Ruud
van Nistelrooy's brace gave Manchester United victory
over Bayer Leverkusen but Newcastle crashed to a 1-0
home defeat against Feyenoord.
Van
Nistelrooy struck on 31 and 44 minutes before being
substituted at half-time as United bossed the opening
45 minutes in the BayArena.
The Dutchman broke the deadlock when he brilliantly
controlled Juan Sebastian Veron's cross with his chest
before firing through the legs of Bayer keeper Frank
Juric and doubled United's advantage on the stroke
of half time when finishing a superb move involving
Ryan Giggs and Nicky Butt.
Van Nistelrooy was replaced by Diego Forlan at half
time and United were on the back foot for most of
the second half.
Dimitar Berbatov pulled one back on 52 minutes and
he came close to sealing a memorable comeback when
his brilliant header came back off the post late on
- but United held on for a famous win.
The victory sees United top Group F with two wins
from two after Israeli outfit Maccabi Haifa beat Olympiakos
of Greece 3-0 thanks to an Ayegbeni hat-trick.
However, Newcastle suffered a torturous night at St
James' Park. Sebastian Pardo's deflected volley after
four minutes gave Feyenoord victory as the Magpies
failed to find a way through the Dutch defence.
Craig Bellamy had an effort cleared off the line by
Brett Emerton and struck a crossbar, Nolberto Solano
twice came close to converting Laurent Robert crosses
and Alan Shearer's bullet header was blocked on the
line by Shinji Ono.
Sir Bobby Robson's side are now rooted to the bottom
of Group E following Juventus' 5-0 victory over Dynamo
Kiev and face an uphill struggle to progress to the
second round.
In the night's other games, AC Milan recorded an excellent
4-0 victory away at Deportivo La Coruna, while Lens
and Bayern Munich drew 1-1 in the other Group G game.
Barcelona head Group F after an impressive 2-0 victory
over Galatasaray in Istanbul - Club Brugge and Lokomotiv
Moscow shared the points in a goalless draw in the
night's final game.
