VIEW FROM THE PRESSBOX

Sir Alex Ferguson stated that a couple of goals against the Hungarian champions without reply should secure Manchester United's passage to the wealth of the Champions League. A convincing 3-0 victory in which Wayne Rooney dazzled would have pleased the United manager and reassured the men who had invested £270 million to buy this piece of real estate.

Nobody quite knew what reception the Glazers would get when they took their seat in the directors' box, but after leaving the stadium in the back of a police van to escape demonstrators when they visited Manchester last month, they could hardly have expected to be mobbed. And yet, Joel, Bryan and Avi stood smiling as supporters turned on them not with fists and threats but with cameras and autograph books. And when Rio Ferdinand trotted down the tunnel after the warm-up he was met with applause rather than the jeers that had accompanied him on United's tour of the Far East.

Although there were demonstrators outside and mounted police guarding the entrance to the Megastore, which seemed somehow symbolic of life under the Glazers, Old Trafford inside seemed normal, albeit with perhaps 14,000 empty seats.

Joel Glazer had remarked that the moment Rooney scored in front of the Stretford End, the summer of discontent his family's takeover had sparked would be forgotten. He may have been optimistic in his sentiments but Rooney delivered very early, though in front of the East Stand rather than the Stretford End.

United had taken control from the beginning but the worry was they went into the interval having failed to make their dominance tell. When Peter Halmosi drove past Edwin van der Sar, who until then had barely touched the ball, the warning was clear, even though the midfielder was marginally offside. Had Van Nistelrooy not scored immediately, Ferguson and the Glazers would have been living on their nerves.

Within five minutes he had put the ball in Debrecen's net, only for it to be judged offside and his finishing when put through by Rooney in the 49th minute was like the Van Nistelrooy of old. This was his 38th goal in 40 European matches for Manchester United.

Nothing Cristiano Ronaldo did in China and Japan suggested he was not David Beckham's natural replacement and here he was up against technically inferior opponents who allowed him too much time. He was only denied by a fine block from Norbert Csernyanszki, when Paul Scholes put him through on goal, and thereafter the Hungarians dealt with his stopovers in the only way they could - with some thoroughly brutal tackling.

When Csernyanszki saved from Ronaldo midway through the first half, it appeared Debrecen might be completely overwhelmed but until Van Nistelrooy struck they had regrouped and Roy Keane, having been booked early on, was somewhat fortunate not to be sent off for a crude challenge on Tamas Sandor.

After another clumsy challenge, Keane was diplomatically withdrawn in favour of Park Ji-Sung much to the relief of the journalists who had travelled from South Korea for this game. By then United were three up and the tie was safe. Ronaldo, appropriately, clipped in the third from close range but like so much in this match it was created by Rooney.