Manchester United manager Alex Ferguson was proud of his youngsters after their 2-1 win over Feyenoord kept them on course for the quarter-finals. "I suppose we should have buried them and the many chances we missed worries you at times," admitted the Old Trafford boss.

"But the quality of our game was excellent at times and at this stage of the competition that is encouraging.

"The game remained competitive because we missed those chances and we gave ourselves a nervy end.

"It doesn't matter what the scoreline could have been, simply that it could have been better. We could have made it easier for ourselves. But maybe our nature isn't like that."

Ferguson had stripped England striker Teddy Sheringham of his penalty duties after his second consecutive miss for his new club at Derby on Saturday - and replacement Irwin, the 31-year-old Irish veteran, showed him exactly how it should be done.

"It's ironic that he gets his chance in his first game," said Ferguson. "But he's such a great deadball hitter that he gives goalkeepers little chance and we saw that with the way he hit that one tonight."

Ferguson also praised Scholes' fourth strike of the season and said: "He had a look first but there was no draw-back before he shot. He knew what he was doing all right."

And the United boss hailed Scholes' vision in preventing Feyenoord staging a more determined comeback at the end: "After they scored Scholes added the composure we needed to get through the last few minutes. He put his foot on the ball. He was in no hurry and killed the game off.

"With Barcelona losing tonight, as well as Newcastle and Porto, it is looking better for us - the safety net is there for us to finish as one of the two second-best sides.

"But if we keep winning our games then we have nothing to fear from anyone."

Such is the decline of Feyenoord this season that their manager Arie Haan emerged to claim: "That is a good result for us in the circumstances.

"You always think you might get something at 2-1 but it was too much for my players. They were too tired to put United under pressure at the end.

"But we showed a lot of character, especially after going 1-0 behind and then when United were given a penalty which should have only been a free-kick.

"We played a very brave game and obviously we now hope we can pull three points back in Rotterdam in a fortnight."

Dynamo Kiev scored an 3-0 win against Barcelona in Kiev last night, virtually robbing the Spanish side of any hope of qualifying from Group C in the European Champions League.

Sergei Rebrov scored after six minutes, beating goalkeeper Ruud Hesp from a narrow angle. Yuri Maximov and Yuri Kalitvintsev completed the scoring.

Hesp was sent off for professional foul in the 63rd minute after he floored Andrei Shevchenko outside the box.