Man Utd reach Champions last-16

MANCHESTER, England -- Manchester United made sure Alex Ferguson celebrated his 21st anniversary as Old Trafford manager in style with a four-goal demolition of Dynamo Kiev -- and a place in the last-16 of the Champions League.

Young defender Gerard Pique and Carlos Tevez did the damage before the break, with man-of-the-match Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo finishing off with their seventh and eighth goals of the season respectively.

But it took a last-minute goal back in Ronaldo's Portuguese homeland to seal United's passage.

Sporting Lisbon, who go to Old Trafford later this month, needed to defeat Roma to keep United waiting, but ended 2-2 after the Serie A visitors late strike.

Manager Ferguson is convinced United can go all the way to the final and a fourth straight victory in Group F supported his claims.

"It was a perfect result and gets us into the next stage so we must be very pleased with that," Ferguson told Sky Sports.

"They adopted a man-marking system and made it very difficult - it was something new for the young players. We got a break with the first goal and it opened up the game up for us."

Ferguson made five changes with Daniel Simpson a surprise starter at right-back and Gerard Pique brought in to partner Nemanja Vidic in central defence.

With their woeful record on the road it was no surprise to see the Ukrainians put 10 men behind the ball, but the deadlock was broken after 31 minutes.

Ronaldo's free-kick from the right deflected off Carlos Tevez and bounced kindly for Pique who nodded back across Shockovskiy and into the net for his first United goal.

Diakhate was booked for protesting that Vidic appeared to be in an offside position when Pique's header went across the keeper.

Six minutes later Tevez took the ball from Correa in the centre circle and burst forward, playing a one-two with Wayne Rooney on the edge of the area before firing home number two.

Ferguson was so sure of his position at half-time he introduced Tomasz Kuszczak for stand-in skipper Edwin van der Sar, a move which saw Vidic wearing the captain's armband in preference to Rooney.

If the England striker was a bit put-out by the decision, he did not show it, turning in another all-action display, blotting his copybook only once when he picked up a needless booking for a reckless touchline tackle on Badr El Kaddouri.

It was Rooney who provided the sliderule pass which should have seen Tevez grab his second. This time though, the former Boca Juniors man delayed too long and allowed El Kaddouri to slide in and rob him -- and soon after was replaced by Louis Saha.

The third goal was not long in coming, Nani sending over a cross from the right after 76 minutes for Rooney to tap home for his seventh goal in his last eight Champions League outings.

Ronaldo should have made it four when, under pressure, he fired over from seven yards. However, the Portugal winger atoned for that miss by cutting in from the left and drilling a shot past the keeper with a minute to go.

David Pizarro stole a late deflected equalizer to put Roma back on course for a place in the knockout stages.

The Italian side looked to be slipping to a 2-1 loss at the Jose Alvalade Stadium but Pizarro's long-range strike had a big helping hand on the way through to ensure a draw in the closing seconds.

Marco Cassetti gave the Italians the advantage after only three minutes with a right-footed strike from the edge of the penalty area.

Da Silva Liedson equalized after 23 minutes before converting a Marat Izmailov corner to give Sporting the lead. E-mail to a friend