Manchester United, Lyon Remain Unbeaten

LONDON (AP) _ Manchester United and Lyon stayed perfect in the Champions League, each winning their third straight matches to close in on qualifying for the second round. <br/><br/>AC Milan also won, beating

Tuesday, October 17th 2006, 10:10 pm

By: News On 6

LONDON (AP) _ Manchester United and Lyon stayed perfect in the Champions League, each winning their third straight matches to close in on qualifying for the second round.

AC Milan also won, beating Anderlecht 1-0 despite playing without defender Daniele Bonera for almost the entire second half; he was sent off in the 47th minute for getting a second yellow card.

``It is typical Milan,'' Anderlecht coach Frank Vercauteren said. ``They had a few chances, finished off one and the rest was perfect organization.''

Man United beat FC Copenhagen 3-0 at Old Trafford with goals from Paul Scholes, John O'Shea and Kieran Richardson. Lyon also won 3-0, downing Dynamo Kiev with goals from Juninho, Kim Kallstrom and Florent Malouda.

Milan, which leads Group H with seven points, got its goal from Kaka in the 58th minute. The Brazil midfielder shot from 24 yards and beat goalkeeper Daniel Zitka to the upper right corner.

In the other group game, Lille beat AEK Athens 3-1 to stay in second place with five points. Mathieu Robail, Daniel Gygax and Jean Makoun scored for Lille.

Anderlecht is third with two points, while AEK has one.

Also, it was Real Madrid 4, Steaua Bucharest 1 in Group E; Celtic 3, Benfica 0 in Group F; CSKA Moscow 1, Arsenal 0, and FC Porto 4, Hamburger SV 1 in Group G.

Scholes scored in the 39th minute for Man United, driving the ball from the edge of box past diving goalkeeper Jesper Christiansen. O'Shea scored off Cristiano Ronaldo's corner kick in the 46th, with the ball bouncing off his leg into the goal. Richardson added United's third in the 83rd with help from a stumble by Christiansen.

Wayne Rooney was named captain of Manchester United for the first time after defender Rio Ferdinand pulled out with a neck injury during the warmup and winger Ryan Giggs felt too ill to play.

``We got three goals and three points and it was an important win tonight,'' said Wayne Rooney, who was Manchester United's captain Tuesday. ``I think I'm more or less back to my best and my performances are OK.''

Kenny Miller scored two goals in 11 minutes for Celtic.

``To win by three goals is beyond our wildest expectations, but when you look at the performance it was definitely a 'three,''' Celtic manager Gordon Strachan said.

Man United leads Group F with nine points, followed by Celtic with six. Benfica and Copenhagen have one point each.

Real Madrid got its first goal from Sergio Ramos, who headed in a corner from Jose Maria Gutierrez in the ninth minute. Raul Gonzalez turned in a rebound in the 34th and Robinho added Madrid's third in the 56th, his shot taking a deflection off Steaua defender Valentin Badea.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy scored Madrid's final goal in the 76th with a chip over goalkeeper Carlos Fernandes for his 50th European goal. Badea scored for Steaua in the 64th.

``It was a good Real Madrid today,'' coach Fabio Capello said. ``Today's match helped us forget the last one, and now we are thinking of the match with Barcelona.''

Getafe handed Real Madrid a 1-0 loss on Sunday, its first in the Spanish league season.

Lyon leads Group E with nine points, while Madrid has six, Steaua has three and Kiev has zero.

In Moscow, Daniel Carvalho scored a first-half goal against Arsenal. Sergei Ignashevich rolled the ball from a free kick to the Brazilian midfielder, who sent a hard shot past goalkeeper Jens Lehmann in the 24th minute.

``To play our normal game was very difficult because they have a lot of great players,'' CSKA coach Valery Gazzaev said. ``But our tactics were just right.''

Lisandro Lopez scored twice for Porto in its win.

CSKA Moscow leads Group G with seven points, followed by Arsenal with six, Porto with four and Hamburg with zero.

On Wednesday, it's Chelsea vs. FC Barcelona, and Werder Bremen vs. Levski Sofia in Group A; Inter Milan vs. Spartak Moscow, and Sporting Lisbon vs. Bayern Munich in Group B; Bordeaux vs. Liverpool, and Galatasaray vs. PSV Eindhoven in Group C; and Olympiakos vs. AS Roma, and Valencia vs. Shakhtar Donetsk in Group D.