Sport 24-10-2001 Champions` League: Manchester United Go Through who: Manchester United what: Beat Olympiakos 3-0 in Champions` League Group G where: Old Trafford, MANCHESTER when: Last night snippet: Supersub Ole Gunnar Solskjaer opened the floodgates for Manchester United after a goalless 78 minutes at Old Trafford last night, during which Ruud van Nistelrooy`s penalty kick was stopped by Olympiakos keeper Dimitrios Eleftheropoulos. But in the next ten minutes, switching to a tried-and-tested 4-4-2 formation, the Reds went on to claim an emphatic 3-0 win. Ryan Giggs scored the second, says The Mirror, "latching on to Juan Sebastian Veron`s long-range pass before guiding the ball into the net." And seconds from time, Van Nistelrooy scored the third to make up for his 62nd-minute penalty miss. But in spite of the scoreline, which - thanks to last night`s draw between Lille and La Coruna - takes United into the next group stage of the Champions` League, the newspaper pundits are only cautiously optimistic. "After five defeats in their opening 14 games," points out Steven Howard in The Sun, "the greatest relief for Ferguson will have been the fact that a defence that had leaked 23 goals in those 14 matches actually negotiated this latest 90 minutes without conceding another." "Sir Alex Ferguson might be tempted to mark qualification for the second phase of the Champions League by asking what all the fuss was about," says Matt Dickinson in The Times, "but, even after this victory, he should know that Manchester United remain on probation until greater tests have been met." [... more]

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