Just as the belief that Manchester United can win the Champions League grows ever stronger, so their injury list grows ever longer.

David Beckham became the latest addition to their casualty list when he came off with a broken bone in his foot, which is expected to rule him out for the rest of United's season.

He must also be doubtful for the World Cup, which begins on May 31 with England's opening game just two days later.

The news was a further blow to United, particularly with Roy Keane out for another four or five weeks with a torn hamstring.

Ronny Johnsen also came off injured to take some of the shine off what was another glorious European night for United.

They managed to win without Beckham and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who replaced the midfielder, scored twice, to live up to his unwanted tag of supersub, and Ryan Giggs once.

On the compelling evidence of these two performances against Deportivo La Coruna, United have proved beyond any lingering doubt that they can go on to triumph at Hampden Park on May 15.

Now only Liverpool's conquerors Bayer Leverkusen stand between Sir Alex Ferguson and his dream homecoming.

Nicky Butt recovered from his migraine to give a welcome boost to United's midfield, which had been robbed of Keane and the suspended Paul Scholes.

Butt's availability allowed Ferguson to field his 4-4-1-1 formation with Quinton Fortune making a rare European start on the left and Giggs tucked just in behind lone striker Ruud van Nistelrooy.

The statistics suggested Ferguson need not be so cautious and United had never lost any of their previous 91 home games in Europe by more than one goal.

Despite United's 2-0 success at the Riazor last week, Ferguson felt this tie was not over yet and was mindful not only of Depor's 3-2 win here back in October, but also of their 2-0 victory at Highbury last month.

Francisco Molina made a fingertip save from Fortune early on before Fabien Barthez, who made two gaffes against Depor on their last visit here, made a great stop to deny Diego Tristan as he attempted to round him.

Beckham was then injured when he was sent flying by a two-footed tackle by Pedro Duscher on 19 minutes.

On came Solskjaer and he had only been on the pitch for two minutes when, with his first touch, he scored his 23rd goal of the season in, appropriately enough, the 23rd minute.

Following a foul on Giggs on the left, Juan Veron curled the free-kick to the edge of the six-yard box where Solskjaer came steaming in to sidefoot home.

If Depor had had a mountain to climb before they now had to scale Mount Everest, K2 and every other peak in the Himalayas, needing now to score three times to win.

But it was United who came closest to scoring again and Giggs jinked his way into the Depor box only to see his shot deflected wide for a corner.

United suffered a second injury blow on 37 minutes when Johnsen had to come off to be replaced by Wes Brown.

United sustained a bigger blow a minute before the interval when they scored an own goal to throw Depor a lifeline.

Enrique Romero got in behind the United defence on the left, pulled the ball back and Laurent Blanc knocked it into his own net.

Van Nistelrooy, who bounced a downwards header over the crossbar just before half-time, went close again and Molina saved his header from Fortune's left-wing cross.

United ended Depor's lingering hopes of a comeback when they scored a second goal on 56 minutes, which had Veron's fingerprints all over it.

The Argentinian, who has failed to live up to his £28.1million price tag for much of the season, played an exquisite ball with the outside of his foot across the pitch to Solskjaer on the left and the Norwegian fired home left-footed from the narrow angle on the left.

Depor were reduced to 10 men two minutes later when Lionel Scaloni was sent off in a case of mistaken identity.

The defender was shown a second yellow card for dissent after he was wrongly booked for the challenge which forced Beckham off, which of course had been perpetrated by Duscher.

United added to Depor's agony when Giggs scored a fine virtuoso goal on 69 minutes. Romero fell on his backside as he attempted to close Giggs down and the Welshman advanced into the area from where he fired home left-footed.

United might have had a fourth and van Nistelrooy headed against the underside of the crossbar from Giggs' cross.

Duscher's luck finally ran out on 75 minutes when he was sent off for a second bookable offence to leave Depor with just nine men.

Despite only having nine men Depor had the last word when Djalminha's free-kick was deflected home in stoppage time.

Teams

Man Utd: Barthez, Gary Neville, Blanc, Johnsen (Brown 37), Silvestre, Beckham (Solskjaer 21), Butt, Veron (Phil Neville 74), Fortune, Giggs, van Nistelrooy.

Subs Not Used: Carroll, Irwin, Forlan, Stewart.

Goals: Solskjaer 23, 56, Giggs 69.

D Coruna: Molina, Scaloni, Naybet, Hector, Romero, Victor (Makaay 51), Duscher, Djalminha, Fran (Capdevila 63), Valeron, Tristan (Pandiani 72).

Subs Not Used: Nuno, Amavisca, Emerson, Sergio.

Sent Off: Scaloni (60), Duscher (75).

Booked: Scaloni, Hector, Duscher.

Goals: Blanc 44 og, Djalminha 90.

Agg (5-2) Att: 65,875

Ref: Markus Merk (Kaiserslautern).