MEDIENARCHIV 22.09.1999

Manchester United cruised past Sturm Graz 3-0 in their Champions League clash at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium, with first-half goals by Roy Keane, Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole.

Despite a gutsy display by the Austrians, the match was effectively over by half-time and the visitors strolled the last 45 minutes.

Sturm Graz started well in front of their highly vocal supporters at Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium, making several lively runs at the Manchester goal. For the first quarter of the match the European champions looked to be on the back foot.

Tomislav Kocijan put Manchester's Raimond Van der Gouw to work early on with a sweetly struck shot from close range. Then a slip up by the keeper minutes later almost conceded a soft goal to the Austrian double winners.

Shellshocked

But just as it Manchester seemed to be floundering, their inspirational captain Keane demonstrated the qualities that make him such a valuable asset for manager Alex Ferguson.

On 16 minutes, Franco Foda fouled Yorke to set up a free-kick on the edge of the box and David Beckham struck the ball hard into the Sturm wall.

Keane latched onto the rebound, teeing up the shot and blasting it in off the underside of the bar from 25 yards - with static goalkeeper Kazimierz Sidorczuk clearly thinking it was going over

Roy Keane celebrates his strike

The Austrians, playing arguably one of the biggest games in their history, were clearly shellshocked and United's confidence soared.

It was 2-0 on 31 minutes as Beckham whipped in a corner from the right and Yorke sneaked in front of his defender to nod it past the flailing Sidorczuk.

Sturm had barely had time to recover when Cole latched onto a through ball from Yorke, beating Ferdinand Feldhofer and tucking the ball under the hapless keeper to make it 3-0 just two minutes later.

Manchester United were on cruise control by the half-time mark and the second half was always going to be a tamer affair than the quick-fire first.

Squandered penalty

Beckham, who was aggressively marked all night, allowed his temper to flare just two minutes into the second 45 minutes as he kicked out at Tomislav Kocijan.

The fourth official was right on the spot, but failed to draw the matter to the attention of the referee, who in any case seemed reluctant to book anyone.

Roman Strafner takes on David Beckham

To their credit, Sturm were outclassed, but stuck to the task in hand and kept attacking Manchester throughout, with half-chances coming for Ivica Vastic and Guenther Neukirchner.

The home side's best opportunity to take a goal away from United came on 54 minutes, with Phil Neville hacking into Kocijan for a penalty.

Vastic stepped up to take the spot kick and duffed it, sending a slow, dribbling shot straight into the arms of Van der Gouw.

Going into the final quarter of the match, the pattern was well settled and Ferguson subbed off Keane on 61 minutes for Mark Wilson.

Afterwards it was confirmed that Keane had experienced a problem with his knee, but Ferguson said he hoped he would be fit for United's Premiership clash with Southampton on Saturday.

The only negative of the night was Beckham's yellow card for an altercation with Roman Strafner in the closing minutes of the match, in which for once he seemed entirely innocent.

Teams

SK Sturm Graz: Sidorczuk, Feldhofer, Foda, Neukirchner, Martens, Mahlich, Schupp, Prilasnig, Vastic, Kocijan, Strafner. Subs: Schicklgruber, Bochtler, Reinmayr, Korsos, Szabics, Kutsupias, Pantelic.

Man Utd: Van Der Gouw, Neville, Berg, Stam, Irwin, Beckham, Keane, Scholes, Cruyff, Cole, Yorke. Subs: Bosnich, Sheringham, Solskjaer, Clegg, Fortune, Wilson, Greening.

Referee: A Trentalange (Italy)