CL Wrap: Rooney, Riquelme & Edu Rise To The Occasion

Tuesday’s six Champions League Third Qualifying Round ties saw Manchester United, Villarreal, Rangers, Real Betis, Wisla Krakow and Valerenga secure first leg advantages, though some of the wins were more comfortably achieved than others. All victories are valuable, but arguably the night’s most significant were those of Rangers and Villarreal, as they were achieved away from home. The Spanish side, making their Champions League bow, scored a potentially decisive 2-1 advantage in England against Everton. This was the Merseysiders’ first European adventure for 10 years and their first European Cup campaign since 1971. But the Toffees found the Yellow Submarine formidable opposition in what looked a tough draw for David Moyes’s side from the moment it was made. Everton struggled to create clear-cut chances but James Beattie missed one of them in the seventh minute. Then, with Argentine playmaker Juan Román Riquelme becoming influential, his compatriot – and one-time Birmingham striker - Luciano Figueroa put Manuel Pellegrini’s side in front on 27 minutes. But the Toffees drew level three minutes before the break when Beattie jumped with Gonzalo Rodríguez to meet Phil Neville’s cross and the ball dropped behind the pair off the defender’s head, Beattie reacting quickest to poke it past Mariano Barbosa. However, Villarreal swiftly regained the advantage Juan Pablo Sorín crossing for Josico to send a fine header flying beyond Nigel Martyn. Rangers took a significant step towards a place in the lucrative Group stage by beating Cypriots Anorthosis Famagusta in Nicosia. Two goals in six second-half minutes from Nacho Novo and Fernando Ricksen gave the Scottish champions the edge in a close-fought contest. Anorthosis quickly halved the deficit through Nikos Frousos, but Temuri Ketsbaia’s side will have a difficult task at Ibrox on 24 August. Wayne Rooney was the inspiration behind Manchester United’s emphatic 3-0 victory over Debrecen of Hungary. The England prodigy scored the first on seven minutes and made the other two – converted in style by Ruud Van Nistelrooy and Cristiano Ronaldo in the second-half. It might have been different if, 30 seconds into the second-half, Peter Halmosi’s seemingly good ‘goal’ not been disallowed for what the ref perceived to be a foul on Gary Neville. A dramatic last-minute winner from Edu gave Real Betis a deserved 1-0 win at home to AS Monaco. There were just seconds left in added time when Xisco Muñoz found the on-rushing Brazilian midfielder who fired past the diving Flavio Roma. It was a fair reward for Betis, whose attacking approach had seen them rattle the crossbar three times and come close on several other occasions. Polish champions Wisla Kraków came from behind to achieve a shock 3-1 victory over Panathinaikos. The Greek side scored within four minutes through Poland striker Emmanuel Olisadebe, but Pawel Brozek soon equalised and second-half goals from Kalu Uche and Tomasz Frankowski gave Wisla a two-goal lead to take to Athens for the second-leg in two weeks’ time. Steffen Iversen’s second-half strike gave Norwegian runners-up Valerenga a 1-0 victory over Club Bruges, the Belgian champions, in Oslo. Iversen netted in the 56th minute from Kjetil Waehler’s cross, then seven minutes later went close again from outside the penalty area. Waehler hit the bar four minutes after that but there was to be no more scoring.