Manchester United reached the quarter-finals last night without further assistance from David Beckham, who watched from the bench as his colleagues strode past Sturm Graz with the minimum of difficulty. But with Valencia also winning at home to Panathinaikos, United go into Friday's draw as runners-up in their second-round group, which means they could face Real Madrid.
An early goal from Nicky Butt followed by another from Teddy Sheringham enabled United to assume an easy command, although a third did not arrive until the 87th minute, when Roy Keane's narrow-angled shot completed a slick passing movement.
After United's poor display in Athens, when only a goal in injury-time from Paul Scholes denied Panathinaikos victory, Alex Ferguson's team clearly needed to reach the last eight in a style more appropriate to their Champions League aspirations.
Either United's starting line-up reflected the need for a bit of graft or else Ferguson wanted his disapproval of the previous performance to be reflected in real terms. Probably it was a bit of both.
In any case Beckham, badly below form in recent matches, was left on the bench along with Andy Cole and Dwight Yorke, Ferguson preferring an attacking partnership of Sheringham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
"I took a look at Beckham and thought he needed a rest," Ferguson explained. "There's been a lot of pressure on him so I decided to leave him out so he could regroup."
With the return of Ryan Giggs after a hamstring injury delayed by flu, almost the sole responsibility for giving United's movements width and guile lay with Luke Chadwick, playing in Beckham's place on the right. Equally Ferguson looked to the collective drive through the middle of Keane, Butt and Scholes to upset any Sturm ideas of frustrating United with a packed defence.
If they did, the plan went awry after a mere five minutes, which was all the time United needed to start unpacking. Kazimierz Sidorczuk had saved superbly from Solskjaer in the opening seconds but when Butt drove a loose ball through a thicket of legs from 20 yards Sturm's Polish goalkeeper had little chance of denying United their early lead.
In attack Sturm were quick, neat and inventive and Mario Haas might have done better than shoot wide after an error by Butt. To a man, however, Ferguson's midfield worked assiduously to deny the Austrian side any space. Butt's was the tackle which initiated United's second goal after 20 minutes. He then produced an astute pass to release Solskjaer in the inside-left position and, with Graz caught square, the Norwegian switched the ball across to Sheringham, who drove it past Sidorczuk.
This, then, was clearly going to be one of Old Trafford's bluecollar occasions; a reminder that hard work lies at the heart of every team's success. It was no coincidence that Butt, with his tenacity in winning possession and keen use of the ball, frequently caught the eye.
Chadwick, too, with a cross from the right, swinging away from the goalkeeper, that Beckham could hardly have bettered. Solskjaer could not quite reach it and when Chadwick sent Scholes clear 10 minutes before half-time Sidorczuk, diving low at his feet, bravely smothered the opportunity.
Markus Schopp remained a lively presence on the right for Sturm and once Imre Szabics joined Haas up front for the second half the Austrian team gave United's defenders marginally more work to do. After Gary Neville had fouled Gunther Neukircher a hard, low shot from Ivica Vastic produced an urgent save from Fabien Barthez, his first of the night.
By and large, however, the game remained in the grip of United's midfield. Chadwick's versatility was emphasised when he switched to the left and continued to gnaw at Graz. The longer the match progressed the more United were inclined to switch to cruise control. They kept their discipline and concentration, and certainly the search for more goals was never abandoned.
MANCHESTER UNITED: Barthez, Irwin, Silvestre, Stam, Gary Neville, Chadwick, Scholes (Greening 74), Keane, Butt, Solskjaer, Sheringham. Subs Not Used: Rachubka, Beckham, Cole, Phil Neville, Yorke, Brown. Goals: Butt 5, Sheringham 20, Keane 87.
SK STURM GRAZ: Sidorczuk, Neukirchner, Ibertsberger, Korsos, Schopp, Mahlich (Hlinka 46), Schupp (Martens 65), Fleurquin, Minavand (Szabics 46), Vastic, Haas. Subs Not Used: Schicklgruber, Foda, Strafner, Koutsoupias.
Referee: V Ivanov (Russia).
