Untied romp to Kiev victory
Ronaldo capped the night with a superb fourth goal
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Wednesday, 07, Nov 2007 10:54
Manchester United easily overcame Dynamo Kiev 4-0 at Old Trafford to book themselves a place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
Goals from Gerard Pique, Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo were enough to give United a comfortable win over their group F opponents.
The home side dominated possession and territory all night and well deserved their victory against a lacklustre Kiev side.
Pique was the unlikely source of United's opening goal after he converted Ronaldo's free-kick with 30 minutes played.
The ball ricocheted to the Argentinean after Michael Carrick's header rebounded off Tevez into his path, giving Kiev goalkeeper Olexandr Shovkovskiy little chance from close-range.
United continued to press for a second goal and were rewarded six minutes later when Tevez doubled their lead.
Rooney broke clear down the left flank and cut the ball back to his strike partner who was in the centre of the penalty area and fired his shot into the top corner.
With a 2-0 lead at the break United were forced to substitute goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, who had a foot injury, and replace him with Tomas Kuszczak.
He was called into action quickly as Kiev had their best period of play at the start of the second half, winning a series of corners before United eventually cleared their lines.
But after that Alex Ferguson's men continued to put the visitors' goal under pressure with Luis Nani, Tevez and Carrick all going close before the Red Devils grabbed their third goal.
Nani crossed from the right wing and Rooney slotted home from the centre of the area.
Three minutes from time Ronaldo capped the confident performance with a magnificent goal.
Full-back Patrice Evra set the Portuguese free and he sent a curling a right-footed shot past Shovkovskiy from 18-yards out.