United still waiting for quarter-final berth

United still waiting for quarter-final berth
Agence France Presse

Paris, February 21: Manchester United drew 1-1 with Valencia at Old Trafford yesterday to leave the English Premiership Champions still waiting to ensure quarter-final qualification in the European Champions League.

Deportivo la Coruna beat 10-man Turkish side Galatasaray 2-0 to put their campaign back on course in this second round phase.

In a far from conclusive night however, it proved the strength in depth at this level is increasing with no team definitely through with two matches left to play. United top group A with eight points, two ahead of both second-placed Valencia and Austria's Sturm Graz, who won 2-1 at Panathinaikos to leave the Greeks in bottom spot with one point from four games.

Galatasaray, although losing, remained on top of group B, a point ahead of both Deportivo and AC Milan, who scraped a 1-1 draw at bottom club Paris Saint Germain through a deflected Jose Maria goal in injury time.

United took an early lead through Andy Cole but an own-goal by defender Wes Brown two minutes from time means the 1999 winners will have to wait two weeks for another chance to get the two points needed to claim a quarter-final berth.

Valencia, last year's beaten finalists, sat back in the early stages, looking to hit United on the break and their tactics almost paid off after six minutes. Giant Norwegian striker John Carew fed Pablo Aimar who slipped a pass through to Kily Gonzalez in the box but he shot wildly over the bar.

Six minutes later Cole fired United in front. The former Newcastle striker played a one-two with Ryan Giggs on the left before slamming the return ball past Santiago Canizares for his 12th goal of the season. That proved to be Giggs' last meaningful contribution as the Welshman came off six minutes later with what appeared to be a hamstring problem.

Cole was just inches away from doubling his tally in the second half when he just failed to get a toe to substitute Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's teasing low cross. Valencia threw caution to the wind and five minutes from time Paul Scholes cleared Ruben Baraja's header off the line from substitute Rodriguez Vicente's corner. The goal Valencia had threatened for the entire second half came two minutes from time when Brown turned Vicente's left-wing cross into his own net.

United manager Alex Ferguson was positive afterwards. ``It's disappointing, but these things happen in football,'' he said. ``We did not defend the corner kick properly to begin with and these things happen. They did not really create a lot of good chances, although they played some good football up to the edge of the box without opening us up. I don't think Fabien has had a save to make.''

Goals by Deportivo's Victor five minutes before the break and then by Brazilian Djalminha from the penalty spot in the 73rd minute earned Javier Irureta's team revenge for their 0-1 loss in the teams' first meeting last week.

Injuries and suspensions proved costly for Galatasaray's Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu.

Star midfielder Hakan Unsal was out with a severely ruptured knee hurt in the team's first meeting and just on Saturday, team captain Bulent Korkmaz ruptured a leg muscle in a Turkish league match.

With striker Hasan Sas and midfielder Emre Belozoglu both suspended, Lucescu was up against it though midfielder Suat Kaya, who scored the winner last week, passed a late fitness test. Then came the first goal. A Djalminha shot from the edge of the box rebounded to the feet of Victor, who, already having scored twice against Barcelona on Saturday, made no mistake.

In the second half, Irureta brought on Dutchman Roy Makaay to make for a more attacking formation and his decision soon bore fruit. Victor had a goal disallowed for a foul shortly before Djalminha scored from the spot after a handball by Galatasaray defender Ahmet Yildirim on the edge of the area.

Jose Mari's cruelly deflected goal in injury time earned AC Milan a 1-1 draw at Paris Saint Germain to virtually end the French club's hopes of advancing.

Laurent Robert's opener on 75 minutes from a retaken freekick looked set to give them victory but the draw means PSG, out of the French league race and both domestic cups, look set to go no further in this competition.

Sturm Graz scored twice in the first half and hung on grimly to beat Panathinaikos and Haul themselves into contention for an unlikely quarter-final qualification. The Austrians won their first away contest in the Champions league with an opening goal by Markus Schopp in the 25th minute.

Mario Haas added the second in the 42nd minute when he dribbled around Panathinaikos goalkeeper Antonis Nikopolidis after a perfect pass from midfield by Tomislav Kocijan.

Panathinaikos pulled back a consolation goal in the 73rd minute with a header from defender Ioannis Goumas after a cross from Nikos Li Beropoulos.