Neither side was able to find much attacking verve in a game short on goalscoring chances even though Ajax coach Ronald Koeman was hellbent on sending packing a Milanese outfit which swamped his old Barcelona side in the 1994 final.
The following year, Ajax captured the trophy themselves but since then both clubs have struggled to hit the heights.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti left Brazilian playmaker Rivaldo and Danish top gun Jon Dahl Tomasson on the bench to start with -- although Filippo Inzaghi shrugged off a lingering bout of flu to take his place in attack.
Ajax had Finnish midfielder Jari Litmanen starting on the bench following three months out with Achilles trouble while striker Andy van der Meyde was suspended.
Andriy Shevchenko forced a fine save from Ajax's Romanian keeper Bogdan Lobont after just five minutes with a close-range shot but even the introductions of Tomasson for Inzaghi and Rivaldo for Shevchenko, as well as Litmanen for Zlatan Ibrahimovic, failed to conjure a breakthrough.
"I thought we played well. We kept a clean sheet -- and we'll have more space at the San Siro in the return leg," opined Koeman.
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