It was supposed to be Cristiano Ronaldo v Kaka, but it was Wayne Rooney who finished an exhilarating evening with his name echoing around Old Trafford and the praise of his manager Sir Alex Ferguson ringing in his ears.
Rooney's injury-time winner against AC Milan means Manchester United will travel to Italy next week with a 3-2 lead to defend in the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, and Ferguson is confident his side can emerge from the San Siro with a ticket to next month's final in Athens.
"We had some bad moments: We lost two terrible goals ourselves through bad defending," Ferguson admitted after watching his side survive the loss of three-quarters of his first-choice back four.
PHOTO: AFP
"But there were also some great moments of football which prove that we have the quality to win this tournament. It is not going to be easy in Milan and they know it is not going to be easy, but we have an outstanding chance now," he said.
Rooney's late goal -- a fierce first-time drive from Ryan Giggs's through ball that caught Milan's goalkeeper, Dida, on his heels and out of position -- was his second of the evening, matching the opportunistic double that Kaka had claimed to give Milan a half-time lead following Ronaldo's early opener.
"At 2-1 down to a team of that standard, it is difficult," Ferguson said. "But we said at half-time to persevere and keep playing with speed because that was what was going to make the difference."
"The way Wayne played tonight has put us in a fantastic position. With the speed of our team I think we will score over there. Whether it will be good enough I don't know but it will be a fantastic game," he said.
Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti admitted that Rooney's strike had left United as marginal favorites to progress to the final, but he refused to blame the poor positioning of Dida, who was also at fault when he failed to hold Ronaldo's early header and then helped the ball over the line.
"Perhaps he could have done a little bit better on the final goal but it was a fantastic shot by Rooney and Dida made a number of very important saves for us early in the match," said Ancelotti, who is hoping to have key striker Filipo Inzaghi fit in time for the second leg.
Milan were unfortunate to lose both Paolo Maldini, who failed to emerge for the second half because of knee problem, and their midfield enforcer Gennaro Gattuso, who went off ten minutes after the restart but is expected to be fit for next week.
"It is difficult to say if things would have been different if they had stayed on, but there is doubt that players with their kind of experience play a vital role when you are under pressure," Ancelotti said.
"I think it pretty much boiled down to the ball we lost that led to the winning goal. It was pretty much over at that stage and 2-2 would have been a good result for us," he said. "But that goal has complicated things."
"This result will suit Manchester. It means they can play on the counter attack which is one of their great strengths but it is all still to play for and we have a lot of confidence and belief going into the game next week," Ancelotti said.
Gattuso himself said he would do his best to recover in time.
"There's a week to go and I will do everything to be there. It will be a battle," Gattuso said.
Ferguson is hopeful Rio Ferdinand could have recovered from the groin injury that kept him out on Tuesday in time for the second leg, although he is resigned to the likelihood of another reshuffle.
"I don't think [Nemanja] Vidic will be ready and Patrice Evra is out now [suspended following a yellow card here], so I could be forced to put John O'Shea in the middle and pull Darren Fletcher back to right-back, which I don't want to do after the way he played in midfield tonight."
Ronaldo gave United the lead with a header from a Giggs corner that cannoned into Dida's chest before spinning towards the top corner of the net.
Kaka admitted that their energy had sapped after the hour mark.
"We stopped playing in the last half hour and I also felt my own performance dip," Kaka said. "But we can take a lot of encouragement from tonight's performance, and that will fire us up for the second leg."
Their sudden dip saw United take control and a delightful flick from Paul Scholes allowed Rooney to chest the ball down on the edge of the six-yard box before tucking away the equaliser to set the stage for his own late heroics.
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