AC MILAN 2-3 MANCHESTER UNITED
David Beckham may have been the talk of the tie since it was first drawn due to his first ever appearance against old club Manchester United, but his England team-mate Wayne Rooney assured that he left the San Siro with the spotlight after his two goals gave the Red Devils an advantage going into next fortnight’s second leg at Old Trafford.
It was Ronaldinho who opened the scoring though, a skilfull shot taking a deflection to put the Italians ahead (3′). Paul Scholes then replied with what appeared at first to be a volley of supreme skill, but on closer inspection was shown that he missed with his intended foot, and scoring via a deflection on the shin of his standing one (36′). Two lucky goals meant that it was level at half-time, but after the break it was Rooney who popped up with two headers to give United the edge (66′, 74′). Clarence Seedorf converted a skillful effort (86′) to keep AC Milan in with a realistic shot of progressing to the quarter-finals.
In Arsenal’s match the following day against FC Porto, the Potugese team won 2-1 to take a slender advantage to the Emirates Stadium. Arsenal keeper Lukas Fabianski was the man at fault for the opener, a terrible error gifting Varela (11′). The Gunners got an equaliser through Sol Campbell, in his first European match since the 2006 Final (18′). The Porto winner came in the second half, after Campbell and Fabianski were both caught of guard by a very quick free-kick inside the area, finished by Falcao (51′)
The other two matches saw Lyon defeat Real Madrid 1-0, and Bayern Munich snatch a 2-1 home triumph over Fiorentina. The second legs of these games will be in two weeks time, with the other ‘set’ of matches, including Chelsea v Inter Milan, having their first match next week as part of a UEFA idea to maximise revenue from their flagship club competition.
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