LONDON -- Sir Stanley Matthews, who helped destroy Bolton Wanderers in the "Matthews Cup Final" of 1953, played a small part in its downfall again as Wanderers succumbed to another virtuoso performance in the English League Cup Final.


On Sunday, Wanderers were effectively beaten by England midfielder Steve McManaman, 23, whose two solo goals gave Liverpool a 2-1 victory over the first division side at Wembley.


Forty-two years ago, Matthews, "The Wizard of the Dribble," now 80 and the guest of honor this time, weaved his magic to set up a hat-trick for Stan Mortensen as his Blackpool side beat Bolton 4-3.


And after being voted Man of the Match for the way he destroyed Bolton on Sunday, McManaman revealed: "Before the game Sir Stanley told me he liked the way I dribbled. Coming from him that was quite a compliment. It inspired me, I knew it was going to be a special afternoon."


Matthews must have been taken back to his own heyday as he watched McManaman score on two outstanding individual efforts, one in each half, to give Liverpool its first trophy in three years and a place in next season's UEFA Cup.


McManaman, who played in Liverpool's last trophy-winning side that won the FA Cup in 1992, said although that was also a great occasion, Sunday's victory surpassed it for him.


"Today was better than 1992. We started the season with people writing us off but we have won a major trophy and are back in Europe. It was a fantastic day."


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Manchester United's quest for a third straight Premier League title took a serious knock Sunday when the Reds were held to a 0-0 draw at home to Leeds.


The draw left United 5 points behind leader Blackburn, which won 2-1 at Everton on Saturday. United has six games remaining to Blackburn's seven.


After a less-than-thrilling first half, the Reds piled on the pressure over the final 45 minutes in search of the breakthrough goal. Several times they came close.


The Reds' dominance was reflected by their 10 corner kicks to Leeds' one.


In the day's other league game, Southampton moved out of the relegation zone with a 4-3 victory over Spurs.


The victory lifted Southampton from 20th to 17th in the 22-team league. It also helped avenge Southampton's 6-2 defeat to the Spurs in the fifth round of the FA Cup last month.


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In Italy, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Gianluca Vialli scored as Juventus of Turin (18-4-3) beat AC Milan 2-0 on Saturday to open a commanding nine-point lead atop the standings. Juventus has 58 points, well ahead of second-place Parma (14-7-4), which lost 1-0 at third-place AS Roma 1-0 on Saturday.


Roma (12-8-5) has 44 points, while three-time defending champion Milan (11-9-5) is in fourth place with 42.


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In Moscow, Spartak kicked off defence of its league title by mashing Uralmash 5-1 in the snow at Luzhniki stadium on Saturday.


Spartak won easily last year and look to do the same again. Spartak has managed to keep their top players from going abroad and signed three players, including Russian international Andrei Afanasiev.


"Unfortunately we have no rivals in Russia and it's no exaggeration to say we were never really stretched last season," said Spartak and Russia captain Victor Onopko.


Four other Moscow teams -- Lokomotiv, CSKA, Torpedo, and Dinamo -- were also opening-day winners.


(Reuters, AP, MT)