THE TIMES
If only all European away games were as easy as this, Sir Alex Ferguson might well wonder. Manchester United moved to within touching distance of the Champions League knockout stage last night with a comprehensive victory over a Dynamo Kiev team overawed by their illustrious opponents and seemingly intent on self-destruction.
Two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo and one each by Wayne Rooney and Rio Ferdinand mean that a similar result against Kiev at Old Trafford in a fortnight will be enough to ensure that United qualify from group F with two games to spare.
Having struggled for goals for most of this season, famine has suddenly given way to a feast, with this the third consecutive match in which United have found the net four times, but Ferguson's delight was tempered because Paul Scholes and Patrice Evra face a spell on the sidelines because of injury.
United have endured miserable luck on the injury front and Ferguson was particularly aggrieved to have lost Scholes after the midfield player injured his knee in training on Monday evening. He will have a scan in Manchester today.
With Owen Hargreaves and Michael Carrick out, United were already light in central midfield before Scholes's withdrawal, but, while it did not prove enough to knock them out of their stride against a Kiev team who started playing only once the game was effectively out of their reach, Ferguson will hope that it is not too serious.
Hargreaves may be fit for the Barclays Premier League match against Arsenal on Saturday week, but Carrick will not and, with the prospect of Scholes also missing out, Ferguson will not fancy travelling to the Emirates Stadium with a makeshift midfield for a game that has assumed early significance as far as the title race is concerned.
When Evra then pulled up in the warm-up, with a calf problem, and was replaced in the starting lineup by Darren Fletcher, Ferguson could have been forgiven for wondering if an upset was on the cards as the gods appeared to conspire against him, but any fears the manager might have had were emphatically allayed in a first half that was as much a showcase for United's attacking qualities as Kiev's abysmal defending.
The only surprise was that United led only 3-1 at the interval. Rooney may turn 22 today, but the England forward could scarcely have imagined that, in the unforgiving surrounds of the Ukrainian capital, Kiev would come bearing gifts.
THE INDIE
When Manchester United defeated Roma in their last Champions League tie it was their sixth 1-0 win in eight matches. "It's a disease, I'm trying to get a vaccine for it," said Sir Alex Ferguson.
It appears an elixir has been found. This was the third successive match in which United have scored four goals. With a vibrant display of attacking football, aided and abetted by some diabolical defending, Ferguson's team moved to the brink of a place in the knockout stages.
The last time United scored more than three goals on the road in Europe they went on to win the Champions League. There remains much to do before repeating that triumph but, to illustrate their creative potential, with better finishing last night they could have exceeded the six goals they put past Brondby in Copenhagen nine years ago this week.
This was their third straight victory in Group F and United will be confident of securing a fourth in the return at Old Trafford a fortnight's hence. Should Roma also take at least a point from Sporting in Lisbon the same night United will qualify.
Early goals from Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney put United in command in the Olympic Stadium and although Kiev threatened a rally when Diogo Rincon pulled a goal back after 33 minutes, two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo either side of the break confirmed United's victory. Ismail Bangoura's reply was a mere detail.
However, the journey back from Ukraine will not have been one of unalloyed joy, for United suffered two more injuries.
Their preparation had already been disrupted by a knee injury to Paul Scholes when Patrice Evra pulled out during the warm-up with a calf injury. John O'Shea took his place at left-back with Darren Fletcher coming into the team.
The extent of Evra's injury was not immediately clear. He was named among the substitutes and sat on the bench but was wearing trainers rather than boots and was well wrapped up against the cold.
Scholes felt his knee in training late Monday evening and it was clear by yesterday morning that he was unable to play. United tried to send him home for a scan but could not get him on a flight so Scholes instead returned with the team after last night's game.
THE GUARDIAN
The number of players in the treatment room at Old Trafford might give Sir Alex Ferguson cause for concern but last night's emphatic victory, which all but secured a place in the last 16, should help to ease the Manchester United manager's mind. He surely could not have imagined that this trip to Kiev without several key personnel would yield four goals for the third successive match as his players consolidated their place at the top of Group F.
The margin of victory might easily have been wider as United cut through Dynamo's defence time and again with a breathtaking brand of counter-attacking.
Wayne Rooney will take particular pleasure, with the striker extending his personal record by scoring in his sixth consecutive match for club and country, although this was a performance more memorable for collective than individual effort as United became only the second English club to win here.
Another victory over Dynamo at Old Trafford in a fortnight's time ought to be enough to seal United's place in the group stage with two matches remaining. It is a security Ferguson would cherish, given that Paul Scholes, who will have a scan on the knee injury he suffered in training on Monday, and Patrice Evra, who tore a calf muscle in the warm-up last night, have joined Michael Carrick, Gary Neville, Owen Hargreaves and Louis Saha on the sidelines.
The United manager pronounced himself "pleased with the result" but it was noteworthy that he said there was no injury to Edwin van der Sar, who was withdrawn in the second half, moments after Dynamo had scored their second. Ferguson claimed he had planned to make the change even before Ismael Bangoura drilled a 20-yard shot beyond the Dutchman. It can only be assumed that the United manager was unhappy with Van der Sar's earlier concession.
There was little else to trouble Ferguson in a thrilling encounter. Two goals in the opening 18 minutes settled nerves, with Diego Rincon's first-half header for Dynamo almost an aberration as United broke with alacrity to carve myriad openings. The Ukrainian title-holders had no means of containing the threat posed by Cristiano Ronaldo, Carlos Tevez and Rooney as United's attacking trio linked seamlessly to wreak havoc throughout.
Even Wes Brown was enjoying the chance to gambol forward, the right-back helping to create United's second goal after stealing possession near the halfway line. Having fed Ronaldo the defender, much to his credit, continued his run and again linked with the Portuguese before slipping a perfectly weighted pass across the six-yard box that implored Rooney to score. He made no mistake, taking his tally to seven for the season on the eve of his 22nd birthday.
United were already a goal to the good at that point, with Ronaldo's trickery on the right drawing a foul from Tiberiu Ghioane, who was fortunate to escape a booking for what appeared to be a two-foot challenge. No matter, United exacted their own punishment within seconds as Rio Ferdinand climbed imperiously to send a thumping header from Ryan Giggs's free-kick beyond Olexandr Shovkovskiy for his second goal in four days.
Rooney's goal, eight minutes later, had appeared to provide a cushion. United were dominant, almost threatening to score every time they attacked.
It was understandable that Ferguson should lament their profligacy when Rincon headed in Carlos Correa's corner. That moment gave Dynamo brief hope but United responded with another goal four minutes before the interval when Ronaldo, somehow evading Dynamo's radar, headed in Giggs's cross.
John O'Shea was entitled to wear a relieved expression, having inexplicably failed to turn Rooney's cross over the line 60 seconds earlier. United's two-goal lead at the interval promised stability but Dynamo refused to surrender. Having seen Anderson strike an upright five minutes after the restart, Oleh Gusev picked out Rincon with a curling cross which the forward glanced wide. There was another warning for United when Correa's free-kick clipped the side netting.
THE TELEGRAPH
Manchester United limped back home today with qualification for the Champions League knockout phase in their grasp but with a mounting injury list.
Before an emphatic 4-2 victory over Dynamo Kiev, Sir Alex Ferguson lost Paul Scholes with a knee injury on Monday evening and saw left-back Patrice Evra pull up with a calf problem in the warm up at Kiev's Olympic Stadium. Both men will undergo scans today to determine the extent of their injuries.
Students of absolute trivia would note that in the space of a week Rio Ferdinand and Wayne Rooney have played at the two stadia that staged the 1980 Olympics. If the Luzhniki in Moscow saw the destruction of English dreams, Kiev's Olympic Stadium, that hosted the swiftly-forgotten football tournament, witnessed Manchester United's most emphatic away win since the season they won the European Cup. As Sir Alex Ferguson remarked afterwards, football's greatest gift is its capacity to overturn disappointment.
It was, however, hard to believe that Brondby, who were demolished 6-2 in Copenhagen in 1998, could have defended as ineptly as Dynamo Kiev did in the opening 45 minutes. Should the Ukrainian champions, floundering in their own league and having already fired one manager, give United this kind of space and time at Old Trafford, the seven goals they struck against Roma in April might easily be eclipsed.
Nevertheless, as he returned to Manchester in the small hours of this morning, his side's qualification for the knockout phase of the Champions League almost assured, Ferguson might have settled for fewer goals and fewer hurt players.
The loss of Patrice Evra, who pulled a calf muscle in the warm-up, and the knee injury that Paul Scholes suffered in training on Monday were almost more important than the result.
Edwin van der Sar looked to have been the third casualty of the evening but Ferguson said afterwards that he had decided to replace his goalkeeper before Kiev scored their second. The pair shook hands as Van der Sar walked off but this might be a decision with long-term ramifications.
Before Ismael Bangoura drove his shot home from distance, United had begun to look decidedly uncertain in defence. Nemanja Vidic ought to have given away a penalty and this sometimes surreal night might conceivably have finished in an 8-5 away win.