Man Utd 3 Boavista 0
Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored twice to bring the smiles back to Old Trafford as Manchester United strolled to a 3-0 Champions League win over Boavista tonight.
United had lost their last two league games but even with David Beckham on the bench they outclassed the Portuguese champions.
Van Nistelrooy turned in the opener in the 31st minute and after Laurent Blanc had been left unmarked to head the second from a corner in the 55th, the razor-sharp Dutchman broke clear to calmly slot home the third seven minutes later.
The victory takes United to the top of group A with four points from two games. They are ahead of Bayern Munich, 1-0 winners at Nantes.
Boavista threatened first with striker Duda racing in behind the United defence to fire a powerful shot from the right of the box.
Paul Scholes had a trademark volley deflected over the bar and Blanc headed wide from a corner as United went on the attack.
But it took 31 minutes before they took the lead. Boavista midfielder Erwin Sanchez trod on the ball when trying to cut out Roy Keane's pass and allowed Phil Neville to escape down the right.
The fullback exchanged passes with Juan Sebastian Veron and slid a square ball across the area for van Nistelrooy to side foot past goalkeeper Ricardo from close range.
Duda and Silva wasted an excellent opportunity just after the break as the ball got stuck between the players in the penalty area before Gary Neville could clear.
With that miss the visitor's hopes of recording their first away win in the Champions League evaporated.
Boavista were then punished when Blanc was left unmarked to head home a Veron corner.
Then van Nistelrooy scored his 11th goal of the season after running on to a Dwight Yorke pass, sliding it passed an exposed Ricardo.