Dutchman wasted no time in slotting the ball home and then calmly tucked home a penalty after Paul Scholes had been fouled in the box to take his United European goals tally to 33 in just 36 matches.