Soccer
Rooney Caps Man U Rally Vs. AC Milan
Wednesday, April 25, 2007; Page E02
Wayne Rooney scored his second goal in the first minute of injury time, and Manchester United rallied past visiting AC Milan, 3-2, yesterday in the first leg of the European Champions League semifinals.
Rooney's shot from the top of the penalty area beat goalkeeper Dida just inside the near post, Rooney's fourth goal in his last three Champions League games.
  Manchester United's Wayne Rooney, right, beats AC Milan's Dida, left, to score a goal during their Champions League semi final first-leg soccer match at Old Trafford Stadium, Manchester, England, Tuesday April 24, 2007. (AP Photo/Jon Super) (Jon Super - AP) |
"We kept going to the end," Rooney said. "We knew if we could get a victory here, it will be easier when we go to the away leg."
Manchester United led in the fifth minute after Cristiano Ronaldo headed a corner kick off Dida's shoulder. The ball deflected up, and Dida scrambled back only to get a fingertip on it before it dropped into the goal.
Kaka scored in the 22nd and 37th minutes at Old Trafford, giving him nine goals in the competition, but Rooney tied the score in the 59th after Paul Scholes chipped the ball over the defense.
"It's a bitter defeat, but now we hope that at home our public helps us to get to the final," Kaka said. "We did something wrong. Now we have to correct it."
Liverpool is at Chelsea today in the other semifinal. In the second legs of the home-and-home, total-goals series, Liverpool will host Chelsea on Tuesday and Milan will be at home against United the following night. . . .
D.C. United has finalized a contract with Jamaican forward Nicholas Addlery, who had been on an extended tryout with the club. Addlery, 25, has a green card and will not count toward the foreign player limit.
He starred in college at California (Pa.), played professionally in Vietnam and Trinidad and Tobago and was preparing to compete for the Virginia Beach Mariners this spring when that second division club folded. . . .
Columbus Crew forward Andy Herron has received a multigame suspension for elbowing New England's Jay Heaps last week, sources said. MLS will announce the number of games today. Herron's suspension will begin with Saturday's match against United. . . .
Nate Jaqua scored in the first half and the visiting Los Angeles Galaxy eliminated the Columbus Crew from the U.S. Open Cup with a 1-0 victory. The Galaxy advances to host the New York Red Bulls.
-- From News Services and Staff Reports
