Date:24/04/2007 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2007/04/24/stories/2007042402661800.htm

Sport - Football

Man U gets ready to welcome AC Milan

London: Manchester United is facing a full-blown injury crisis before its biggest match of the season in Tuesday's Champions League semifinal with AC Milan. Injuries to defender Rio Ferdinand and midfielder Kieran Richardson in Saturday's 1-1 draw with Middlesbrough means that seven of United's first-team squad are on the treatment table before the first leg at Old Trafford.

Worse still for manager Alex Ferguson, the problems have focused on a defence that badly needs to deny Milan an away goal before United's trip to the San Siro next Wednesday.

Ferdinand, who will also miss the second leg with a groin strain, joins injured fellow defenders Gary Neville, Mikael Silvestre and Nemanja Vidic. To add to United's woes, central defender Craig Cathcart, who had just been drafted in from United's youth ranks as cover, has suffered a long-term injury in training. Richardson's absence is a particular blow as he can also deputise at left back. South Korean midfielder Park Ji-sung and French striker Louis Saha are also out.

On the bright side, Ferguson expects left back Patrice Evra to return after limping out of last week's Premier League win over Sheffield United and Neville might just be back in time.

United, which routed AS Roma 7-1 at home two weeks ago, will look to Cristiano Ronaldo, Ryan Giggs and Wayne Rooney to use their pace and strike power to pressurise a Milan defence that includes 38-year-old Paolo Maldini.

Milan experience vital

However, Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti believes that very wealth of experience will give his team the edge. Off the pace in Serie A, Milan can move up a gear in Europe, as it showed in a 2-0 quarterfinal win at Bayern Munich — the German club's first European defeat at the Allianz Arena.

"These are matches in which composure and courage come to the fore and those are qualities my team have; first of all with Maldini, and then with the many other players who have huge international experience," said Ancelotti. Milan enjoys an unrivalled Champions League record in recent years, with one win, one runner-up finish and two semifinals since 2003. Its composure was evident two seasons ago when it beat United 1-0 at home and away in the last 16.

Maldini expects a tougher tie this time, saying, " United have grown in strength over the past few years, and Rooney and Ronaldo are extremely impressive." — Agencies