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25 April 2007, by Sean Gillen

It should have been the final!

Manchester United 3-2 AC Milan

Wayne Rooney scored a 92nd minute winner to give Manchester United a precious lead to take into the Champions League semi-final second leg in Milan.

An exhilarating night of football at Old Trafford saw Cristiano Ronaldo give United an early lead, only for Milan’s Brazilian superstar Kaka to stun the home crowd with a quick first half double, before Rooney struck twice in the second half to give United the edge in the tie.

The hosts got off to the perfect start when, just five minutes in, Ronaldo rose to head a Ryan Giggs corner towards goal and Milan goalkeeper Dida could not get enough on his save to stop it looping over the line.

United continued their good start for the opening ten minutes, but after initially looking shaken, Milan began to grow into the game. The Italians drew level on 21 minutes when Clarence Seedorf fed Kaka and the Brazilian stole a march on Gabriel Heinze before coolly finding the bottom corner.

Milan grew in confidence after the goal, and controlled large parts of the first period with calm incisive passing. A second for Kaka arrived ten minutes before the break when a disastrous mix-up saw Heinze and Patrice Evra collide when trying to challenge the midfielder, and Kaka again showed great composure to slide the ball past van Der Sar.

Ronaldo cannonball

Ronaldo’s direct running clearly worried the Milan backline, with several defenders lining up to face the Portuguese every time he got the ball. However, the former Sporting man did manage to get a good sight of goal when he cut in on his left foot and unleashed a ferocious shot for Dida to parry away.

The second half began in much the same way as the first, with United on the front foot. Michael Carrick missed an excellent opportunity to draw his side level when he found himself free at the far post to connect with Giggs’ corner, but he could not get his effort on target.

After another brief period of Milan domination, United’s midfield trio of Scholes, Carrick and Fletcher took control of the game, and the home side dominated the remainder of the second half.

The scores were level just before the hour mark when Scholes showed great skill to lift a ball through to Rooney inside the Milan penalty area, and the England forward controlled before finishing past Dida.

Fletcher drew a great save from Dida shortly afterwards as United poured forward in the search of a crucial third goal. The Milan no.1 then pushed Ronaldo’s 25-metre effort round the post as the pressure on the Milan goal continued to build.

Despite United’s best efforts, it appeared that the match was heading for a draw, until Rooney struck in the second minute of injury time. A quick counter attack saw Giggs carry the ball inside the Milan half, before finding Rooney with a perfectly timed pass, and Rooney beat Dida with a sensational first-time hit from twenty metres.

Alex Ferguson (Manchester United manager):

“It gives us a magnificent chance. We are in front and they (Milan) know that. We persevered, we kept playing our football - some of which was fantastic - and we dominated the second half.”

“We got hold of the game and the equaliser gave us the impetus to go on and win it. Some of the football we played was absolute quality.”

Carlo Ancelotti (Milan manager):

“It’s disappointing, but we were foolish and gifted Manchester United the victory when a draw was probably the more accurate reflection of the game.”

“We knew Manchester never give in and that there would be moments of difficulty, as they are very aggressive and play at a high tempo. We conceded on a set-piece, but after 15 minutes we really got into gear and for an hour were excellent. We did very well to limit Cristiano Ronaldo, who was hardly ever really dangerous when he came forward.”

Kaka (Milan midfielder):

“We scored two important goals, too bad for the goal we conceded near the end. Now we will go for it at San Siro, where we will have the support of the public, who will help us.”

“It's a bitter defeat, in the second half we backed up too much in defence, that's something we need to improve on in the second leg.”

Wayne Rooney (Manchester United forward):

“It's a great feeling. It was a difficult match but when it got late, we kept going. We knew the victory would make it a little bit easier for the away leg. And to get a goal in the last minute is a great feeling.”

“It was fantastic. At 2-1 behind at half-time against a very good Milan team, we knew it would be difficult to get the win. The manager told us too keep pushing, keep going and we'll get the goals, and we did.”

Man Utd:
Van der Sar, O'Shea, Brown, Heinze, Evra, Fletcher, Carrick, Scholes, Ronaldo, Rooney, Giggs
Yellow Cards: Evra (42), Giggs (62)

AC Milan:
Dida, Oddo, Nesta, Maldini (Bonera 46), Jankulovski, Gattuso (Brocchi 52), Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf, Kaka, Gilardino (Gourcuff 84)
Yellow Cards: Kaka (62), Bonera (74)

Goals:
[1-0] Ronaldo, 6
[1-1] Kaka, 22
[1-2] Kaka, 37
[2-2] Rooney, 59
[3-2] Rooney, 92