Sir Alex Ferguson has conceded that he was reliant on two outstanding saves from Edwin van der Sar from Leidson and Tonel to ensure only a third triumph in 15 Champions League away games.

"Edwin has been with us for three seasons now and when I bought him I thought he was going to be one of my best buys," said Ferguson.

SIR Alex Ferguson is confident Cristiano Ronaldo will go on to have the best years of his life at Manchester United.

The brilliant winger returned to haunt his old club Sporting Lisbon last night, netting the only goal as United began their latest Champions League quest in the best manner possible.

Giggs is focused on the nine Premiership points and Group F Champions League opening win against Sporting Lisbon in Portugal the run has produced rather than the fact United have failed to score more than one in a game in their last 13 matches.

"You'd take another 1-0 on Sunday against Chelsea. As long as we keep winning and keep clean sheets the goals will come," said Ryan.

Reds left back Patrice Evra warns that Chelsea still pose a major threat at Old Trafford on Sunday.

"Chelsea haven't been doing very well but it would be dangerous if we thought too much about that," said the Frenchman. "We don't need to be watching what they are doing and what's going on there. We need to concentrate on ourselves. We need to watch Manchester United.

Cristiano Ronaldo was heavily involved for Portugal as it looked as though they’d secured a 1-0 win over Serbia in a match that ended with a 30-man melee. However, Branislav Ivanovic netted in the 88th minute to cancel out Simao Sabrosa’s earlier effort.

Edwin van der Sar admitted to Holland’s luck after Ruud van Nistelrooy grabbed a stoppage time goal to secure a 1-0 win over Albania in Group G.

He said: "We won in the final minute - we all worked very hard"

Jonny Evans played the full match for Northern Ireland against Iceland and went close to scoring with a header, but Keith Gillespie’s last-gasp own goal meant a 2-1 defeat and leaves Nigel Worthington’s side’s hopes of making next summer’s tournament hanging by a thread.

John O’Shea started for the Republic of Ireland but came off before half-time through injury as the Republic lost 1-0 to their Czech counterparts, effectively ending their hopes of qualification for Euro 2008.

John O'Shea, may have suffered a bad injury.

Staunton added: "John will go for a scan but it could be a little tear in a knee ligament."

Rio Ferdinand was on the mark for England in their 3-0 success of Russia at Wembley. The Reds defender scored the third, adding to Michael Owen’s two earlier efforts, to seal victory.

Wes Brown was an unused sub.

Darren Fletcher’s Scotland pulled off one of their greatest results on Wednesday night, beating France 1-0 at the Parc de Princes, but it came at a cost to the United midfielder.

Injury forced Fletcher off after just 26 minutes of the tie, but Scotland held firm throughout and snatched a dramatic and unlikely winner when James McFadden hit a wonder-strike from 30 yards.