LONDON, 26 August 2005 — Three former winners advanced smoothly into the Champions League group stage on Wednesday when Manchester United, Inter Milan and Ajax Amsterdam made sure of their places in the money-spinning final 32.
United won 3-0 at Hungary’s Debrecen for a 6-0 aggregate score, Inter drew 1-1 at home to Shakhtar Donetsk of Ukraine for a 3-1 aggregate success while Ajax had to come from behind to beat Brondby 3-1 for a 5-3 overall victory.
Anderlecht, Rangers, Werder Bremen, Club Bruges and Villarreal also progressed to take their place in yesterday’s draw in Monaco.
On Tuesday, holders Liverpool and Real Betis advanced, along with surprise duo Thun of Switzerland and Artmedia Bratislava of Slovakia, joining the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich and AC Milan, all automatically through.
Playing in the group stage of the continent’s premier club competition is worth between 10 and 20 million pounds ($18-36 million) depending on television and other factors and is absolutely essential for the budgets of Europe’s major clubs.
Manchester United have certainly come to rely on it, as Wednesday’s success made it a record 10 consecutive years in the group phase for the 1968 and 1999 European champions.
They were never likely to be troubled having strolled to a 3-0 first-leg win at Old Trafford and were similarly dominant in Budapest.
Gabriel Heinze, who scored the winner in the same Ferenc Puskas Stadium when Argentina beat Hungary 2-1 in a friendly last week, got the first two with headers while Kieran Richardson made it 3-0.
Inter were ordered to play their game behind closed doors as punishment for their fans’ misbehavior in last season’s quarter-final against AC Milan but those forced to stay away did not miss much.
The handful of club officials scattered around the 83,000-capacity San Siro had Uruguayan Alvaro Recoba’s 12th-minute shot to warm them up and end any Shakhtar hopes of an upset.
The Ukrainian champions deservedly levelled midway through the first half through Brazilian striker Elano but Inter were never in danger from then on.
Substitute Wesley Sneijder scored twice in the final 10 minutes for four-times winners Ajax, who had endured a tense night against the lively Danish champions.
Brondby, who grabbed an injury-time equalizer in the first leg, went ahead at the end of the first half through Swede Johan Elmander, with Ryan Babel equalising early in the second.
Ajax led on away goals at that stage but only relaxed once Sneijder scored his first in the 80th minute, before settling it two minutes from time.
Villarreal made sure Spain had a full complement of four teams in the group stage as their 2-1 home win over Everton sent them through 4-2.
Everton had been pressing for the equalizer that would have taken the game into extra time when Diego Forlan scored after a last-minute breakaway.
Werder Bremen missed a penalty, had a striker sent off and were forced to wait until midway through the second half before getting the better of Switzerland’s Basel 3-0 to seal a 4-2 aggregate victory.
Two goals for Ivan Klasnic and one for Tim Borowski after Johan Micoud had missed a first-half penalty put the Germans through, despite a 79th-minute red card for Miroslav Klose.
Anderlecht won 2-0 at Slavia Prague to go through 4-1 while fellow Belgians Club Bruges needed a penalty shoot-out to get past Norwegian outsiders Valerenga after a 1-0 home win left the tie level at 1-1 after extra time.
Rangers beat Cypriot outsiders Anorthosis Famagusta 2-0 in Chelsea Enjoy 4-0 romp over West Brom
Meantime, champions Chelsea hit top gear with a 4-0 thrashing of West Bromwich Albion to maintain their 100 percent start to the Premier League season on Wednesday.
Coach Jose Morinho made six changes from the side that beat Arsenal on Sunday and they started slowly, but once Frank Lampard slotted his 50th goal for the club they raced away to a victory that puts them top with nine points.
Last year’s runners-up Arsenal made amends for their 1-0 defeat against Chelsea on Sunday, coming from behind to trounce Fulham 4-1 with two goals from Thierry Henry and an unlikely brace from defender Pascal Cygan.
Fulham had taken a surprise lead through Claus Jensen shortly after Arsenal defender Lauren missed from the penalty spot following a foul on Henry.
Tottenham Hotspur maintained their strong start to the season, grinding out a 0-0 draw at Blackburn Rovers who played the last 15 minutes with 10 men after Lucas Neill was sent off.
Martin Jol’s side, who are second to Chelsea with seven points, are still to concede a goal this season. The two sides meet at White Hart Lane on Saturday.
Newcastle United’s problems mounted with goals from El-Hadji Diouf and Stelios Giannakopoulos giving Bolton Wanderers a deserved 2-0 home win at the Reebok Stadium.
Newcastle, who want to sign Real Madrid’s Michael Owen, have failed to score so far this season, picking up just one point.
Morinho handed a first start to big money signings Michael Essien and Shaun Wright-Phillips, while England midfielder Joe Cole returned after not making the squad against Arsenal.
Despite the riches pitched against them it was West Brom who made the early running while Chelsea struggled to gel.
