Slick United ease through to last 16

Manchester United FC secured their passage to the UEFA Champions League last 16 with two games to spare thanks to a 4-0 victory against FC Dynamo Kyiv. After Gerard Piqué and Carlos Tévez had found the net before the break – the first for each in this competition – Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo added late goals as the dominant hosts made it four wins from four and confirmed Dynamo's elimination in the process.

Strength in depth
Sir Alex Ferguson had reflected before the match on the strength of his squad, and the fact United were able to win so comfortably while giving an evening off to Rio Ferdinand, Ryan Giggs and Owen Hargreaves bore testament to this. At the same time, it also underlined the lack of confidence in the ranks of a Dynamo side playing their first game under caretaker coach Oleh Luzhny but who never looked like getting their first points of an ill-starred campaign.

Slow start
United started with an unfamiliar back four including Danny Simpson and Piqué – two players with ten minutes' action between them previously this term – and for the opening quarter, their play lacked its customary spark. Indeed Dynamo's Carlos Corrêa might reflect he could have done better than fire wide when allowed a clear sight of Edwin van der Sar's goal. At the other end Rooney showed some invention with a teasing ball across goal, leading to a Nani shot deflected behind, but otherwise United were making little of their abundant possession against opponents seemingly set on containment.

Opening goal
That changed with Piqué's 31st-minute opener even if it came with a slice of luck – Michael Carrick's header from a Ronaldo free-kick deflecting off the back of Tévez's head and to the Spaniard, who headed the ball back into the opposite corner. Tévez got United's second in the 37th minute, when, after winning the ball inside his own half, he raced forward, exchanged passes with Rooney and let fly. Olexandr Shovkovskiy got his hands to the ball but could not keep it out.

Chances aplenty
Although Ruslan Rotan blazed wide from close range just before the break, Sir Alex felt secure enough to remove Van der Sar – complaining of a niggle in his toe – as a precaution, introducing Tomasz Kuszczak for the second half. His faith was justified as the substitute soon made a fine stop to deny Dynamo replacement Diogo Rincón. There followed chances aplenty at both ends, not least for Tévez who could have had a hat-trick. For the Ukrainian title-holders, Rincón just failed to connect with Marjan Marković's fierce cross-shot while Kuszczak frustrated Tiberiu Ghioane.

Rooney volley
Rooney added a third with a 76th-minute volley from Nani's cross before, in the closing moments, Ronaldo broke in from the left and found the far corner. The best Dynamo can hope for now is third place – a far cry from Luzhny's own days in the team when they were semi-finalists in 1999. That, of course, was the year Sir Alex first tasted UEFA Champions League glory and after his side's best start to a European campaign in five years he can already begin planning with confidence for a renewed assault on his favourite trophy in the spring.

Alonso: the future has already begun

As the speculation grows over which team will secure Fernando Alonso’s services for 2008, the Spaniard has insisted he feels comfortable looking back on his time with McLaren and says he has learnt some valuable lessons for the future.

Alonso and McLaren announced their parting last week, despite the double world champion having two years left to run on his contract. It followed a tumultuous season in which relations between the two parties grew increasingly fraught - though it didn’t stop Alonso winning four Grands Prix and coming within a hair’s breadth of taking a third successive drivers’ crown.

“This year I had the opportunity to win the championship again, so from that point of view the switch (from Renault) was a good decision,” Alonso told Formula1.com. “The team did a fantastic job to have a competitive car so I was able to fight until the last race and finished only one point behind the champion. So in that respect I think it has been a very positive season.

“Outside the car for sure we had some ups and downs, better moments and worse moments, but I think this happens in every job. I will remember this year for my four victories I had in important places, where I had not won before, like Monza, and Monaco again for a second time.”

Many questioned whether McLaren’s decision to give their drivers equal treatment and to let them race to the end effectively cost the team the 2007 drivers’ championship. However, Alonso believes there are numerous reasons he lost the title to Kimi Raikkonen.

“In Hungary I had a penalty, in Japan I didn’t finish the race after the crash, in Canada I was seventh, in Magny Cours seventh, so for sure I didn’t arrive in Brazil with enough points to be sure of winning the championship,” he said.

With arguably the toughest season of his Formula One career behind him, Alonso claims his focus is now firmly on next season, though he was giving nothing away as to who his 2008 employer might be.

“Hopefully for next year I’ve learnt some lessons and I’ll try again,” he said. “For every driver, when we lose a championship we start thinking about why we lost. But we lost, so there is nothing more we can do. It’s history. The future is the place where you can change things - and the future already has begun. Looking back over my shoulder I feel quite comfortable.”