LONDON: Two former Champions League winners Manchester United and Borussia Dortmund who have both been having trouble in their domestic leagues suffered differing fortunes on Tuesday in their Champions League last-16 first-leg ties.

United’s Champions League future is in doubt after a 2-0 meltdown at Greek champions Olympiakos and the measure of the task awaiting the English champions at Old Trafford in three weeks time is that only one team has come back from a two goal first-leg deficit before in the knockout stages.

Defeat at the Georgios Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus represented yet another body blow in an inauspicious campaign for David Moyes’ side. United are out of the FA Cup and the League Cup and trail Premier League leaders Chelsea by 15 points with 11 games left to play.

Last season’s runners-up Dortmund have also struggled to impose themselves in their league, they trail Bayern Munich by 20 points in the Bundesliga, but they can probably look forward to the quarter-finals of this competition as they beat Zenit St Petersburg 4-2 in Russia with Robert Lewandowski banging in a brace.

United’s dwindling hopes of lifting a trophy this season are dangling by a thread as they were shunted towards an unscheduled exit, producing an abject display described by Moyes as “the worst performance in Europe” he’d seen from his players.

Alejandro Dominguez opened the scoring with a clever first-half flick and Arsenal loanee Joel Campbell added a sublime second goal at an ecstatic Karaiskakis Stadium, to leave the Greek champions on the brink of the last eight for the first time since 1999.

“That’s the worst we’ve played in Europe. We didn’t deserve to get anything because of the way we played,” Moyes told reporters. “To a man there was nothing. We never really got going from the start and didn’t offer enough on the night to create any goals.

“I’m surprised, I didn’t see that level of performance coming. I take responsibility, we have to play better. The players are hurting.

“The one good thing is that there’s still a second game to come [on March 19].”

Dominguez broke the deadlock with a smart piece of improvisation when he got his foot to a shot from Yiannis Maniatis in the 38th minute and turned the ball past goalkeeper David de Gea.

First-half composure from the visitors soon turned to complacency after the break when Campbell picked up the ball on the right, insouciantly nutmegged Michael Carrick, and arced a 25-yard shot into the bottom-left corner with his left foot in the 55th.

Wayne Rooney produced no threat up front and strike partner Robin van Persie missed the visitors’ only clear chance – a shot over the crossbar in the 82nd minute – as United, the European champions in 1968, 1999 and 2008, slipped to their first defeat in the Champions League this season.

It was the first time the Greeks had beaten United in five attempts.

“To beat a great side like United, the way we did, is something very special and I can’t hide the joy and pride I feel for my players,” said Olympiakos coach Michel.

“We picked the best moment to show Greek football is alive and kicking,” added the former Spain striker.

Michel played down the implications of the result, saying that 2-0 wasn’t a big enough margin to give an advantage in terms of qualifying.

“I will never say anything bad about Manchester United, because I have such great respect for them.

The players know that we still have more to do,” he said. “But if somebody says that 2-0 is enough to qualify, he’s probably wrong. We have a 2-0 lead against Manchester United, which means nothing.”

Dortmund made a blistering start at the Petrovsky Stadium with Henrikh Mkhitaryan scoring in the fourth minute and Marco Reus doubling the visitors’ lead a minute later after Zenit, looking rusty as they started their first match after a two-month winter break, twice lost possession on the halfway line.

The hosts pulled one back through Oleg Shatov in the 57th but Lewandowski replied four minutes later, after playing a one-two with Poland team-mate Lukasz Piszczek.

Piszczek conceded a penalty and Hulk scored emphatically from the spot in the 69th but Lewandowski scored just seconds later, as the Germans take a commanding lead home for the second-leg on March 19.

“We were incredibly active and aggressive. It’s not easy to do that. The team put in a fantastic performance,” Dortmund coach Juergen Klopp told reporters.

“This was close to an optimal performance. We pressed to great effect against a dangerous team.”

Zenit’s Italian coach Luciano Spalletti said the tie was not yet decided and that his side still has a chance of going through.

“In football there’s always a chance of coming back,” Spalletti said. “Everything depends on what kind of performance you deliver. It all depends on what you put into it, how much you’re prepared to run. It depends on your effort.”—Agencies