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O’Shea’s strike gives Man United advantage

Wenger believes Arsenal has a good chance to reverse the result

— Photo: AP

FIRING AWAY: Manchester United’s John O’Shea about to score the only goal of the match against Arsenal in the Champions League semifinal first leg at Old Trafford on Wednesday.

MANCHESTER: John O’Shea gave Manchester United a 1-0 victory over Arsenal on Wednesday in the first leg of the Champions League semifinals, but the defending champion missed plenty of chances to win by a bigger margin.

The fullback scored in the 18th minute after Arsenal failed to clear a corner. United outplayed Arsenal for long spells and had chances of a far bigger victory, but was foiled by three good first-half saves by Manuel Almunia.

Ferdinand injured

The Red Devils now look certain to go to next week’s second leg without centre back Rio Ferdinand, who has a suspected rib fracture after a late scramble in front of the United goal.

The two teams meet again at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium next Tuesday. The winner will advance to the May 27 final in Rome to face either Barcelona or Chelsea, who drew 0-0 in Tuesday’s first leg in Spain.

“We had chances and their goalkeeper made two or three fantastic saves,” Ferguson said. “The more pleasing aspect is that, before the game I said (to the players) ‘Try and win the game without conceding a goal.’ We’ve done that.

“Our forward play was very good and that’s given us a good chance. But the tie is not over, obviously.”

Arsenal was without injured forward Robin van Persie and Russian star Andry Arshavin. The result was that Arsene Wenger’s men rarely created chances at Old Trafford but are fortunate they only have to make up a one-goal deficit at home. Wenger believes that his team will play far better in the second leg.

“If you look at the clear-cut chances, they were on top,” the Arsenal manager said. “The positive is that we are only 1-0 down that we take home, and I am convinced that you will see a different Arsenal team at the Emirates. I believe that we have a good chance to reverse the result.

“I believe that the tie is very open. (United) can have regrets because they didn’t score a second goal. It’s down to us to make sure they regret they didn’t score a second goal.”

Early forays

United’s pressure brought some early chances followed by a goal.

Wayne Rooney’s looping header in the second minute was finger-tipped away by Almunia, and a well-worked move ended with O’Shea’s cross to Carlos Tevez, whose close-range shot was well saved by the Gunners keeper.

From the corner, Michael Carrick beat a defender on the left and his cross deflected off Alex Song to the unmarked O’Shea, who drove the ball into the roof of the net. The defending champion maintained the momentum, and the busy Almunia saved a close-range header from Cristiano Ronaldo as well as his follow up shot. Later, he raced off his line to dive at the feet of Tevez as United threatened more goals.

Although Arsenal had a spell of possession before halftime, the Gunners did little to worry United goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, with defenders Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic firmly in control of striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

The pattern continued in the second half, with Ronaldo having a shot blocked. After Adebayor made a series of mistakes at the other end, the Arsenal fans began chanting the name of striker Eduardo da Silva.

Adebayor’s response was a powerful shot that just cleared the crossbar, but Ronaldo then replied with a 25-metre drive that shook the Gunners bar.

United manager Alex Ferguson sent on Dimitar Berbatov for the busy Tevez, and Ryan Giggs stretched his record number of appearances for the club to 800 when he came on for Anderson.

The result: Manchester United 1 (O’Shea 18) bt Arsenal 0. — AP

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