First Knock-out Round First Leg Manchester 23 February 2005 MANCHESTER UNITED FC - AC MILAN OLD TRAFFORD, MANCHESTER WEDNESDAY 23 FEBRUARY 2005 at 19.45 UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FIRST KNOCK-OUT ROUND, FIRST LEG MANCHESTER UNITED FC v AC MILAN UEFA Champions League football returns to Old Trafford for the first time in 2005 with a thrilling clash between two former champions of Europe in one of the many ties that coiuld easily have been this season’s final. United fans will remember that their team produced epic performances against Italian opposition en route to the 1999 final, whereas AC Milan’s encounters with English opposition are surprisingly thin on the ground. They have played against English teams only three times in the last quarter of a century and have not met any English sides since they were drawn against both Chelsea FC and Leeds United AFC in the 2000/01 campaign. A thrilling and evenly-balanced tie is in prospect. This will be the third tie between the clubs in UEFA competitions with AC Milan successful on the previous two occasions, both in the Champion Clubs’ Cup semi-finals. Though Manchester United won both games at Old Trafford, the margin of AC Milan’s wins in Italy in the 1957/58 and 1968/69 seasons enabled them to progress. The clubs’ first meeting was the first European game after the Munich air crash, while the latter win eliminated the holders of the competition. In the 1957/58 tie, Paolo Maldini’s father Cesare took part in the game, and in 1968/69 Fabio Cudicini, father of the Chelsea FC player, was AC Milan’s keeper. Sir Alex Ferguson hopes it will be third time lucky for the Premiership club. "I had a feeling we were going to get AC Milan. They have had a fantastic spell under Carlo Ancelotti's influence and are a very experienced team, one of the most experienced in Europe. We have never played against AC Milan while I've been manager, but, if you look back over the years to our matches against Juventus in particular, we have enjoyed some of the greatest moments of all in Europe against Italian opposition and we are really looking forward to these games." United have a useful home record against Italian clubs in UEFA competitions. In 10 games at Old Trafford, only Juventus (1-0 in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League) have won at Manchester with United winning seven and drawing two. The 3-1 against AC Fiorentina in the 1999/2000 UEFA Champions League is the biggest win. This will be the 22nd game against Italian clubs in UEFA competitions for Manchester United FC, with the record standing at nine wins and nine defeats and three draws. AC Milan have a similar win-loss record against English clubs in UEFA club competitions – seven wins and seven defeats with eight draws in 22 previous games. However AC Milan are still searching for their first win against English clubs on English soil. All seven defeats have come in England with three draws (all scoreless) in their 10 visits. The heaviest defeat was actually in Manchester, at the Maine Road ground of the Manchester City FC neighbours by 3-0 in the 1978/79 UEFA Cup third round. AC Milan have not scored against English clubs on their last five visits. They have managed four goals in their 10 games in England, the last scored in April 1972 by Romeo Benetti at Tottenham Hotspur FC in the semi final, first leg, of the UEFA Cup. UEFA Press Information First Knock-out Round First Leg Manchester 23 February 2005 MANCHESTER UNITED FC - AC MILAN Manchester United FC match statistics This is Manchester United FC’s 10th season in the UEFA Champions League (a record shared with FC Porto), and this is their ninth season in succession (a record). The last UEFA Champions League season missed by Manchester United FC was in 1995/96 when champions Blackburn Rovers FC were England’s sole representatives. This will be Manchester United FC's 108th match in the UEFA Champions League, two games less than Real Madrid CF. United are second to Real Madrid CF in number of games won (62 to 56) and goals scored (219 to 200) in the all-time competition lists. Since their last home defeat in the competition (3-2 by RC Deportivo La Coruña on 17 October 2001), Manchester United FC have played 20 home games in the UEFA Champions League with 16 wins and four draws. United scored 12 goals in their three home games in the UEFA Champions League this season against Fenerbahçe SK (6-2), AC Sparta (4-1) and Olympique Lyonnais (2-1) with Ruud van Nistelrooy and Wayne Rooney both equalling and setting records. In the 4-1 home win against AC Sparta Praha in the last match, van Nistelrooy became the fourth player in UEFA Champions league history to score four goals in a match. He joins Marco van Basten, Simone Inzaghi and Dado Prso in the ‘four-goal club’. He has now scored 42 UEFA Champions League goals. The 6-2 home win against Fenerbahçe SK on Matchday 2 this season, with a hat-trick from Wayne Rooney, was the highest score by Manchester United in their previous 76 games in the competition, since a similar scoreline against Brøndby IF in 1998. Rooney joins Marco van Basten (AC Milan v IFK Göteborg in 1992 (4 goals); Faustino Asprilla (Newcastle United FC v FC Barcelona in 1997) and Yakubu Ayegbeni (Maccabi Haifa v Olympiacos CFP in 2002) by scoring a hat-trick on debut in the UEFA Champions League proper but is the first to score three goals on both his club and UEFA Champions League debut combined. But Rooney is not the youngest player to score a hat-trick in the UEFA Champions League. That honour belongs to the competition’s leading goalscorer, Raúl of Real Madrid CF, who netted his three goals nine years ago in a 6-1 win over Ferencvárosi TC at the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu, on 18.10.1995, aged 18 years and 114 days. United have lost only six of their last 40 UEFA Champions League games. They have scored a goal in 40 of their last 45 UEFA Champions League games. Manchester United FC and AC Milan have not met since 1969 but Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti came face-to-face in the UEFA Champions League semi-final in 1999 when the Italian was coach of Juventus and Filippo Inzaghi, then also with Juventus, scored two goals in the opening 12 minutes in Turin having drawn 1-1 at Old Trafford. United fought back to win 3-2, which Ferguson subsequently called "the greatest performance ever produced by a team under my management." AC Milan match statistics AC Milan got their ninth UEFA Champions League campaign off to a flying start by topping a group for the seventh time. Their only second place finish came in 1994/95. The Italians have an excellent defensive record in the UEFA Champions League with just 67 goals conceded, and 39 clean sheets, in 83 games at one every 111 minutes. AC Milan have a record of P 66 W 33 D 17 L 16 F 91 A 56 in the group stages compared to P 17 W 8 D 6 L 3 F 24 A 11 in knock-out football. AC Milan were one of the first 16 pioneering clubs who took part in the inaugural Champion Clubs’ Cup competition back in 1955/56. They reached the semi-finals before losing to Real Madrid CF. This year marks the 50th anniversary of AC Milan’s very first fixture in UEFA club competition against German side, 1. FC Saarbrücken. UEFA Press Information First Knock-out Round First Leg Manchester 23 February 2005 MANCHESTER UNITED FC - AC MILAN AC Milan have lost only two of their last 10 UEFA Champions League games, the 4-0 reverse in last season’s quarter final at RC Deportivo La Coruña after winning the home leg 4-1, and the 2-1 loss at the Nou Camp in the group game this season. AC Milan have kept a clean sheet in three of the last four group games this season, and in four of the six group games. AC Milan have won only one of their last five away games in the competition – by 1-0 at FC Shakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 1 this season. Manchester United FC news At the start of February, United gained a crucial win in their attempt to catch Chelsea FC at the top of the Premiership. On the first day of the month, United went to Highbury and beat Arsenal FC 4-2. Ryan Giggs scored after 18 minutes to leave Arsenal 2-1 ahead at the interval, but two goals from Cristiano Ronaldo (54, 58) and a clincher from John O’Shea (89), after Mikaël Silvestre had been sent off, gave them their success. The Manchester United team was (4-4-2) Carroll; Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Silvestre, Heinze; Fletcher (O’Shea 61), Keane, Scholes, Ronaldo (Brown 70); Rooney, Giggs (Saha 71), and the unused substitutes were Howard and Phil Neville. Four days later, United beat Birmingham City FC at Old Trafford 2-0 to maintain their impetus. Goals from Roy Keane (55) and Wayne Rooney (78) took the home side to victory. The team was (4-4-2) Carroll; Gary Neville, Ferdinand, Brown, Heinze; Ronaldo, O’Shea, Keane, Giggs (Phil Neville 82); Rooney (Miller 82), Saha (Fortune 68) and the unused substitutes were Howard and Bellion.