Manchester United 4 Olympiakos 0
A moment of magic from Juan Veron stood out on a scintillating night of stars at Old Trafford tonight.
Veron's superb 20-yard chip as he raced onto David Beckham's return pass was the defining moment of a Manchester United display which exuded class.
With Veron, Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs all in outstanding form, the Greeks` visit went from bad to worse when Ze Elias was needlessly dismissed for a late tackle on Veron, just before the break.
Giggs bagged a brace either side of Veron's stunning effort and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer netted the fourth late on to give United their third successive Group F win and put them into what their own manager admitted was 'the qualification comfort zone' in his pre-match programme notes.
The brilliance of United's flowing first-half even managed to obliterate any worries over the absence of Ruud van Nistelrooy. With five goals already in Europe this season, the #18.5million Dutchman is the man Sir Alex Ferguson needs most of all.
Ferguson is committed to nursing van Nistelrooy through his current hamstring problem and left him out of his squad altogether this evening, although the chances were that if his team had desperately required victory, his name would have been on the teamsheet.
As it was, Scholes continued in a more advanced role supporting Solskjaer with Giggs and Veron providing an extra thrust when possible, which turned out to be quite often, far too often in fact for Olympiakos.
Giggs has enjoyed an injury-free start to the campaign and as a result his form is approaching its peak.