London, August 10:

Manchester United’s 3-0 victory over Hungarian champion Debrecen in a Champions League qualifier put Malcolm Glazer’s club in a commanding position to reach the main stage of Europe’s No 1 club tournament.

Wayne Rooney gave Uni-ted a lead in the seventh minute, and then set up Ruud van Nistelrooy with the second goal in the 49th. Again it was Rooney, passing to Cristiano Ronaldo as the Portugal international made it 3-0 in the 63rd.

The second-leg games are in two weeks with the winners advancing to the group stage. In the five other third-round, first-leg games: Glasgow Rangers 2, Anorthosis 1; Wisla

Krakow 3, Panathinaikos 1; Valerenga 1, FC Brugge 0; Villarreal 2, Everton 1;and

Real Betis 1, Monaco 0.