Leonardo, the Milan manager, belied his team’s conservative history and instead showed his Brazilian roots with an adventurous 4-3-3 formation. Another former Brazilian international, Ronaldinho, provided the spark early on with a mesmerising assault of flicks and tricks to add to his early killer blow: a first-time snapshot that took a deflection off Michael Carrick on it’s way into the United goal.
Milan’s technical ability looked to be too much for United as they were stretched again and again. Another goal might well have killed the English champions. Luca Antonini got in behind but dragged his shot wide. Rio Ferdinand brought down Ronaldinho in the box and was lucky to escape without punishment. Alexandre Pato's pace and trickery were a constant threat.
However, as Milan’s ageing legs began to creak the stamina and vigour of Sir Alex Ferguson’s side came to the fore. While Ji-Sung Park and Darren Fletcher provided the lungs, Rooney provided the class. Chances at the San Siro are often hard to come by and this result owed much to the calm head of United’s plucky Scouse talisman.
Although all the pre-match talk was about another United legend, David Beckham, his impact, like that of Ronaldinho’s, faded once the adrenaline ran short. Once a galactico, Beckham showed a lack of the mobility needed to play 90 minutes in the Champions League. Rooney is at peak of his physical ability and his star burns bright. The king is dead. Long live the king.
One of Leonardo’s predecessors at Milan, Fabio Capello, will surely have taken note of this latest evidence Beckham’s decline, and will also be hoping and praying, as Ferguson must, that Rooney stays fit. Without a Ronaldo to pass the baton to United lean hard on Rooney’s considerable shoulders.
Another fading force enjoyed a frolic with lady luck last night. After 36 minutes played Paul Scholes volleyed the thin air behind Darren Fletcher’s cross, the ball struck his standing leg and then the inside of the post on it’s way in for an equaliser against the run of play. Game on.
Whereas United initially seemed overawed by the occasion the second half saw Ferguson’s team find a focus to contrast the first-half blur. Their wingers, Nani and Park, were frustrated by Milan's tight marking early in the game but now found space as Milan pushed on with some of their players, Ronaldinho in particular, not chasing back. United now had room to manoeuvre behind Milan’s three out-and-out forwards, but it was an overdue substitution which helped them to inch ahead.
Antonio Valencia replaced Nani, whose frustrating form here belied the resurgence seen in recent weeks, and almost immediately provided the substance that the Portuguese did not. His cross to the back post after 66 minutes was headed back across Dida in the Milan goal and into the far corner by Rooney. United’s number ten had been quiet by his recent standards in this game but took his chance when it came, showing signs of the ruthless striker that Ferguson believes he has within.
Eight minutes later Rooney struck again with an emphatic header from a superb lofted pass by Fletcher through a stationary Milan back line. United had now found their rhythm and looked to have the game sewn up. They led by three goals to one and it was they who now set the pace.
However, a touch of naivety from the young Rafael da Silva left him out of position and allowed his Brazilian peer, Ronaldinho, to hit a low cross from United’s right flank for another past master, the substitute Clarence Seedorf, to meet with a cheeky right-foot flick on 85 minutes that left van der Saar with no chance.
The United fans’ chants of ‘cheerio’ were premature. With the San Siro crowd roaring them on Milan pushed forward once more. Tiago Silva headed an excellent chance wide of goal. Filippo Inzaghi, on for the ineffectual Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, fired just over the bar. United’s eleven backs to the wall were soon to be ten when Michael Carrick was shown a second yellow for kicking the ball away in time added on.
Ferguson’s team, however, held on for a final whistle that must have been music to his ears. His side ultimately worked a small miracle by scoring three in a match in which they were dominated for long periods.
Three away goals would normally be enough to kill any tie. But without the injured Ryan Giggs and the suspended Carrick there is a good chance Milan’s midfield could show their class at Old Trafford in the return leg, and every chance that their forwards will put away chances the like of which they missed in droves in the San Siro, should they be allowed to make them as frequently as they were last night.
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