Champions league, AC Milan 2-2 Bayern Munich

Justice done as Van Buyten puts Bayern in the driving seat

Daniel van Buyten did not cause much of a stir in Manchester during his five appearances for City three years ago. Then he was on loan from Marseille and searching for career direction; now he is a big-money purchase for Bayern Munich and the robust Belgian justified several down payments with not one but two late equalisers here last night. Van Buyten's second, over three minutes into injury-time, gives Bayern away-goals advantage in the second leg next week and took some of the glare off the Russian referee, Yuri Baskakov, whose 84th-minute penalty award to Milan infuriated the Germans!

AC Milan had appeared to be on their way to a controversial win when Kaka had tucked away a highly dubious penalty in the 84th minute, awarded after he had gone down in the box after a sliding tackle from Lucio. Replays clearly showed Lucio making contact with the ball rather than Kaka, his Brazil international team-mate, but Russian referee Yuri Baskakov pointed straight to the spot.

The first shot on goal arrived in the 14th minute when Ambrosini headed towards goal following a corner kick, but Rensing parried the shot and saved his goal. Bayern's only chances were coming from long-distance shots and the best goal-scoring opportunity arrived in the 23rd minute when Ottl's powerful strike from 21 metres was well saved by Dida.

Still, Milan were in total control of the match and could have opened the score in the 36th minute when Oddo ran on the right hand side and crossed towards the middle, but Gilardino's close-range header was superbly saved by Rensing, who proved once again that he is a worthy substitute of Oliver Kahn.

Milan deserved to be ahead, and even Rensing's defiance was powerless to stop them finally taking the lead after 40 minutes. Oddo's cross found Pirlo at the far post, and his header looped beyond Rensing.

Gilardino had a perfectly good goal ruled out soon after the break, the linesman wrongly flagging for offside after the much-maligned Milan striker had clipped the ball over Rensing after running onto Kaka's pass.

Van Buyten levelled against the run of play when the Milan defence had failed to clear Hasan Salihamidzic's cross.

Kaka restored Milan's lead, slotting home from the penalty spot after Lucio had been harshly penalised. But Van Buyten had the last laugh, capitalising on some poor Milan defending to equalise with the last touch of the game.

Milan coach Carlo Ancelotti:
"The team deserved to win for what it did. Bayern has a better chance of qualifying now but I think we were the better team. We need to regroup.

"However, we can draw strength from our performance tonight."

Bayern coach Ottmar Hitzfeld:
"It was a really great match, full of emotion and surprises. We deserved the draw given the way we fought until the very end.

"Milan was definitely the better team in the first half and Rensing was truly excellent. So, we're very grateful to him."

AC Milan: Dida, Oddo, Nesta, Maldini, Jankulovski (Kaladze 87), Gattuso, Pirlo, Ambrosini, Seedorf (Gourcuff 85), Kaka, Gilardino (Inzaghi 71).
Subs Not Used: Kalac, Cafu, Bonera, Brocchi.

Booked: Gilardino.

Goals: Pirlo 40, Kaka 84 pen.

Bayern Munich: Rensing, Sagnol (Lell 67), Lucio, Van Buyten, Lahm, Salihamidzic, Hargreaves, Ottl, Schweinsteiger, Makaay (Santa Cruz 86), Podolski (Pizarro 68).
Subs Not Used: Dreher, Scholl, Gorlitz, Demichelis.

Booked: Salihamidzic, Van Buyten.

Goals: Van Buyten 78, 90.

Champions league, Milan 2-2 Bayern munich highlights and goals:

FA Cup, Middlesbrough 2-2 Manchester United

Ronaldo keeps United's FA Cup treble dreams alive

Cristiano Ronaldo's penalty earned Manchester United a replay after Middlesbrough threatened a shock in the FA Cup quarter-final at the Riverside.

Wayne Rooney gave United the lead, drilling low past Mark Schwarzer. Boro equalised when Lee Cattermole fired in just before half-time. Terrible defending from United saw George Boateng head Boro in front after the break. However, a handball by the Dutchman in the penalty area led to Cristiano Ronaldo's equaliser from the spot.

Manchester United suffered a blow before the kick-off when goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar sustained a calf injury and had to be replaced by Tomasz Kuszczak.

The youngster was soon in action as he saved a Stewart Downing effort after the England winger had been put through by an intelligent pass from Julio Arca.

But Manchester United took the lead on 23 minutes when Rooney shot low past Schwarzer after collecting a pass from Ryan Giggs. It was a deserved advantage for United who had looked the more threatening. Rooney had already fired just wide after some superb build-up play involving Gabriel Heinze and Henrik Larsson, playing his last game for the club before returning to Sweden.

Ryan Giggs almost doubled the lead as he shot left-footed against the far post following a Gary Neville cross. So close for United.

Boro made it 1-1 just before the break. Kuszczak couldn’t properly clear the ball, Arca headed it back into the danger zone and Cattermole controlled and volleyed expertly into the net.

Things got worse for Sir Alex Ferguson’s team just the other side of half-time when Boateng rose completely unmarked to head Downing’s corner past Kuszczak. Dreadful defending from United who left the Dutchman all alone.

Manchester United were refused a penalty when Rooney went down under a challenge from Stuart Parnaby. Manchester United levelled on 66 minutes when the ball struck Boateng’s raised arm in the area. Ronaldo drilled the resulting penalty low past Schwarzer.

Jonathan Woodgate did well to block from Giggs at the death and the tie will now go to a replay on March 19.

Middlesbrough: Schwarzer, Parnaby, Woodgate, Pogatetz, Taylor, Cattermole (Morrison 80), Boateng (Euell 89), Arca, Downing, Yakubu, Viduka (Lee 89).
Subs Not Used: Jones, Xavier.

Goals: Cattermole 45, Boateng 47.

Man Utd: Kuszczak, Neville, Ferdinand, Vidic, Heinze, Ronaldo, O'Shea, Carrick, Giggs, Rooney, Larsson.
Subs Not Used: Brown, Park, Smith, Richardson, Eagles.

Booked: Larsson.

Goals: Rooney 23, Ronaldo 68 pen.

FA Cup, Middlesbrough 2-2 Manchester United highlights & goals:

UEFA Champions League, Inter Milan 2-2 Valencia

Wasteful Inter held by Valencia

Inter Milan were left kicking themselves after being held to a 2-2 draw by Valencia in a gripping Champions League last 16, first leg tie here on Wednesday. Inter had led in both halves of an engaging encounter at the Stadio Giuseppe Meazza, but the strikes from midfielders Esteban Cambiasso and Maicon were nullified by long-range efforts from David Villa and David Silva as Valencia refused to concede defeat.
Inter's fans may have been reduced in number but that only served to ramp up the volume in the Curva Nord and the home side responded by carving out some fine early opportunities. Their first chance came as a result of a mistake by Santiago Cañizares, whose attempted clearance rebounded off Zlatan Ibrahimović and looped back over his head towards goal. Roberto Ayala was on hand to spare his blushes with a crucial clearance.

Along with Zanetti and Cambiasso, Luís Figo was justifying his selection with an excellent performance and, after luring David Albelda into a foul on the right flank on 29 minutes, the 34-year-old delivered a curling free-kick which was touched goalwards by Ibrahimović. Cañizares made a fine reaction save but the reflexes of Cambiasso were even quicker as he stooped to head in the rebound.
Valencia, seemingly affected by an injury-depleted squad, were largely reduced to chasing shadows although Villa almost equalised in the 44th minute when he drove wide of the far post from 15 metres after flicking the ball over Iván Córdoba. That would have been harsh on the hosts, who should have doubled their lead a minute earlier when Crespo dived headlong to send Dejan Stanković's centre narrowly wide.

The second half continued in the same vein as Figo squandered two openings, first finding his shot blocked by Albiol following another sweeping Nerazzurri move, then failing to make clean contact with an angled attempt from ten metres. Valencia barely threatened but, against the run of play, pulled themselves level on 64 minutes when Villa unleashed a venomous strike. The visitors were awarded a free-kick 30 metres from goal and the Spanish international stepped up to beat Júlio César for pace and accuracy.
Valencia's tails were up and they began to pass the ball around with confidence but with a quarter of an hour remaining, they conceded again. Maicon, excellent all night, set off on another foraging right-wing run, exchanged passes with substitute Julio Cruz and sidefooted the ball in from six metres for a goal his selfless industry merited.

The Primera División team were not done yet, though. They grabbed a lifeline four minutes from time when Silva volleyed in from the edge of the area following a half-cleared corner to secure a second away goal and leave the tie weighted in Valencia's favour for the return leg on 6 March.

We Should Have Won, Says Crespo. "It's not easy, but neither unreachable," declared the Argentinean striker. "If we play like tonight, we can easily win in Spain. Luck did not help us, the usual Inter would have won with a two goal difference. The goals were two blows which are difficult to explain."

Zanetti: We'll Go To Spain To Win, "We're disappointed for drawing this match, however we deserved something more, but this is football. We must go to Spain and win the match, and I'm sure that we will succeed. "We had our chances to win this match. They put us in difficulty from set-pieces, but we're confident that this team can win in Spain. They have players with good technique and always find a way through."

Well Zanetti, I'm not sure about that... But who knows what is gonna happen in Spain.. Anyways now for the match's full highlights:

Tottenham 2-2 Arsenal (1st Leg)

Carling Cup: Spurs Mess Up Golden Opportunity;

Julio Baptista went from zero to hero for Arsenal as they held Tottenham in an absorbing Carling Cup semi-final first-leg tie at White Hart Lane. Dimitar Berbatov gave Spurs the lead heading in after a mix-up between Manuel Almunia and Kolo Toure.

Berbatov injured his groin and soon had to be replaced by Robbie Kean with Jol electing to revert to a 4-5-1 formation with Jermain Defoe up front on his own. The tactic seemed to be working when Tom Huddlestone's free-kick was kicked into his own net by Julio Baptista as the Brazilian tried to clear the ball.

Match Highlights:

Spurs had the tie in their hands, but will surely be left wondering why they didn't push home their advantage from this point. They were fortunate to go in at half-time with their 2-0 lead intact but in the second half their luck ran out as they were outclassed by a weakened Arsenal side.

Although the first-team players of Eboue and Hleb were introduced and the duo helped further unsettle Spurs Arsenal eventually equalized thanks to two goals by Baptista, who now has six in his last two games in the competition. The second goal was a mess from Spurs' point of view as goalkeeper Paul Robinson inexplicably ran out of his goal to close the angle on an advancing Justin Hoyte, but the youngster just had to cross the ball to Baptista for a simple tap-in.

The two teams will meet again at the Emirates next week when it will be well and truly advantage the home team: Arsenal.

Post match Interviews: