Neville's early strike settles it for United

Champions League

Champions League

Rangers 0 Manchester United 1

Manchester United took the honours in this eagerly-anticipated contest between the champions of England and Scotland with Phil Neville cast as the unlikely hero at Ibrox.

He scored the kind of individual goal normally associated with his more prolific team-mates and then showed good defensive qualities with a goal-line clearance to prevent a Rangers equaliser.

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Neville's goal came with only a few minutes on the clock, early enough for Rangers to recover but a combination of poor finishing and stalwart defending made it a night of frustration for Alex McLeish's side.

Rangers at least avoided the 'gubbing' many fans had feared but the waywardness of their shooting, with Peter Lovenkrands the biggest culprit, will have left their supporters wondering what might have been.

Rangers started brightly but their early optimism lasted just five minutes as Phil Neville played a one-two from Ruud van Nistelrooy and, as four Rangers players stood off, twisted into the penalty area before placing the ball low into the corner to give United the lead.

There were howls for a penalty soon after when Paolo Vanoli went down under Quinton Fortune's challenge but referee Anders Frisk was correct in waving the appeals away.

Rangers finally began to force the issue only to be guilty of wastefulness in threatening positions. Lovenkrands was the first offender, slicing into touch, then Vanoli scuffed wide after United's defence made a hash of clearing the ball.

With half-time approaching the home side were grateful to Arteta for keeping them in the game with clearance off the line from Mikael Silvestre's flicked header.

United put on the squeeze from the start of the second half, pressurising the Rangers goal with a series of attacks. On 52 minutes a goal seemed on the cards when van Nistelrooy wriggled onto Paul Scholes' pass but for once the Dutchman's aim was awry.

Quinton Fortune then set up Roy Keane, superb throughout, who could not finish off a storming run, Klos producing a reaction save to parry a hammered shot.

Rangers needed to ease the pressure and did so with three penetrating attacks which tested United to the full.

First Phil Neville cleared off the line to keep out Craig Moore's header, then Rio Ferdinand stretched out a long leg to deny Lovenkrands a certain goal.

The margin could have been greater had the visitors been awarded a penalty for an injury-time trip by Berg on Scholes.

Elsewhere in Group E, Stuttgart earned their second win in three games with a comfortable 2-0 victory over Panathinaikos.The German side opened the scoring in the 13th minute with a diving header by Hungary striker Imre Szabics.Stuttgart made it 2-0 12 minutes later with a close-range header by midfielder and captain Zvonimir Soldo.