"United storm back to beat Milan in epic Semi-final"
Another classic European night at Old Trafford saw Manchester United and AC Milan produce a goal laden feast of football. In contrast to the other 2007 semi-final between Chelsea and Liverpool this was a stirring exhibition of attacking football from both sides. Kaka gave a master-class, Rooney was at his dramatic best whilst Giggs and Scholes showed they still had what it takes at the highest level.
The way United started the game there where dreams of a repeat of the 7-1 thumping the tteam dished out to Roma in the quarter-finals two weeks previous. With the crowd responding to Ferguson's plea to be the 12th man and creating a cauldron of noise, they were already hoarse by the time Ronaldo nodded in the sixth-minute opener and the visitors buckled.
The fault ultimately was Brazilian keeper Dida's as the ball hit him on the head and continued goalwards all he could do was claw the looping ball into his own net. Milan boss Carlo Ancelotti had been unsure about putting Dida into the firing line after nursing a shoulder problem and must have rued his misjudgement that he was fully fit. The start may have been reminiscent of the Roma game but the resemblance with the quarter-final second-leg stopped there.
An ageing Milan team had experience in proportion to their years and also the inspiration of Kaka, who glowed with virtuosity. United were more insistent than Milan, but that was as far as the cheerful news went in the period following the opener. With 22 minutes gone, Kaka broke away from Carrick to take Clarence Seedorf's pass before a sluggish Gabriel Heinze could reach him and glide a low finish into the far corner of the net.
Ferguson had less reason to pardon the Brazilian's next goal 15 minutes later. Kaka was outnumbered as he chased down the left, but he slipped inside Fletcher and lobbed the ball over Heinze, who was then flattened as a frantic Evra collided with him. The mayhem was no distraction to the Milan midfielder as he tucked a shot behind Edwin van der Sar.
That was all infuriating for Ferguson, who must have devoted more planning to the threat of Kaka than any other aspect of the fixture. With the lone striker Alberto Gilardino unimpressive, the real source of menace was entirely obvious yet it could not be staunched. With Milan in the lead through two away goals, there was a dread that United's own creativity would not rewarded.
A rather severe booking of Evra for a foul on Massimo Oddo late in the first-half means that the left-back will miss the second leg through suspension. Encouragement at Old Trafford lay in the alterations forced on Ancelotti, but United could not immediately come to their own aid and an unmarked Carrick volleyed wide from a Giggs corner in the 48th minute.
That paved the way for a misleading period in which Milan appeared capable of outclassing Ferguson's men. One surging move was capped with a one-two between Kaka and Seedorf that ended with the Brazilian volleying high on 57minutes box was another moment of awe. However whether out of preference or tiredeness, the visitors became much less enterprising after that.
It is foolish to yield the initiative to the Old Trafford side. United, rightly, will not dwell on that or the enforced substitution of the visitors' captain Paolo Maldini. They have no cause to think of anything except their revival here and the dynamism that let them swoop on Milan once they were weakened.
Milan where then robbed of Gennaro Gattuso with a knee problem and the combative midfield man being replaced by Cristian Brocchi. Carlo Ancelotti will have cursed the ill-luck that saw Gattuso depart because the little man was Milan's power supply and the team dimmed without him.
United, better at plundering than they are at guarding, returned to level terms in the 59th minute. Paul Scholes erupted from a muted display to flip a delightfully cheeky pass and Rooney, onside by a whisker, controlled it with his chest before beating Dida who could only slow up on its way over the line. The goalkeeper had, to his credit, pulled off a few impressive saves, with a particularly convincing response to a Fletcher drive after Rooney's cross was headed into his path.
Milan dwindled as the evening went on but if Kaka was supposed to be incarcerated by the deep-lying Darren Fletcher and Michael Carrick he was, in practice, forever escaping custody. The United pair, though, took much credit for driving United onwards in the second-half. Ferguson's team would never have dared to sit back in view of their makeshift defence, one that the opposition exploited fully.
United were buoyant again and Dida then had to finger-tip Ronaldo's dipping drive inches wide as United mounted a spell of sustained pressure in the closing stages. Just as the game looked headed for a draw with the fourth UEFA official holding aloft the two minutes overtime board, Ryan Giggs won a tackle in midfield and surged forward with a flying run.
A clever through ball from the winger gave the mercurial Rooney the tiniest of gaps just outside the box - but enough to pluck his second goal of the match by lashing home a fantastic low first-time drive at the near post. Rooney slid into the corner flag on his knees in celebration and seemed to thank the Gods for his moment of glory. There was barely time to kick off again before the referee blew to end a superb night of football that meant an all-English final was very much on the cards.
Sir Alex Ferguson said "Some of our football was great, absolute quality. In the second half we dominated them and got on top of the game. AC Milan also played some great football, even if there were some poor goals given away by both teams. We lost two terrible goals with bad defending but once we got the equaliser there was only going to be one winner. I told the players at half-time to persevere with their football and to keep playing with speed because that would be the difference."
The return leg a week later in the San Siro would sadly prove a huge disappointment for Sir Alex as the Italians deserved outclassed his side and easily won 3-0. Milan would eventually go to lift the trophy in Athens against Liverpool lessening the pain for many a United fan!!! However this game will go down as a classic given the Reds had been 2-1 down and in a state of dismay they still had the strength to complete a comeback in stoppage time against a Milan team that went on to become European champions.
MANCHESTER
UNITED:
Van der Sar, O'Shea, Brown, Heinze, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs
Subs Not Used: Kuszczak, Smith, Solskjaer, Dong, Richardson, Eagles, Lee
Booked: Evra, Giggs
