Man Utd cruises into Champions League last 16

Manchester United qualified for the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League after crushing Bayer Leverkusen 5-0 at the BayArena last night, also ending their 15 match winning streak at the stadium.

The Red Devils were comfortable right from the start as Nani had the first shot in the 16th minute from outside the box but it curled off target.

Five minutes later Stefan Kiessling found himself with the ball in a good position for Bayer, but Jonny Evans made the block at the right time.

Just moments later United surged ahead. Shinji Kagawa picked up the ball from deep and passed it to Ryan Giggs, who then released Wayne Rooney on the left for the striker to send in a cross for Antonio Valencia to slot in from close range.

They doubled their advantage just eight minutes later as Rooney's free kick was nodded into his own net by Leverkusen defender Emir Spahic.

Leverkusen improved after conceding the second, with Stefan Reinartz hitting the post and David De Gea denying Spahic with the follow up.

But the excellent Jonny Evans put any hopes of a comeback to bed, finishing from close range after the hosts failed to clear a corner.

Chris Smalling made it 4-0 13 minutes from time with an easy finish after latching onto Rooney's pass and Nani completed the rout in the 88th minute with a wonderful clipped effort over Leno from a tight angle.

the Red Devils are qualified but, following Shakhtar Donetsk’s win over Real Sociedad, they must avoid defeat at home to the Ukrainians to win the group. Incredibly, Leverkusen can still go through if they beat Sociedad and Shakhtar lose at Old Trafford.

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Manchester City 4-2 Viktoria Plzen

Alvaro Negredo and Edin Dzeko scored in the final 12 minutes to earn Manchester City a 4-2 victory over Viktoria Plzen in the Champions League on Wednesday, keeping alive the English team's slim hopes of finishing top of Group D.

Sergio Aguero scored the opener after Manchester City were awarded a penalty. The Argentine scored from the spotkick in the 33rd minute after handball decision went against Frantisek Rajtoral.

The lead didn’t last too long for City as Tomas Horava scored in the 43rd minute with his right footed shot from outside the box to bring the score level.

Samir Nasri put City back in front, but Plzen levelled for a second time in a frantic encounter when Stanislav Teci fired home.

Negredo put City in front for a third time when he finished from close range and Dzeko sealed the points at the death as City took their tally to 22 goals in their last four home games.

The result kept City three points behind Bayern Munich ahead of their meeting in Germany in two weeks. Having already lost 3-1 at home to the reigning champions, Manuel Pellegrini's men will need to win 3-0 or by a two-goal margin if they score four or more times.


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