Manchester
United kicked off their Champions League campaign
with a 5-2 win over Maccabi Haifa, while Newcastle
went down 2-0 at Dynamo Kiev.
Maccabi,
playing in their first ever Champions League game,
stunned Old Trafford by taking the lead after just
eight minutes through Yavin Katan. But United hit
back through Ryan Giggs just two minutes later and
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer on 25 minutes to lead 2-1 at
the break.
Juan Veron grabbed the third just 22 seconds into
the second half and Ruud van Nistelrooy made it four
on 54 minutes.
Maccabi grabbed another on 85 minutes through substitute
Rafi Cohen. But Diego Forlan capped an emphatic win
for United - finally scoring his first goal for the
club in his 27th appearance - from the penalty spot
after David Beckham had been fouled in the area.
However, Newcastle's European campaign did not begin
so well, going down to a 2-0 defeat at the Olympic
Stadium in Kiev - despite dominating the majority
of the possession.
Sir Bobby Robson's men went behind on 17 minutes when
Maksim Shatskikh fired a thunderous 25-yard shot past
Shay Given.
That lead was doubled in the 62nd minute when Aleksandr
Khatskevitch fired into an empty net after Given had
parried a Cernat effort for the home side.
The Magpies created very little in the way of clear-cut
chances with Hugo Viana going closest with a long-range
curling effort which went just wide.
