David O'Leary cut a stern stance as he walked to the post-match podium for the regulation press conference, but his thoughts betrayed a contentment absent from the look on his face. It's half-time in the tie and O'Leary was half-satisfied. "We've played a very good team tonight," he said, "we had our chances, but we rode our luck as well. I always knew it was going to be close, at this stage of the competition you don't win games by three or four goals.

"But I was lucky enough to play for a great club in Arsenal against Juventus in 1980. It was a similar type of game to this one. They held us at Highbury and a lot of people thought it was over. But we got the away goal and went through.

"We will have to go to Valencia and produce a great performance, but this tie's not over. We're 90 minutes away and I'm proud. Obviously it would have been great to have scored, but I'm not unduly concerned. They will be delighted to get the result, if I was from Valencia I'd be delighted. But I would also be wary. I've got a side who can score goals away from home."

O'Leary's only lament was that he could not bring on Robbie Keane when it became apparent that Valencia were not going to be broken down by Mark Viduka and Alan Smith. That had been O'Leary's tactic against Chelsea on Saturday and he called Keane's unavailability then "a nuisance in Europe".

Last night he said: "I'd have loved to have brought Robbie Keane on."

Without Keane O'Leary is now reliant on a higher force. "God is good. I'm a great believer in faith."