Real and Man U win; Inter draw

Real Madrid ground out a 2-0 victory at Wisla Krakow and Manchester United needed an own goal to scrape a 2-1 win at Dinamo Bucharest in Champions League third qualifying round first leg matches on Wednesday. There was frustration for two other favourites bidding for a place in the lucrative group phase when Inter Milan drew 1-1 in Basel and last season’s semi-finalists Deportivo Coruna were held to a shock 0-0 draw by Shelbourne in Dublin.

There were no such problems for last season’s finalists Monaco, who trounced Nova Gorica of Slovenia 3-0 with 10 men, or Bayer Leverkusen who thrashed Banik Ostrava 5-0, while 1991 champions Red Star Belgrade edged PSV Eindhoven 3-2 at home.

Real were rescued by two goals from Fernando Morientes, back with the Spaniards after becoming the Champions League’s top scorer last season with nine goals while on loan at French club Monaco. Morientes got the breakthrough in the 72nd minute off a cross from David Beckham and put the result beyond doubt in the 90th minute.