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Manchester United's Wayne Rooney jumps
to reach the ball during their Champions League Group F soccer match
against Dynamo Kiev in Manchester, northern England, Nov. 7, 2007.
(Xinhua/Reuters Photo) Photo
Gallery>>> |
LONDON, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- Manchester United routed
Dynamo Kiev 4-0 for their fourth successive victory in Group F to make the
knockout stage of the UEFA Champions League on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old defender Gerard
Pique opened the scoring for the United, Carlos Tevez and Wayne Rooney put the
result beyond doubt, and Cristiano Ronaldo added the fourth with an individual
goal.
Manager Alex Ferguson gave several of his senior
players a rest but United still had too much for Ukrainian opponents still
without a point.
Kiev usually put nine players behind the ball to put
pressure upon the United. However, things changed in the 31st minute when a free
kick from Ronaldo was headed against Tevez and bounced up for Pique to nod home.
Six minutes later Tevez doubled the lead through a
one-two with Rooney before easily beating goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy.
Kiev's acting coach, former Arsenal player Oleg
Luzhniy, made two changes at halftime. After Tevez missed a couple of chances
and Daniel Simpson was denied a goal on his European debut, Rooney scored the
third 14 minutes from time. Ronaldo then went one better in the 88th.
In Lisbon, Anderson Polga of Sporting deflected a
shot by AS Roma midfielder David Pizarro into his own net with a minute to go
for a 2-2 draw.
The Portuguese side has four points from four games,
three points less than the Italians. Manchester United, who have qualified, lead
the group on a maximum 12 points.
Marco Cassetti gave Roma a fourth-minute lead when he
hit a drive into the top far corner for his first goal in the competition.
Sporting closed to equalize in the 12th minute when
Roma's Brazilian keeper Doni parried a shot by defender Abel but appeared to
allow the ball to slip from his grasp over the line.
However Belgian referee Frank de Bleeckere disallowed
the goal for a foul by striker Liedson on Doni.
Sporting pulled level 10 minutes later when Doni
collided with Roma defender Philippe Mexes, leaving Liedson to tap in the loose
ball.
Brazilian Liedson put Sporting ahead with a header in
the 64th minute, and Pizarro's 89th-minute shot, which Tiago had covered, went
inside the keeper's left-hand post when Anderson Polga miscued his attempt at a
headed clearance.
"We didn't have even a little bit of luck," Sporting
coach Paulo Bento said. "We suffered a goal that could have been avoided.
"We controlled the game and didn't allow Roma to create chances. We turned the match around and unexpectedly suffered the equalizer at a time when it was difficult to react."
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