MANCHESTER, United Kingdom (AFP) — Manchester United drew a line beneath recent back-to-back home defeats by overcoming Shakhtar Donetsk 1-0 at Old Trafford yesterday to secure top spot in Champions League Group A.

Beaten 1-0 by first Everton and then Newcastle United in their last two home games, United survived several near-misses against the Ukrainian champions before prevailing through a second-half goal from Phil Jones.

Another Manchester club, Manchester City, fought back from two goals down to earn a 3-2 win at Bayern Munich and break the holders’ record 10-match Champions League winning streak.

With both teams already through to the knock-out stages, City avenged October’s 3-1 defeat to Bayern at the Etihad Stadium, but still finished second to the Germans in Group D with both teams on 15 points.

Cristiano Ronaldo became the first player to score nine goals in the group stages of the Champions League as Real Madrid won 2-0 away at FC Copenhagen.

Luka Modric had given a surprisingly strong Madrid side the lead with a wonder strike on 25 minutes.

Ronaldo then doubled the advantage just after the break with a clinical finish from close range.

Benfica failed to reach the Champions League knockout stage despite coming back to beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-1 to finish in third place behind Olympiakos in Group C.

Benfica completed the group stage with 10 points, the same as Olympiakos, but the Greek team went into the next round with a better head-to-head record against the Portuguese club.

At Old Trafford, having already seen their team beaten twice in the space of a week, there was an understandable nervousness about the Old Trafford crowd that Shakhtar seemed eager to exploit.

Alex Teixeira could have put the visitors ahead in the 12th minute after running onto a pass from fellow Brazilian Taison, but he sent the ball inches wide of United goalkeeper David de Gea’s left-hand post.

Andriy Pyatov had already saved from Jones by that stage and the Shakhtar goalkeeper also had to box away a half-volley from tournament debutant Adnan Januzaj, but United continued to look vulnerable.

One-time United target Douglas Costa slashed a shot wide after Alexander Buttner committed himself too early, while Alex Teixeira could only fire straight at De Gea after ghosting past Ryan Giggs, Rio Ferdinand and Jonny Evans.

Giggs and Ferdinand looked particularly ponderous, both conceding possession in dangerous positions, but gradually United roused themselves.