Win sends Man Utd through

Veron: Impressive and influential in midfield

Man Utd 3-0 Olympiakos
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Manchester United secured their passage through to the second phase of the Champions League with a comfortable win over Olympiakos.

A missed penalty by Ruud van Nistelrooy gave the Old Trafford faithful a few nervous moments.

But late goals from substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ryan Giggs and a relieved Van Nistelrooy kept on track the dream of a fairytale send off for Sir Alex Ferguson in the final at Hampden Park.

United were without influential captain Roy Keane, who was struggling with a knee injury sustained in last week's 3-2 defeat by Deportivo La Coruna.

  Key moments

64 mins: Ruud van Nistelrooy's penalty is brilliantly saved

76 mins: Veron's free-kick hits the post

79 mins: Solskjaer gives United the lead

88 mins: Giggs adds second

92 mins: Van Nistelrooy sweeps home third

Keane's absence allowed Juan Sebastian Veron to take control of the midfield engine room, and the Argentine quickly set about showcasing his vast array of skills.

His beautifully-weighted pass found captain for the night Giggs on the left of the Olympiakos area.

Giggs whipped in an excellent cross which Van Nistelrooy headed straight at Dimitris Eleftheropoulos.

The Olympiakos keeper failed to hold the header but Paul Scholes could not force the spilled ball over the goal-line.

Giggs, Veron and David Beckham were at the heart of United's best moves, with each player seamlessly switching positions.

Veron was unlucky not to put the finishing touch to what would have been a wonderful goal.

Having controlled the ball with his chest and flicked it over the Olympiakos defence, Veron's downwards volley did not really test Eleftheropoulos.

Then a Beckham-Giggs one-two saw the England captain clip the outside of the post.

But the Greeks were not overawed by the home side and should have taken the lead on 23 minutes.

Alekos Alexandris was clean through on goal after a ball over the top completely caught out the United defence.

The veteran striker seemed certain to score, but a timely intervention by Laurent Blanc took the ball away from Alexandris, who then fell under the challenge looking for a penalty.

Alexandris' pace caused United's back four problems throughout the half, and with slightly better fortune he could have punished United.

Super sub

After the interval, Olympiakos fired some early warning signs.

Half-time substitute Elias Poursanidis drilled in a left-footed shot which went just wide.

But their record of never having scored in Europe away from home was to remain intact.

Van Nistelrooy, again working hard to lead the United attack on his own, went close on 58 minutes.

Van Nistelrooy on target

He shrugged off several challenges before releasing his shot, which the Olympiakos keeper did well to save with his legs.

Minutes later, the Dutch striker should have put United in front after winning his side a penalty.

But Eleftheropoulos pulled off a brilliant save to keep out the spot-kick.

There seemed no end to the Olympiakos keeper's heroics as he then tipped Veron's wicked free-kick onto his post.

However, as so often happens, substitute Solskjaer entered the fray for United.

Within minutes of his introduction, the Norwegian finally beat Eleftheropoulos with an unstoppable strike.

Veron then capped an impressive display by laying on the second for Giggs.

And Van Nistelrooy added a deserved third in injury-time after brilliant interplay between Giggs, Veron and Beckham for what ended as a satisfactory night's work for United.

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Man Utd: Barthez, Gary Neville, Brown, Blanc, Irwin, Beckham, Butt, Scholes, Veron, Giggs, van Nistelrooy. Subs: Carroll, Phil Neville, May, Chadwick, Yorke, Solskjaer, Silvestre.

Olympiakos: Eleftheropoulos, Mavrogenidis, Kontis, Amanatidis, Anatolakis, Giannakopoulos, Patsatzoglou, Karembeu, Djordjevic, Ofori Quaye, Alexandris. Subs: Georgiou, Bermudez, Poursanidis, Kostoulas, Niniadis, Roberts, Alvez.

Referee: Manuel Melo Pereira (Portugal).