Inter live to fight

IN HIS TOP GEAR: Manchester United's Portuguese midfielder Cristiano Ronaldo (L) slips the ball past a sliding Inter Milan defender Cristian Chivu during their UEFA Champions League quarterfinal first-leg match at the San Siro in Milan on Tuesday. Photo: AFP

Arsenal were the sole winners on Tuesday in the Champions League last 16 first leg matches and that was only thanks to a Robin van Persie penalty giving them a 1-0 victory over AS Roma.
Elsewhere, the much-awaited clash between Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan and old rival Sir Alex Ferguson's titleholders Manchester United ended in a 0-0 draw in Milan which at least handed United a Champions League record of 20 successive matches without defeat.
Former Arsenal hero Thierry Henry scored with a neatly taken header to earn Barcelona a 1-1 draw away at seven-time French champions Lyon, who had taken the lead through a freekick from Brazilian Juninho.
Henry's goal took him into sole fourth place in the list of all-time European Cup goalscorers with 48, some 14 shy of record holder Raul.
A former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan was also on the mark for Atletico Madrid but it was not enough to give them victory at home as a double by Lisandro Lopez grabbed a 2-2 draw for one of Mourinho's former clubs FC Porto.
Despite Arsenal grabbing a useful advantage to take to Rome in a fortnight manager Arsene Wenger was left frustrated as the Gunners, especially misfiring striker Nicklas Bendtner were guilty of wasting chance after chance.
"I am happy with our performance but of course there was room to score more goals. That is the regret we have," said Wenger, who has had to watch as Arsenal have failed to score in their last three Premier League matches.
Ferguson too was left to bemoan the fact that his side had dominated but failed to find the back of the net with Inter's Brazilian goalkeeper Julio Cesar the hosts most impressive player as he pulled off a series of great saves.
"I hope not scoring a goal doesn't come back to bite us," said Ferguson.
United took control from the kick off and dominated so totally in the opening 45 minutes that Ferguson must have been more than just disappointed in turning around goaless at the break.
What had seemed like a cautious team selection with Wayne Rooney and Carlos Tevez on the bench proved anything but with Ryan Giggs excellent in the hole behind Dimitar Berbatov.
And the veteran Welshman created the first chance from a corner that Cristiano Ronaldo met with a firm header on five minutes only for Julio Cesar to pull off the first of a series of brilliant saves.
Ronaldo had two early efforts from free-kicks but struck the first straight at Julio Cesar and the second narrowly wide.
Berbatov was dominating Inter centre-backs Cristian Chivu and Nelson Rivas in the air and he twice rose highest to meet crosses but headed off target from Patrice Evra on 23 minutes and Park Ji-sung four minutes from the break.
On 26 minutes United had their best chance of the half as Rivas mis-read Michael Carrick's pass to Giggs but the Welsh wizard lost his wand and opted to shoot from a tight angle instead of squaring to Park or Berbatov allowing Julio Cesar to spread himself well to block.
The Brazilian stopper threw himself to his left two minutes later to pull off his best save yet from another Ronaldo free-kick.
Mourinho, who switched the unfortunate Rivas for Ivan Cordoba, must have said something to his team at half-time because on 48 minutes they created their best chance of the game as Zlatan Ibrahimovic stepped over Esteban Cambiasso's cross and Adriano clipped a shot just past the corner of post and bar.
That was followed by a long scrappy period until United opened up Inter on 67 minutes but no one could tap home Ronaldo's teasing cross into the six yard box.
United's finishing was clearly below par and they missed yet another great chance on 76 minutes as Giggs cut in from the right, opened up space but saw his shot charged down by Cordoba before Carrick thrashed the follow-up into row Z.
Moments later Cordoba fell and Berbatov took the ball into the box before shooting into the side-netting.
Inter almost scored a shock goal on 82 minutes as substitute Mario Balotelli's corner found Cambiasso at the back post but his prodded effort went straight into Edwin van der Sar's hands.
United had one last chance with the final kick of the match from another stinging Ronaldo free-kick but Julio Cesar again was well-placed to parry the shot.
That left Mourinho to breathe a sigh of relief at the final whistle.
"When I won the Champions League (with Porto in 2004) we drew 0-0 at home in the semi-final and then won away to Deportivo (La Coruna)," said the self-anointed 'Special One'.