Manchester United advanced to the Champions League
group stages as Wayne Rooney netted a hat trick to
help beat Club Brugge 4-0 in Belgium to advance 7-1 on
aggregate.



Rooney opened his 2015-16 account with a dinked shot
over the advancing Sinan Bolat after Memphis Depay's
throughball put him in front of goal in the 20th minute.



Needing a reaction, Brugge had their best chance of the
opening half in the 44th minute, but forward Abdoulay
Diaby's attempt to round United keeper Sergio Romero saw him waste a golden opportunity.



Rooney scored a second just four minutes after the break, tapping home an Ander Herrera pass after a well-worked move, and then completed his hat trick eight minutes later, slotting under Bolat after again finding himself one-on-one with the Brugge keeper.



United then rounded off the scoring in the 63rd minute

after a defence-splitting pass left Herrera alone to easily

slot past the keeper.



Goals from Hakan Calhanoglu, Admir Mehmedi and Karim Bellarabi helped Bayer Leverkusen past Lazio 3-0 and advance 3-1 on aggregate.



Calhanoglu smashed home from close range in the 40th

minute, then Mehmedi doubled advantage after finding

the roof of stand-in keeper Etrit Berisha's net in the

48th, before Bellarabi sealed the tie with a strike two

minutes from time.



FC Astana became the first Kazakhstani club to qualify for the group stage as their 1-1 draw with APOEL Nicosia in Cyprus saw them win 2-1 overall.



Semir Stilic levelled the tie before Nemanja Maksimovic replied for Astana late on. Elsewhere, CSKA Moscow, who were 2-1 down from the first leg in Portugal, defeated Sporting 3-1 to advance 4-3

on aggregate in Russia.



BATE Borisov lost 2-1 to Partizan Belgrade in Serbia but,

with the tie finishing 2-2, progressed on away goals, Igor Stasevich providing the crucial strike for the Belarusians before Maksim Zhavnerchik's own-goal and substitute Ivan Saponjic's stoppage-time effort.

Source: www.hotxclusive.com/2015/08/27/rooney-hat-trick-helps-man-united-advance-fc-astana-though-lazio-out/