United's central defensive pairing held firm as the Germans threatened to pull back a two-goal deficit in the second half of Tuesday's match.

Leverkusen scored once and hit a post late on, but Ferguson's side rode out the storm to take control of Group F.

And the Old Trafford boss said afterwards: "I thought Rio Ferdinand and Laurent Blanc were fantastic.

"We were disappointing in the second half in terms of possession.

"We had some defending to do and we did it well.

"Maybe the changes we made at half-time didn't help.

"We gave them a great start and it was a hell of a battle after that."

However, United had the cushion of two excellent first-half goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy, who was taken off at the interval with a hamstring strain.

And Ferguson was delighted with the way the Dutch striker took his goals.

"The second goal was particularly good," he said.

"It was a marvellous move and a great finish."

However, Ferguson added that Van Nistelrooy's injury is likely to rule him out of Saturday's Premiership match at Charlton.