MANCHESTER, England (Reuters):Wayne Rooney scored twice, including a stoppage-time winner, to give Manchester United a thrilling 3-2 victory over AC Milan in their Champions League semi-final, first leg yesterday.
Rooney pulled United back into the match when he levelled the score at 2-2 after 59 minutes and his winner gives United a narrow advantage to take into the second leg in Milan next Wednesday Milan will fancy their chances thanks to their two away goals.
Milan keeper Dida helped United get a dream start on his return from injury, palming a Cristiano Ronaldo header into his own net in the fifth minute, before the game swung dramatically Milan's way with two goals from fellow Brazilian Kaka.
With Kaka's goals in the bank, United looked to be out of the tie but Rooney's double has set up what should be a pulsating decider at the San Siro next Wednesday.
The winners will face either Liverpool or Chelsea in the final in Athens on May 23.
A beaming United manager Alex Ferguson told ITV Sport moments after the game: "I thought we played some fantastic football and dominated the game.
"The equaliser gave us the incentive to go on and win it and the late goal gives us a magnificent chance of winning the tie now."
Rooney's goals turned around a game in which Kaka had ruthlessly exposed the weaknesses of United's makeshift rearguard, with the hosts' defenders literally falling over each other as he scored his second.
United, out to avenge consecutive 1-0 defeats by Milan in the 2005 knockout round, had to field a patched-up defence after injuries to Rio Ferdinand, skipper Gary Neville, Mikael Silvestre, Nemanja Vidic and midfielder-turned-defender Kieran Richardson.
It mattered little in the opening exchanges, with United drawing first blood when Cristiano Ronaldo met a Ryan Giggs corner with a header that Dida parried upwards and then flapped into his own net under pressure from Gabriel Heinze.
United's Argentine defender was less lucky soon afterwards, though, when he failed to prevent Kaka from latching on to Clarence Seedorf's through-ball and rifling a low left-foot shot past Edwin van der Sar.
GETTING WORSE
Though United replied with plenty of pressure and a stinging shot from Ronaldo which Dida could only parry, their night went from bad to worse in the 37th minute. Kaka surged forward on a solo run, outmanouevring Darren Fletcher and then dodged the luckless Heinze, who was promptly flattened by the inrushing Patrice Evra to leave both United men in a heap.
The fiasco left Kaka completely alone to sweep the ball past a helpless Van der Sar from close range.
Kaka, already the Champions League's top scorer this season, took his tally to nine and left United facing their first home defeat since a Premier League loss to Arsenal in September.
To complete a miserable half for United's back four, left-back Evra marked his return from injury with a yellow card for dissent that rules him out of the second leg at San Siro next Wednesday.
United needed to get back into the game quickly and a chance duly fell within minutes of the restart, only for midfielder Michael Carrick to somehow fire wide at the far post following a corner.
Punishment could have been swift, with Kaka having two quick chances to reach his hat-trick.
CLEVER BALL
Instead, the pendululm swung back United's way when Paul Scholes lifted a clever ball over the top of Milan's defence and Rooney was able to chest it down before beating Dida from close range.
The goal galvanised a packed Old Trafford and United quickly moved up a gear, with only a fantastic save by Dida denying a Fletcher piledriver.
Ronaldo, fresh from winning two domestic Playerof the Year awards, nearly won it for United in the closing stages with sizzling low shot that flew just wide of the post.
However, that distinction fell to Rooney as he collected a Giggs pass on the break and steered a low shot past Dida to send Old Trafford into ecstasy.
