Berlin, Nov 28 (IANS) Bayer Leverkusen suffered heavy debacle on home soil as Manchester United cruised to a 5-0 win in group A of the Champions League Wednesday.
David Moyes’ men secured their berth in the knockout stage following a dominant and clinical display on the road at the BayArena, Xinhua reported.
Wayne Rooney was clearly the man of the match as he had large shares on victory owing to four assists.
The hosts failed to establish their rhythm and strategy from the kick off meanwhile Manchester United exploited the first fast break to mark the opener at the 22nd minute.
Rooney had all time and space on the left wing to cross into path of Antonio Valencia, who poked home right footed at the back post.
The opener by the visitors left Bayer Leverkusen out of sorts but the own goal of Emir Spahic worsened their situation only eight minutes later.
The Red Devils controlled the proceedings on the pitch as Bayer Leverkusen needed 58 minutes to produce their first real chance when Stefan Reinartz and Spahic missed the target from close range following a corner.
However, the hosts remained unimaginative and lacked in penetration while Manchester United cut a better figure in front of Bayer Leverkusen’s goal, when Jonathan Evans made use of Rooney’s rebound to triple the lead at the 65th minute.
Things changed from bad to worse twelve minutes later as Rooney lobbed the ball into path of Chris Smalling who tapped into the open goal. Nonetheless, Manchester United were not done with the scoring as hapless Bayer Leverkusen had to watch Nani beating onrushing Leno for the final 5-0 score in the dying minutes of the game.
“United taught us a lesson. They capitalised on our errors. I hope we can learn from this defeat. Until the second goal the game was not too bad,” Bayer Leverkusen coach Sami Hyypiae said.
United lead group A with eleven points, followed by Shakhtar Donetsk with eight points, Bayer Leverkusen with seven points and Real Sociedad with one point.