AC Milan wins at Manchester United; Barcelona rallies to beat Chelsea
Hernan Crespo beat goalkeeper Roy Carroll on a late-match rebound to give AC Milan 1-0 Champions League victory Wednesday night over Manchester United.
Hernan Crespo beat goalkeeper Roy Carroll on a late-match rebound to give AC Milan 1-0 Champions League victory Wednesday night over Manchester United.
Carroll, who has replaced American Tim Howard as Manchester United's starting goalkeeper, failed to hold the initial shot by Clarence Seedorf with 12 minutes remaining in the first of two matches between the teams.
The goal in the second-round match of Europe's premier soccer tournament was Crespo's third of the competition.
Paul Scholes missed a good chance to score for Manchester United in the 12th minute, kicking the ball wide off a pass from Quinton Fortune. Wayne Rooney also shot wide off a pass from Cristiano Ronaldo later in the half.
"We have won an important match but we can't celebrate," said coach Carlo Ancelotti, whose team got its first victory in 11 games against English clubs on their home turf. "We must think of the second leg, which will be very difficult."
United manager Alex Ferguson refused to blame Carroll for the goal.
"Seedorf should have been closed down," Ferguson said. "We directed him in the middle of the park instead of forcing him to the side, and he was allowed a free shot."
The second leg of the home-and-home, total-goals series will be in Milan on March 8.
In other matches, Barcelona rallied to beat visiting Chelsea 2-1, Lyon won 3-0 at Werder Bremen and Internazionale of Milan played a 1-1 tie at Porto, the defending champion from Portugal.
At Barcelona, Maxi Lopez scored in the 66th minute and Samuel Eto'o in the 73rd for the Spanish League leader. Chelsea, first in the English Premier League, went ahead in the 33rd minute when Juliano Belletti put the ball in his own net while attempting to clear Damien Duff's cross.
Chelsea played a man short after Didier Drogba was ejected in the 56th minute for receiving his second yellow card for a challenge against goalkeeper Victor Valdes.
At Porto, Obafemi Martins scored off a cross from Dejan Stankovic in the 24th minute for Internazionale. It was his fifth goal in five Champions League games.
Ricardo Costa tied the score in the 61st minute after goalkeeper Francesco Toldo failed to grasp a high ball at the post, allowing Francisco Costinha to pass inside to the central defender.
At Bremen, French League leader Lyon got goals from Sylvain Wiltord, Mahamadou Diarra and Juninho Pernambucano.
On Tuesday, Real Madrid beat Juventus of Turin 1-0, Liverpool defeated Bayer Leverkusen 3-1, PSV Eindhoven blanked AS Monaco 1-0, and Bayern Munich routed Arsenal 3-1.
American Landon Donovan made his Champions League debut, entering in the 69th minute for Levekusen, and compatriot DaMarcus Beasley came on for PSV Eindhoven in the 59th.