Manchester United got off to the same dream start they had in the previous round when Cristiano Ronaldo put them ahead in the Champions League Semi Final against AC Milan.

With just six minutes on the clock the Portuguese winger found an opportunity to put his name on the score sheet. His header from a corner found a path past Dida in the AC Milan goal. Having made an attempt to clear the corner the Brazilian keeper could only help Ronaldo’s header over the goal line as he tried to make the save.

However the dream start was to turn in to a nightmare. A virtuoso performance by Milan’s Kaka, he single-handedly destroyed United’s feeble defence. He latched on to a Seedorf through ball leaving Carrick and Heinze in his wake before putting a low shot past a wrong footed Edwin Van Der Sar.

United looked like they were back at the races when the Brazilian struck again. Kaka took the ball off Fletcher on the wing flicking it between Heinze and Evra, he squeezed in between them to head the ball in to the box leaving them to collide taking them out of the equation. His second finish was just as clinical as the first, a low curling shot past an advancing Van Der Sar.

The turning point of the game had to be the substitutions mad by Milan. Maldini and Gattuso came off for Bonera and Brocchi respectively, which duly opened up both the midfield and defence for United to exploit the gaps. Rooney was the first to capitalise on the new found opportunity after only seven minutes. Paul Scholes scooped the ball over the static Milan defence, Rooney broke through controlling the ball with his chest before putting the ball under Dida and in to the goal.

When the game looked like it was about to end in a 2-2 draw giving Milan the major advantage going in to the second leg in the San Siro next week in Italy. Ronaldo collected the ball in defence and went on an immediate attack, playing the ball to welsh veteran Ryan Giggs. Giggs sprited up the park and passed the ball to Rooney who shot without taking a touch, the shot flew in to the bottom corner to give United a one goal advantage in the second leg.