United stroll to victory over poor Schalke

Manchester United took a major step towards the Champions League final on Tuesday with a 2-0 win away to Schalke 04.In a staggeringly one-sided game, United were utterly dominant, and might have won even more comprehensively.Ryan Giggs finally broke the deadlock midway through the second half, and Wayne Rooney added a second soon after.

"We played very well tonight - a bit disappointed that we didn't take a few more of our chances," said Rooney. "Overall, we're delighted with the performance, we played very well, two away goals - it's a good win for us.

"In the first half in particular we played some great stuff and we were disappointed not to be ahead by half time. But we showed quality in the team to keep going and thought we dominated possession and fully deserved the victory.

United created a string of chances against a rickety Schalke backline, but they were thwarted by a series of superb saves by goalkeeper Manuel Neuer.

Rooney ran the game, Schalke unable to exert any pressure on him, and with United having around two-thirds of the possession, Schalke never had enough of the ball to bring their attacking players into the game.

First Rooney, cutting in from the left, saw his deflected shot superbly tipped over by Manuel Neuer, then Park Ji-Sung floating in from the left, drew the goalkeeper into a fine low save.

Javier Hernandez slipped after being picked out by a superb curling pass from Antonio Valencia, and then shot into Neuer after Park's pass had beaten the offside trap.

The young Mexican has been in superb form of late, and he flashed a shot just wide, and then fired across the face of goal after being played in by Valencia.

It seemed at that stage just a matter of time before United scored. Neuer kept out a Giggs header from Nemanja Vidic's cross with a powerful right hand.

Neuer made yet another fine save from an angled shot after 36 minutes, Park's follow-up being blocked by Atsuto Uchida.

Then, just on the stroke of half-time, Rooney played in Giggs and Neuer made yet another save.

The second half began in similar fashion, with Neuer tipping over a Patrice Evra header. Giggs fired wide when well-placed before the introduction of Peer Kluge for Alexander Baumjohann gave Schalke some solidity in midfield.

The breakthrough finally arrived after 67 minutes, Rooney sliding in Giggs who slipped his finish under Neuer.

"I thought if we kept creating chances then one would go in," said Giggs, who became the oldest player ever to score in the Champions League.

"We created another chances first half to be four or five up. Before the game we'd have taken 2-0, but we're probably slightly disappointed it was only 2-0."

Two minutes later, Rooney added the second, sweeping into the bottom corner after being laid in by Hernandez.

Not until the 81st minute did Schalke create a genuine chance, the substitute Sergio Escudero drawing a diving low save from Edwin van der Sar with a 25-yard drive.

For United this was almost embarrassingly easy.

United are still to concede away from home in this season's competition, and with two away goals are surely on their way to the final at Wembley.

"Schalke are a good team and we can't take them lightly," said Rooney. "We just have to try to be professional and finish the job off at home."

Neuer said they were very disappointed with the result. "We had too much respect from the beginning. We missed out on an opporutnity to change our game plan when we noticed that we were struggling."

Christoph Metzelder added that they accepted the chances of reaching the final were remote. "We have seldon been so outplayed. They are simply such a class team. We can now go to Old Trafford and enjoy the occasion."

The second semi-final sees Real Madrid take on their Spanish rivals Barcelona on Wednesday.