Champions League Semi-final, second leg/AC Milan 3 Manchester Utd 0 AC Milan win 5-3 on aggregate:Manchester United, who had been so full of hope, took no more from the San Siro than the comfort of knowing that they had been outclassed by a wiser and better side.
AC Milan replied to the 3-2 loss at Old Trafford with this show of strength and so stride on to a Champions League final they craved. In Athens on May 23rd they will seek to settle accounts with Liverpool, who snatched the trophy from their grasp in 2005. Events must convince them they have all the arts needed to do so.
The thunder rolled and the rain gushed down to make the surface slick but Milan's football was slicker. While Alex Ferguson had been wise to accept that Milan would score a goal, he must have dreaded that he had underestimated the danger. The Serie A side did exactly as they pleased in a spell that included two goals.
United should not have been wholly surprised. There had also been periods of stark superiority for Milan at Old Trafford yet the visitors had been overcome in the end. At San Siro the predicament was on an entirely different scale.
While the manager had treated the defensive problems beforehand as if they could be borne, they were, in truth, nearly as telling a factor as the sleekly predatory moves from Carlo Ancelotti's team. Rio Ferdinand was still affected by a groin strain and there was a desperation in the recall of another centre-half Nemanja Vidic, who had not featured for a month since fracturing his collarbone.
That may have healed but the Serb's general fitness was not restored so conclusively. In a mundane fixture the defender could have concealed the frailty but this shining display from Milan fixed it in the searchlight before the interval. The strength of their midfield was well known but it was not to be nullified in that phase and its members vied to outdo one another.
In the second minute Kaka had ran straight past Vidic to slant a low ball across the face of goal that eluded everyone. Almost immediately Edwin Van der Sar was saving from the highly impressive Clarence Seedorf. It was a perfectly harmonious midfield with Rino Gattuso and Massimo Ambrosini catching the eye as they went about the everyday chores with efficiency.
Milan were in front after 11 minutes as Seedorf headed down a long ball and Kaka, from 22 yards, drilled a low left-footer past Van der Sar. The goal was simple yet crammed with understanding and technique.
There were no such demonstrations from United before the lead was doubled. After 21 minutes Gabriel Heinze played a foolish pass to Vidic and the Serb cleared only as far as Andrea Pirlo, who squeezed over a cross. Vidic met it with a tame header and Seedorf forced himself away from Fletcher. The Dutchman then skipped wide of Vidic's sliding attempt at a recovery before picking the same spot as Kaka.
United showed a wish to attack on their own account but hardly anything developed from it. Ronaldo, on the left, was constantly at risk of being challenged by the busy Gattuso and the visitors probably needed to remind themselves that the key to the first leg had been their superior fitness over the closing half-hour.
There was no roaring encouragement for them in Milan's arena as they sought to rally and root out the two goals required to win the tie. United had taken the game to the opposition quite often but not in a manner that made Ancelotti panic.
The will to cause mayhem had not flagged in the Premiership team. There was an impression, too, at the start of the second half that the tempo was causing Milan a certain amount of discomfort. Nonetheless, United were nearer to conceding a third goal than they were to unearthing one of their own as the clock ticked toward the hour mark.
Kaka, in search of his fourth goal of the tie, had turned inside Vidic in the 53rd minute and drawn a good parry from Van der Sar. All the same Milan did soon look as if they sorely regretted the fact that the Brazilian had not found the net then. United were showing cogency in the build-up and faith that a revival was feasible.
The talk among United fans would have been of the famous comeback in Turin to defeat Juventus eight years ago. You almost had the impression that it had crossed the odd mind or two in a Milan line-up whose ambitions were frequently restricted to clouting the ball away.
That was good enough while United were not testing Dida properly. Fletcher, for instance, had not called the goalkeeper into action when provided with an opening by Rooney.
The latter, like Ronaldo, could expect clusters of opponents around him whenever he had the ball and the referee Frank de Bleeckere ignored Rooney's claim for a penalty as he attempted a bicycle kick.
Milan confirmed that nothing could save United by establishing a 3-0 lead in the 78th minute. Ambrosini's long pass on the counter-attack was exquisite and the substitute Alberto Gilardino ran through to flight a finish past Van der Sar. This had become one of the great nights in Ancelotti's career.
Guardian Service
AC MILAN:Dida, Oddo, Nesta, Kaladze, Jankulovski, Gattuso (Cafu 84), Pirlo, Seedorf, Ambrosini, Kaka (Favalli 86), Inzaghi (Gilardino 66). Subs not used: Kalac, Bonera, Serginho, Brocchi. Booked: Ambrosini, Gattuso. Goals: Kaka 11, Seedorf 30, Gilardino 78.
MAN UTD:Van der Sar, O'Shea (Saha 77), Brown, Vidic, Heinze, Ronaldo, Fletcher, Scholes, Carrick, Giggs, Rooney. Subs not used: Kuszczak, Ferdinand, Smith, Solskjaer, Richardson, Eagles. Booked: Ronaldo.
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium).