Manchester United held out under intense second-half pressure from Chelsea to emerge from their League Cup semifinal with the narrowest of advantages after an entertaining first-leg goalless draw at Stamford Bridge on Wednesday.
It took a late goalline clearance to prevent Chelsea's most recent signing, Jiri Jarosik, from claiming a late winner from the home side but United will claim they deserved the draw after enjoying the better of the first half.
What had been an even-tempered affair was marred in the final minutes when Didier Drogba and Cristiano Ronaldo tangled on the touchline, sparking a melee that resulted in both players being booked.
When the two sides had last met, on the opening day of the Premiership season, a solitary goal from Eidur Gudjohnsen was enough to settle a drab affair in Chelsea's favor.
But this 0-0 stalemate will mean United start as favorites for the second leg at Old Trafford on Jan. 26.
"It was a good performance from us, we battled hard and limited them to just a couple of chances," said United defender Phil Neville, who said his team were keen to eradicate the memory of Saturday's dismal 0-0 FA Cup third round draw against Exeter.
"That was a blip and we were keen to bounce back. The manager picked a team to do well and with a bit more quality we could have won it. The draw was a fair result. We are favorites to win now but there isn't much to choose between the teams," he said.
Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho said it was one of the best performances he had seen all season by his team.
"It was a great game and I think we played one of our best matches at home this season," Mourinho said.
United boss Alex Ferguson said he was happy to have striker Louis Saha back in the line-up after a two-month injury lay-off.
Joe Cole set the tone of the match inside the first 10 minutes with an airshot as he attempted to volley Mikael Silvestre's misdirected header towards goal.
The Chelsea midfielder made amends for that fluffed effort with a sublime flick for Damien Duff, who went on to strike a 25m shot that flew narrowly over the angle of post and bar.
French striker Saha had an early penalty appeal waved away as he tried to squeeze between Paulo Ferreira and Tiago in the Chelsea box.
Ronaldo was equally unsuccessful in convincing referee Neale Barry that he had been felled by John Terry but United soon carved out the best chance of the opening period.
Unchallenged as he rose to meet Wayne Rooney's corner inside the 6m box, Saha failed to make a clean contact with his head and the ball bounced wide of the target.
As the half-hour mark approached, Frank Lampard went close with a glancing header that skidded beyond the far post and Eidur Gudjohnsen found the net only to have his close-range effort ruled out for offside.
At the other end, Rooney fired one effort into the side netting and was only fractionally off target with an improvised volley with his back to goal.
For all the chances, it was not until ten minutes before the break that either goalkeeper had a save to make, Carlo Cudicini diving to his left to keep out Rooney's header, cleverly directed towards the near post from Darren Fletcher's cross.
United could claim to have shaded the opening period but they found themselves on the rack immediately after the break, during which Chelsea coach Mourinho took the opportunity to replace Gudjohnsen with Didier Drogba.
A mishit clearance from Tim Howard gave Cole an opportunity to try his luck from 35m, his aim not quite matching the speed of his reactions, and it took a goal-line clearance from Gabriel Heinze to deny Lampard after he had surged into the box and round John O'Shea.
Drogba's first involvement saw him hacked down by Heinze, a foul that earned the Argentina defender a booking. His second was to draw a good save from Howard after Lampard had found him on the edge of the area from the resulting free-kick.
Another long-range effort from Lampard whistled a foot wide and Chelsea's growing dominance was underlined by Chelsea's introduction of an extra striker, Mateja Kezman at the expense of midfielder Tiago.
Mourinho also put on Jarosik, and the Czech midfielder nearly sealed victory with eight minutes left after a Duff corner found him unmarked beyond the back post, his shot bouncing off Tim Howard's legs and over the bar.
Accusations
Jose Mourinho has accused Sir Alex Ferguson of using his standing in English football to influence referee Neale Barry's handling of Wednesday's League Cup semifinal clash.
Mourinho was infuriated to see Ferguson accompanying Barry up the tunnel at half time in the goalless first leg and afterwards claimed that the little chat had altered the way the official handled the second half of the match at Stamford Bridge, in United's favor.
Mourinho never named Ferguson directly, but left no doubt about who he was talking about when he complained that the "referee did not walk alone to the dressing room," and that he was "beginning to understand," certain facts of life in English football.
Expanding on his theme, Mourinho added: "Maybe one day when I become 60 and I am in the same league for 20 years and I know everybody and everybody respects me a lot ... maybe one day I have this power to speak and people tremble a little bit."
Despite claiming that Barry had put up with "fault after fault, diving after diving," from United in a second half that Chelsea dominated, Mourinho claimed he was not impugning the integrity of the official.
"I told the fourth official what I feel and told him I would tell the press the same," he said.
"I don't think it is a question of integrity, I think it is a question of a big personality influencing another person without so much prestige in the world of English football.
"I think the referee is not bad. For me he is okay and of course he is an honorable man. But I can understand that with a little bit of pressure and a few clever words he can change a little bit the way you think," he said.
French League
Marseille rebounded from their humiliating French Cup exit at the hands of Angers last weekend as they beat second-placed Lille 2-1 on Tuesday.
First-half goals by Steve Marlet on his 31st birthday and a maiden effort from Samir Nasri gave them a much-needed advantage before a Lille onslaught that saw them reduce the deficit through a penalty by the hosts' leading scorer Philippe Brunel.
Victory saw Marseille move up to fourth in the table, seven points adrift of leaders Lyon.
Marlet scored in the second minute, his 50th career goal in the French championship, as he benefited from the Lille defense failing to clear a freekick and got the barest of touches on it to score with Senegalese international keeper Tony Sylva only able to help it into the net.
Marlet set up the second after a terrible error by Stathis Tavlaridis which let in the former French international and his pass inside allowed Samir Nasri to sidefoot it home.
Brunel almost reduced the visitors' advantage when he attempted to lob France goalkeeper Fabien Barthez but the former Manchester United guardian proved equal to the task as he put it over the bar.
Marlet was on fire and started the second-half as lively as he had been in the first but was thwarted by Sylva in wrapping up the match as his shot from the left of the penalty area was turned round the post for a corner.
That save was made even more important three minutes later as Lille got themselves back into the match when Matt Moussilou was sent sprawling by Abdoulaye Meite in the penalty box and Brunel slotted home the resulting penalty in the 53rd minute for his sixth goal of the campaign.
Marseille were fortunate not to be reduced to 10 men in the 62nd minute when Habib Beye tackled Moussilou from behind, but received the visitors fifth yellow card of the evening.
Italian Cup
AC Milan and Inter Milan reached the quarterfinals of the Italian Cup with minimum fuss on Wednesday.
AC Milan beat Palermo 2-0 at home to seal a 4-1 aggregate win, while their city neighbors and co-tenants Inter Milan came from behind to win 3-1 at Bologna and clinch a 6-2 aggregate win.
At the San Siro, Christian Brocchi opened the scoring for AC Milan with a fierce shot in the 19th minute and Jon Dahl Tomasson grabbed the second, converting the penalty after he had been brought down in the box by Christian Terlizzi 13 minutes from time.
AC Milan will meet the winners of yesterday's third round tie between Udinese and Lecce.
Nigerian striker Obafemi Martins scored a superb second-half hat-trick as Inter Milan made light work of Bologna.
The speedy 20-year-old forward struck twice from close range before rounding off the scoring with a stunning drive that flew into the top corner of the net.
Inter trailed at half-time to a goal from Jonathan Binotto, who seized on a defensive error by Dejan Stankovic to slot home with ease.
Inter will play the winners of yesterday's tie between Serie A leaders Juventus and Atalanta. Currently bottom of the league, Atalanta surprisingly won the first leg in Bergamo 2-0.
Sampdoria reached the last eight despite suffering a 2-1 home defeat to second division side Torino, the 2-0 first leg victory for the Genoa side proving enough.
Fiorentina advanced after comfortably winning 3-0 away to Parma.
Three second half goals gave the Florence club a resounding victory in Emilia Romagna to complete an emphatic 5-0 aggregate win.
Enrico Fantini put Fiorentina ahead from close range after his first effort was blocked by Parma keeper Gianluca Berti and Enzo Maresca's delicate chip doubled the visitors' advantage.
Christian Maggio completed the scoring 10 minutes from time with a side-footed finish.
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