Leicester 1 Man Utd 4
The Dutchman, at a low ebb after missing a last-gasp penalty against Arsenal last Sunday, ensured it was a case of normal service being resumed with a fine treble after Roy Keane opened the scoring with his first goal since the strike against Bayer Leverkusen in the 2002 Champions League semi-final.
Marcus Bent almost capitalised on some poor defending by John O'Shea before Keane netted after quarter of an hour by timing his run to perfection to meet a pass from the returning Paul Scholes, and the United skipper eased past Ian Walker before tapping into an empty net.
It was soon 2-0 to the visitors when Scholes's shot was intercepted by van Nistelrooy, who finished clinically. The former PSV Eindhoven hit-man could have added to his tally before netting again just before half time when expertly controlling Rio Ferdinand's pass to deceive Frank Sinclair and lashing an explosive drive past Walker.
Van Nistelrooy completed his hat-trick seven minutes after the interval when again displaying a cool head when put through by Eric Djemba-Djemba, a half time replacement for Keane, but Leicester had the better of the game from that stage onwards with United taking their foot off the gas.
Gerry Taggart had spurned City's clearest opening of the first period, but they had a few chances before Sinclair rose unchallenged to power home a Muzzy Izzet corner after 73 minutes to claim a consolation effort.
Bent clipped the bar with a fabulous curling attempt that beat Tim Howard, and Phil Neville had to clear the danger when Bent's glancing header almost fell to James Scowcroft.
Danny Coyne, on for Walker, made a routine save to thwart another substitute, Diego Forlan, but United posed less threat in the closing stages.
