Manchester United 3-2 AC Milan:Manchester United came from behind to beat AC Milan 3-2 in the first leg of a dramatic Champions League semi-final at Old Trafford tonight with Wayne Rooney scoring the winner in stoppage time.
Rooney latched on to a pass from Ryan Giggs to lash the ball
past Dida's near post from ther edge of the penalty area for his
second goal of the game.
A beaming Uniited manager Alex Ferguson told ITV Sport
moments after the game: "I thought we played some fantastic
football and dominated the game. The equaliser gave us the
incentive to go on and win it and the late goal gives us a
magnificent chance of winning the tie now."
United, missing six first team regulars, made a superb start
when Milan goalkeeper Dida could only parry a Cristiano Ronaldo
header into his own net after five minutes.
But Milan, the last team to beat United at home in European
competition two years ago, equalised when Brazilian Kaka fired an
angled left-foot shot past Edwin van der Sar after 22 minutes.
Kaka then put Milan 2-1 up 15 minutes later with a fine
individual goal capitalising on the uncertainty in United's
patched-up defence.
Rooney brought United back into the tie when he converted
from close range to make it 2-2 in the 59th minute after a
brilliantly executed scooped pass from Paul Scholes.
United, out to avenge consecutive 1-0 defeats by Milan in the
2005 knockout round, had to field a patched-up back line after
injuries to Rio Ferdinand, skipper Gary Neville, Mikael Silvestre,
Nemanja Vidic and midfielder-turned-defender Kieran Richardson.
But it seemed to matter little in the opening exchanges, with
United drawing first blood when Ronaldo met a Ryan Giggs corner
with a header that Dida parried upwards and then flapped into his
own net under pressure from Gabriel Heinze.
United's Argentine defender was less lucky soon afterwards,
though, when he failed to prevent Kaka from latching on to Clarence
Seedorf's through-ball and rifling a low left-foot shot past Edwin
van der Sar.
Though United replied with plenty of pressure and a stinging
shot from Ronaldo which Dida could only parry, their night went
from bad to worse in the 37th minute.
Kaka surged forward on a solo run, outmanouevring Darren
Fletcher and then dodging the luckless Heinze, who was promptly
flattened by the in-rushing Patrice Evra to leave both United
men in a heap. Kaka nodded the ball through the gap the United
defenders created and was left completely alone to sweep the ball
past a helpless Van der Sar from close range.
Kaka, already the Champions League's top scorer this season,
took his tally to nine and left United facing their first home
defeat since a Premier League loss to Arsenal in September.
To complete a miserable half for United's back four,
left-back Evra marked his return from injury with a yellow card for
dissent that rules him out of the second leg at San Siro next
Wednesday.
But United, who have only lost five times at home in 51 years
in European competition, came storming back in the second half
before Rooney sealed victory with his late winner.
Milan, with two away goals, are far from beaten and will also
fancy their chances of reaching next month's final against either
Liverpool or Chelsea when they face United at home in the San Siro
in next Wednesday's second leg.