MAN. UTD. . .2BAYER LEVERKUSEN. . .2Champions League:Another broken foot for Manchester United and with it the threat of a broken dream. Three weeks after David Beckham suffered a fractured metatarsal in the Champions League quarter-finals, Gary Neville was taken to hospital last night with a break in his left foot after making a tackle in the semi-finals.
Again, the implications for England in the World Cup were severe. Certainly United's hopes of reaching a second Champions League final under Alex Ferguson began to shrink as Bayer Leverkusen twice came from behind to take a 2-2 draw back to Germany for Tuesday's second leg.
United needed to ensure they did not slip up at home to Leverkusen while pushing to the backs of their minds the uncomfortable statistic that no German team had lost at Old Trafford in Europe since 1965-66.
Tactically, Klaus Toppmoller, Leverkusen's coach, approached the match much as he had done at Liverpool in the quarter-finals.
Again, the lanky Bulgarian, Dimitar Berbatov, was the only out-and-out striker and, although Yildiray Basturk, Michael Ballack and Bernd Schneider were never far away, the initial aim was to deny United space and time in midfield.
Yet, Bayer were soon forcing corners and in the third minute Laurent Blanc limped out of a sharp covering tackle on Berbatov as his pace threatened to exploit a mistake by Nicky Butt.
Clearly, Leverkusen had not come merely to defend, always a dangerous practice here.
The ability of Ryan Giggs to come off defenders at speed is always important to United and from the outset the Welshman was shadowed by the burly Carsten Ramelow. The latter, however, was nowhere around when Paul Scholes's quick ball from midfield found Giggs well-placed to send in Ruud Van Nistelrooy, who was unable to gain sufficient control for a shot.
Never mind. United had shown themselves capable of getting behind the defence and Van Nistelrooy positively relished his personal battle with the Brazilian Lucio.
After 10 minutes, a dipping centre from Gary Neville again exposed Leverkusen. Following an air shot by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer the ball ran to Van Nistelrooy, who scooped it over.
All this was encouraging for United, less so the sight of Gary Neville going off just past the quarter-hour having been hurt earlier tackling Ze Roberto.
This brought on Phil Neville, who at least gave United extra pace at right back, useful against Ze Roberto. In fact, the younger Neville had only been on for four minutes when he was cautioned for fouling the Brazilian.
United took the lead on the half-hour. Another precise, lofted pass from Scholes instigated the move, this time finding Van Nistelrooy on the right.
The Dutchman squared the ball low to Solskjaer, whose shot was scuffed, but then took a right-angled ricochet off Boris Zivkovic to leave Hans Jorg Butt flatfooted and helpless - plainly an own goal.
As Berbatov met a cross from Ramelow with a header just wide and Basturk burrowed deep into their defences United were reminded of how fragile Liverpool's 1-0 lead had proved to be at the BayArena.
More goals were needed and Mikael Silvestre nearly scored a second 10 minutes from the interval when he forced his way past Zivkovic before driving a shot past the far post.
For the second half, Bayer replaced Jens Nowotny with Zoltan Sebescen, switching Zivkovic to centre back, the better for Sebescen to attack United on the right.
Within four minutes, Schneider's cross from this flank found Basturk reaching the ball ahead of Scholes to shoot wide, but still remind Old Trafford of Leverkusen's scoring potential.
United were finding it difficult to rediscover their better rhythms. Scholes and Butt still gave them solidity in midfield, yet too much was breaking down around Giggs, leaving them vulnerable to Leverkusen's brisk breakaways, one of which brought the scores level in the 62nd minute.
Lucio strode long and deep into United's defence on the right before finding Ze Roberto, who quickly found Schneider on the right. Schneider's centre, low and hard, was met by Michael Ballack just outside the area and Fabien Barthez had no chance of stopping a shot through a thicket of bodies.
Not that relief, for United, was far away. Not that it lasted long either. Five minutes later, Veron's oblique pass reached an unmarked Van Nistelrooy, who was brought down by Ze Roberto.
Van Nistelrooy's penalty was perfectly potted, but Bayer still had their precious away goal, and were soon to get another.
With 15 minutes left, Blanc lapsed into old habits when he failed to clear the ball. Basturk's shot was charged down, but only for Oliver Neuville, who had just replaced Berbatov, to score from the rebound.
MANCHESTER UNITED: Barthez, Gary Neville (Phil Neville 18), Blanc, Brown, Silvestre, Veron, Butt, Scholes (Keane 82), Solskjaer, van Nistelrooy, Giggs, Phil Neville (Irwin 87). Subs Not Used: Carroll, Forlan, Stewart, O'Shea. Booked: Phil Neville. Goals: Zivkovic 30 og, van Nistelrooy 67 pen.
BAYER LEVERKUSEN: Butt, Zivkovic, Lucio, Nowotny (Sebescen 45), Placente, Ze Roberto, Basturk (Vranjes 77), Ramelow, Ballack, Schneider, Berbatov (Neuville 72). Subs Not Used: Juric, Babic, Kirsten, Kleine. Booked: Zivkovic, Ze Roberto. Goals: Ballack 62, Neuville 75.
Referee: L Michel (Slovakia).
